Four Tet Opens Up About Viral “Country Riddim” Moment at Coachella
Despite a star-studded 2023 Coachella festival, there’s hardly an artist who courted the conversation quite like Four Tet.
In a new interview with The Guardian, the influential electronic music producer revealed that his show-stealing moment dropping "Country Riddim" was the product of feeling immune to any unconventional song selection previously thrown his way.
He described a moment years earlier, when Skrillex dropped the Lion King soundtrack theme during one of their formative back-to-back sets. Since that time, Tet said, there's been an unsaid tenant between the two that no song selection is off limits.
"Since then, we look at each other like: 'Nothing you could play would be too chaotic to mix out of. Try me,'" he explained.
That was the better part of a decade ago. And as fate would have it, a similarly devilish inspiration struck Tet again in front of 100,000 Coachella attendees, where he dropped HOL!'s breakout track, "Country Riddim," to a crowd all too eager to head-bang in unison.
"I actually had an out-of-body experience," Tet recalled. "Absolutely lost my marbles. It was like knowing I’ve got the funniest joke in the world and 100,000 people are about to lose their minds. It’s one of the most powerful feelings I’ve experienced in my whole life."
Clearly, despite the highest highs of that moment, Four Tet hasn't let the newfound attention get to his head.
Making a lighthearted jab at the circumstances of it all, he added, "I did Coachella and the next gig was a three-and-a-half-hour set at my daughter’s 13th birthday party to 20 teenage girls, who I felt looked at me deeply unimpressed the whole time."
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