Four Tet

Kieran Hebden has been the quiet centre of British electronic music for more than two decades. As Four Tet he made records that stitched hip hop drums, jazz samples and folk instruments into something the press never quite named, and then he became a DJ whose long, record-heavy sets draw crowds across the festival circuit. The through line is a producer who treats a laptop like an instrument and a dancefloor like a listening room.

Early Life and Path Into Music

Kieran Miles David Hebden was born in Putney, London, to a South African-born Indian mother and a British sociology lecturer father, according to Wikipedia. Wikipedia and MusicBrainz both list a September 1977 birth. At Elliott School in Putney he formed the band Fridge with classmates Adem Ilhan and Sam Jeffers. The band signed a recording contract when Hebden was 15 and released its first album, Ceefax, on Trevor Jackson's Output Recordings in March 1997. Hebden began a degree in maths and computer science at the University of Manchester at the same time.

His stage name comes from 4 Tet, a 1971 album by the Dutch jazz saxophonist Harry Verbeke. His first solo release was the 1997 single "Double Density" on Output, credited to 4T Recordings, and he began releasing as Four Tet in 1998 with the 36-minute single "Thirtysixtwentyfive".

Sound and Style

AllMusic's Paul Simpson, quoted by Wikipedia, called Hebden "perhaps the definitive indie electronic artist". His work draws on spiritual jazz, krautrock, folk and hip hop. Pause (2001) leaned on folk and electronic samples and was quickly dubbed folktronica, a label Hebden rejected as misleading, pointing instead to hip hop producers like Timbaland and Rodney Jerkins. Rounds (2003), the record that cemented his reputation, took its collage approach from hip hop. His 1999 remix of the opening track of Aphex Twin's Selected Ambient Works Volume II, made for the Warp 10 + 3 compilation, was considered his breakout, as Wikipedia notes. You can read more about Aphex Twin here on RTS.FM.

There Is Love in You (2010) marked the turn toward the dancefloor. Wikipedia describes it as heavily influenced by a period DJing at Plastic People in Shoreditch, the same basement that The Guardian's 2015 profile of Floating Points credits as a model of sound-first club culture.

Text Records and Releases

Hebden's own label, Text Records, released his sixth album Pink in August 2012 and has carried much of his work since, including the collection 0181 (material from 1997 to 2001) and 871, released under the alias 00110100 01010100. His earlier albums appeared on Output and, from 2001, on Domino. In June 2022 he announced that he had won a dispute with Domino over streaming royalties in the Intellectual Property Enterprise Court, a case Wikipedia summarises.

Collaboration runs through the catalogue: improvised albums with the jazz drummer Steve Reid, a split 12-inch with Burial and Thom Yorke in 2011, a 2021 arrangement role on Madlib's Sound Ancestors, and a 2024 single with Ellie Goulding. In 2008 he co-wrote "Crawl, End Crawl", the end-credits song for the film Quantum of Solace, with the composer David Arnold.

Career Highlights

Four Tet has released twelve studio albums, according to Wikipedia, including Rounds, Everything Ecstatic (2005), There Is Love in You, New Energy (2017), Sixteen Oceans (2020) and Three (2024). In November 2024 Three earned Grammy nominations for Best Dance/Electronic Album and, for the track "Loved", Best Dance/Electronic Recording. In May 2019 he played two shows at London's Alexandra Palace, his largest to date, and in February 2023 he joined Skrillex and Fred again for a five-hour set at Madison Square Garden.

As a DJ and Festival Presence

In 2015 he hosted a Brixton Academy all-nighter alongside Floating Points and Caribou, which The Guardian reported charged only 5 pounds to get in. He played Bloc in 2011, on a bill with Aphex Twin and Moderat, and was on the lineup of its farewell edition in March 2016, both covered in our history of Bloc. In September 2026 Resident Advisor announced him alongside Floating Points, Theo Parrish and others for the Head Trip festival in California on 10 and 11 October, built around Floating Points' Sunflower rig, which we examined in our look at hi-fi sound systems on festival bills. Theo Parrish is among the other names on that bill with an RTS.FM profile.

FAQ

Who is Four Tet?

Four Tet is the stage name of Kieran Hebden, an English electronic musician and DJ from Putney, London. He first came to prominence in the band Fridge and has released twelve studio albums as Four Tet, including Rounds, There Is Love in You and Three.

How old is Four Tet?

Kieran Hebden was born in September 1977, which makes him 49 (age 49 as of October 2026). His exact birth date has not been published in the sources we checked.

Where is Four Tet from?

Four Tet is English. He was born in Putney, London, and went to school there before studying at the University of Manchester.

What genre does Four Tet play?

His records mix electronica, jazz, folk, hip hop and house, and he is often associated with IDM and the folktronica label, which he has rejected. As a DJ he plays a broad mix of dance music.

What is Four Tet's real name?

His real name is Kieran Miles David Hebden. He also releases under the names Kieran Hebden, Percussions, 4TLR and 00110100 01010100.

Where does the name Four Tet come from?

It is taken from the 1971 album 4 Tet by the Dutch jazz saxophonist Harry Verbeke.

What is Text Records?

Text Records is Hebden's own label. It released his album Pink in 2012 and has released much of his work since, including the albums 0181 and 871 under the 00110100 01010100 alias.

Which band was Four Tet in before going solo?

He was a member of the post-rock band Fridge, formed at school in Putney with Adem Ilhan and Sam Jeffers. Their first album, Ceefax, came out in March 1997.

festivals

• Kappa FuturFestivalTurin, 2-4 JUL 2027→
• NachtdigitalLeipzig, 30 JUL 2027 - 01 AUG 2027→
• Nuits SonoresLyon, 5-9 MAY 2027→

Past appearances and announced lineups only, each checked against the festival's own records.

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