0181

Credited to 00110100 01010100 which is ‘4T’ rendered in binary code, 0181 collected sixteen Four Tet non-album tracks that were released between 1997 and 2001. The music here, as with much of his catalogue, confounds expectations, in terms of the arrangements which can veer off in surprising directions, in the juxtaposition of timbre which he manipulates as deftly as ever here, but also in terms of the album’s flow. It’s a collection of previously released material rather than a cohesive album statement and unlike 2012’s Pink which was also a collection, there are constant stylistic changes in the 16 mostly short (11 are under three minutes) tracks. Austere piano chords, breakbeats, micro-chopped samples, awkward rhythms and formerly pretty samples twisted into new, angular shapes, 0181 delivers a series of brief electronic sketches and sample collages that contain moments of genuine beauty and ingenuity.