With a mane of wild hair and the darkly circled eyes of the sleep deprived, one could easily mistake Kieran Hebden for a grad student up too late at the lab. There is little evidence in his striped polo shirt and khaki shorts that he is one of the more sought after electronica producers and performers. Under the Four Tet moniker he has put out four lauded albums and today, the haggard look comes from having played a late night set in Ibiza the night before, and having just arrived in Japan earlier in the afternoon for his Tokyo show.
In fact, Hebden, a 28-year-old Londoner, looks much like many of his fans. Electronica, as opposed to its more proletarian cousin, dance music, has always attracted a chin-stroking crowd. The relationship between sampling and postmodernism, the evolution of technology, not to mention the influence of American composers like John Cage and arty predecessors like Laurie Anderson, have made electronica the genre of choice for intellectual music fans that take themselves very seriously.
Hebden clearly recognizes the type. "It's OK," he says with a hint of resignation. "But at the same time, I don't think music is just about sitting at home, listening to it and intellectualizing about it.