Let me pour you a little more Beaujolais while I tell you what I heard about on NPR the other day…

#19 Four Tet, Rounds (Domino, 2003)

According to my all-knowing itunes program, Four Tet qualifies as “electronica/dance.” Dance is certainly a stretch (though not as much as calling Ethiopiques “Reggae” – oh, itunes, I kid because I love), but I’m not even sure if I should call it electronica either. Though I’ve finally gotten over my irrational fear of electronic music, Four Tet’s music sounds very little like what any novice like me would think of as electronic. Everything sounds so human and so warm, even when, like with many of Four Tet’s work, the songs are reflective and wistful. Of course, the music is manipulated all over the place – to excellent effect – but you can imagine real musicians producing this. (Hmm … authenticity produced by artifice. Brandon, you can have at that.)

I first picked up Four Tet’s 2001 album “Pause” back in the Radio Free Records days, on the owner Ethan’s recommendation, and had it on the discman all the time (pre-ipod days! I also churned my own butter back then too, btw.). Everything I wrote above describes “Pause” as well, but “Rounds” is even better. Maybe what sets it apart is that it has so many memorable melodies. The nine-minute, “Unspoken” is a quiet number based on a short piano line, but it never ever gets boring. The last track, “Slow Jam” is probably the best one on here – another understated and peaceful track – but it is simply as catchy as the most explosive summertime pop single. “Rounds” is not, of course, a pop album; some of the songs are more exploratory, though even those have a tendency to resolve almost unnoticeably into melodic experiments (for example “And They Look Broken Hearted” and the stunning opening track, “Hands”).

Perhaps the only knock I can come up with on this gem is that, while it does show depth and rewards repeated listens, its surface is shiny, pleasant, and well, relaxing. Electronic music for the non-fans and casual listeners, I suppose. There’s probably absolutely nothing wrong with that, but “Rounds” is, of course, dinner party music, and I do wonder if indie-electronica of this stripe will become the Yacht Rock of the 21st century. The only thing that would bother me about that idea is that I think if I am going to go all bourgeois, I might as well do so while owning an awesome yacht.