Brace yourselves, ’cause there’s a newbie from Four Tet out there. And, bang on an off-kilt Monday cue, it’s an utter banger. Quite when it was pieced together I’ve no idea – whether at last releasing that collaborative 12″ alongside London duo RocketNumberNine what we’ve been banging on about incessantly for weeks now or selling out Heaven, Kieran Hebden’s been a busy thing thus far this year – but we’re supremely thankful For These Times is now. Featured on Al “Boddika” Green’s latest compilation Think And Change, and therefore released via Nonplus Records as opposed to Hebden’s very own Text imprint it makes for an incendiary, club-ready throwdown the like of which we’ve lacked from his samplers and other such machinery of late.
Though he can be seen haphazardly shoved in a Suit & Tie above, for he has so too reworked the ol’ Justin Timberlake track of that same name. I’ve quite concertedly yet to indulge in the original take, though Hebden’s version is reliably groovy and, as anticipated, irrefutably great – a heady blend of Talabot-like Balearic beat and surround sound samples that whir from one ear to t’other like glimmering maniacal lights shimmering in an unprecedentedly pop sheen. Button that one up below.
