It seems Kieran Hebden is using his Text imprint these days to stress out his fans. The Burial/Thom Yorke/Four Tet collab and this one were both limited run copies that sold out quicker than you can say "hype machine" (although both are now available on Discogs for around a tenner, phew). Style-wise, this split with Caribou can loosely be described as "Snaith and Hebden do tech house." As you might expect, though, when these two do tech house, it hardly sounds like any tech house that you've heard before. Four Tet's "Pinnacles" is full of personality (of the emotional, moonlit jazz variety). Acoustic instruments jangle and clatter about each other, until the synthetic twinkling arpeggios and pulsing chords take dominance near the end. There's a modest elegance in the piano chords and the way they move. It's better than most, but Hebden's magic is usually freer to evolve when he's not being quite this loop-based and standardized.
Some may recognize "Ye Ye" from Caribou's recent RA podcast, one of several tracks under his Daphni alias made for the mix. It's the one with the odd circling synth line in the background, and big delayed analogue chords that crash over the top like a bell toll. It's also got a driving shuffle underpinning it all, with the kick, bass and other elements and variations introducing themselves smoothly. It deftly creates both groove and a vibe that's cool and trippy at the same time. To my ears, it wins as the smoother and more idiosyncratic of the sides, but it's doubtless there'll be division on this issue, as they're markedly distinct.
Buy Four Tet / Daphni - Pinnacles / Ye Ye at
Tracklist: Four Tet / Daphni - Pinnacles / Ye Ye
 A Pinnacles
B Ye Ye
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