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Solid Steel returns with brand new and exclusive mixes from Four Tet and Trevor Jackson.
For this special show we have Kieran Hebden - AKA Four Tet - partnered with Trevor Jackson - founder of Output Recordings, the independent record label he ran between 1996 and 2006.
Both artists have a long history with the show (this is Hebden’s 7th appearance and Jackson's 3rd), as well as with each other. Hebden’s early releases as part of Fridge and his first solo release - the 1997 "Double Density" single under the artist name 4T Recordings - were released on Output. The label was also home to the first releases under his Four Tet Alias, including 1998 singles "Thirtysixtwentyfive" and "Misnomer", and 1999's “Glasshead"/"Calamine" single and first full-length album “Dialogue”. Jackson also released music on the label as Skull and Open Music, and elsewhere including his work as Playgroup.
Speaking about the mix and his history with Hebden, Jackson told us: “I spend most of my time now actively searching for brand new music doing my very best to avoid the past, but for this mix decided to go back and delve through my vinyl collection for old music I haven’t listened to for ages, specifically 70’s jazz rock, fusion & strange funk, odd things that straddle genres, mostly European and also very representative of the kind of music I was totally obsessed by for many years during the early/mid 90’s . All these tracks are taken from albums I purchased during that time, things I dug out initially for strictly sampling purposes, but eventually grew to love, learn from & lovingly listen to in their entirety. Pre Youtube & Pre Discogs these tracks were stumbled upon via intense and lengthy record store & stall excursions, none of them purchased for large amounts of money, most for peanuts, and at a time when there were very few other people I was aware of interested in this stuff to gain knowledge from or share my discoveries with.
It's been a pleasure searching through my shelves and getting a chance to rediscover them again, sitting here listening to them vividly reminds me of a precious time when I was able to retreat away from the real world for days on end in my tiny home studio, immersing myself in highly ingenious music played by some of the worlds finest musicians, painstakingly (& often clumsily) attempting to reconstruct it all into my own mutant creations.
I started Output inspired by the progressive nature of the musicians playing on these records, when I met Keiran Hebden i’d finally met a likeminded soul who was able to channel the spirt of this music I loved into a challenging & relevant contemporary form (something I’d felt unable at the time to do myself at the time). It was massively inspiring to be able to work with him at the very start of his career and equally as inspiring to see what he’s been able to achieve via his robust passion for music, compelling natural talent and impressively consistent high quality releases.
The mix is dedicated to Ultima Thule, Honest Jon’s, Jazzman Gerald, Mole Jazz & Mark B please. ”
You can hear the mix by Four Tet here https://soundcloud.com/ninja-tune/solid-steel-030719-four-tet
There are no tracklists for the show on this occasion, the mix is instead accompanied by two photographs of the record sleeves used which you can see on Twitter twitter.com/SolidSteelRadio - one for the diggers