TIM HECKER / Virgins (2013)

I've had Virgins on repeat for days and each time the experience has been different. The most magical was while lying in bed after a night of no sleep. The sounds of the waking world through the open window seemed to be coming from far enough away that they took on a kind of rhythmic, musical ambience. That reservoir of early morning audio formed a symbiotic relationship with the ebb and flow of the spatial environment created by the album. I'm positive the woodwind and piano were Heckler's but the barking dogs in the distance… real or disc?
Listening during waking hours casts a different kind of spell. Some songs sound taller, more open; some more ambitious; and some make me think it's what being inside a storm cloud formation would sound like. Take from that what you will.

Songs of Note: You need all of it to get the full experience.

5 fugue states out of 5

TIM HECKER / Ravedeath, 1972 [2011]

Sound-sculptor Tim Hecker's 6th ominously titled album Ravedeath, 1972 is an effective one indeed.
A hostile, but never aggressive, wall of sound created by multiple recordings of a church organ battling it out with a dense atmosphere of crackles, drones and distorted loops. Hecker never really needs to resort to anything outright terrifying but instead relies on the mood he's created to fog up your mind and chill you right to the bone.
It's as pleasant as it is unnerving. If you can accept this as listening material then I can highly recommend it.

4 digital garbage obsessions out of 5

Songs Of Note: The Piano Drop; No Drums