Four Tet

Blessed with exquisite musical taste and an enviably large record collection, Four Tet (a.k.a. British producer Kieran Hebden) has maximized those assets over four increasingly accomplished albums since 1999’s Dialogue, while incidentally becoming the foremost proponent of “folktronica.” Four Tet’s mastery of the laptop and sampler culminates on Everything Ecstatic, a strange yet beguiling amalgam of Can drummer Jaki Liebezeit’s mantric tribal power, inventive funk beats that Madlib would give up weed to find, and beautifully warped Southeast Asian gong and bell reveries. Ecstatic maintains a perfect yin-yang balance between sexily mirthful grooves and heady textural exploration. It’s a tribute to Hebden’s compositional skills that he can create an album so adventurous (and organic-sounding), yet also utterly joyful. This could soundtrack the highest-browed, off-the-hook party of your wildest imagination.