Four Tet

A DJ with fantastic, eclectic taste, Four Tet (aka Englishman Kieran Hebden) uses his unerring instincts to create brilliantly hybridized music. Early recordings such as Thirtysixtwentyfive and “Glasshead” revealed Hebden’s interest in soul-jazz questing and krautrock propulsion. But he’s largely left those styles behind for a sleek, cerebral brand of dance music that weaves in intriguing ambient, minimalist, and folk passages along with uplifting vocal samples. The tracks on There Is Love in You, Morning/Evening, New Energy, and Anna Painting aren’t functional DJ tools so much as they’re intricately stitched compositions in which a panoply of organic-seeming synthetic elements cohere into kaleidoscopic tapestries of ecstatic sound. Hebden isn’t afraid to go on extended journeys that will transport you to sublime headspaces.