DJ Yoda: Balado's ultimate party host?
The sleazy guitar hook of Beatles classic, Come Together, radiated around the blue walled expanse with the underlying screeching of a hip hop beat. This was most certainly not the solace I was seeking in Four Tet.
A thriving crowd, who on the whole, looked like they were wearing the same clothes they arrived in on Thursday, moved as one with the beat, a human metronome, worshipping DJ Yoda. Picking up momentum with the Nintendo bred sounds of the Super Mario Brothers, Come On Eileen, followed by a quick refrain from The Jackson 5, the tent was very much in the party spirit, each track initiating a bigger reaction than the last.
Nearing the end of his set with bright illumination of the venue and a delivery of piano that has irritatingly reverberated around the inner cavity of every head in the UK since the arrival of Glee on our tv screens last year, Journey’s Don’t Stop Believing was welcomed like a crisp note found in a forgotten pocket.
In a stark contrast, the lights faded as mystery flourished. A solitary white beam shone across Four Tet, spilling onto the more sedate yet entranced audience alongside the haunting lullaby of Angel Echoes. Swaddling in soothing comfort, this opening track builds with the addition of a bass drum, joined by an array of flashing white lights, it feels like Kieran Hebden is taking us on a journey through an undiscovered galaxy.
Hebden is an extremely focused man and maintains an intent stare on the arsenal of electronic equipment he has before him, triggering and mixing samples live, all the time pulsing with the beats he creates, dipping, diving and soaring through intricately crafted soundscapes.
Working through the delicate Love Cry the charm and intimacy of 2010 album, There Is Love In You, is somewhat lost in this vast tent with an overall less appreciative audience. The experimental electronic artist doesn’t appear to be fazed however, his set slowly developing into more up-tempo tracks. Here intensity is reciprocated in lighting, a menacing pink and green flashing combination almost threatening the arrival of some great, unknown space creature from the cavernous black expanse which lies behind the slight musician.
As grooving bass and rhythmical electronic bleeps of Sing are absorbed alongside the rain of human body fluids intermittently dripping from the ceiling, Hebden appears to be winning over a tough crowd, propelling life into less enthusiastic dancers, applause growing with each track.
To some Four Tet may have been an anticlimax after the poppy, fast-paced sing-a-long of DJ Yoda, but this skilled producer and remixer certainly is a master of his craft, albeit slightly more niche than mainstream.
Four Tet is set to play Glasgow’s ABC in November, perhaps a more suitable venue for his euphoric, blissful sounds. After today's performance, I for one, will certainly be present.
Review by Kirstin Lynn
