Four Tet
Reviewer and UK expat Sam Carter gets friendly with the eclectic Four Tet crowd at the Biltmore Cabaret, February 24th. Find out the name of their new album and Sam's concert review conclusion...
I entered the Biltmore at nine to find the place almost deserted. Though concerned for my fellow countrymen Nathan Fake and Keiren Hebden (aka Four Tet); DJing commenced fashionably late with the opening act taking the stage when the room was splitting at the seams.
This genre of live experimental electronic music was a first for me. Seeing a band immersed in their instruments is something I am used to at live shows. This time guitars and microphones were traded-in for laptops and samplers. In such a packed crowd such as this, observing the electronic trickery is difficult unless you push your way to the front and get fully involved with the performance. I think the one thing shows like this rely on heavily is a first rate crowd. A crowd that knows each beat of each track and won’t stop jumping until the house lights illuminate the beer-laminated floor. This crowd attended Four Tet fortunately. Their new album ‘There is Love in You’ was released three weeks prior to this show. Fans knew each track from the first drum kick and became charged when a drop in decibel led to a new beat. The crowd makes the show. Without the atmosphere, there isn’t much difference between hearing this music live and listening to a CD at home. SC