Tim Hecker: Ravedeath, 1972 (Kranky, 2/14/11)
Tim Hecker: “Hatred of Music I”
[audio:http://alarm-magazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/Hatred_of_Music_I.mp3|titles=Tim Hecker: “Hatred of Music I”]
Experimental electronic musician Tim Hecker recorded his forthcoming album, Ravedeath, 1972, over the course of one day, using a pipe organ in a church in Reykjavik, Iceland. As with the majority of Hecker’s work, the record was shaped by computer-based post-production tweaking and editing (with engineering help from Icelandic jack-of-all-trades Ben Frost). His ambient soundscapes comprise ever-changing layers of noise and melody, building toward monolithic sonic density and hemmed in by meticulous attention to detail.
In addition to making music, Hecker also studied the cultural history of urban noise in North America at McGill University in Montreal (where he now teaches a course called “Sound Culture”), making him the perfect candidate to expound on important moments in thunderous aural innovation.