Four Tet
Awakenings ADE 2024
ADE is essentially a convention for guys who spend their life savings on modular synths but still can't mix two records together. Every October, Amsterdam is overrun by techno tourists in black beanies pretending to understand polyrhythms while secretly wishing the DJ would just play a Fisher edit. Inside the cavernous industrial shell of Awakenings ADE 2024, the lasers slice through the thick, sweaty atmosphere like butter. Scanning the Four Tet Awakenings ADE 2024 tracklist, it's clear Kieran Hebden is having a right laugh with the crowd.
Averaging 130.5 BPM, he dances wildly across the tempo spectrum from 111 up to a mad 156 BPM, anchoring the chaos predominantly in 12A and 3B keys. This Four Tet live set is a Rominimal puzzle, spiking the mid-range energy to a whopping 69% to keep the floor utterly destabilised yet locked in. His selections are as brilliantly unhinged as you'd expect. Tossing in Miklós Spányi & Silbermann's "Toccata and Fugue In D Minor, BWV 565" alongside his own remix of Sigrid's "Sucker Punch" is the kind of cheeky brilliance only he can pull off.
It’s a proper rollercoaster from start to finish. The opening track, Kyo’s "Dernière danse", is an absolutely baffling but brilliant scene-setter. "Mutate" by Christian Smith & Wehbba rips the roof off midway, before bringing us down gently with the closing track, "In My Dreams" by Four Tet & Ellie Goulding.