MUTEK revisited (IV)

8. Tim Hecker vs 242 Pilots

May 29, 2003:"Then, after a couple of exercises in sound/visual synchronization by 242 Pilots, it launches into their improvised visual accompaniment with Tim Hecker. He's dead-on awesome, combining noise and splendour while holding the room in his own personal trance."

You can grab a recording of this from MUTEK podcast #9, but be warned that it's not a complete version of the gig. The first twenty minutes were the "exercises in sound/visual synchronization", musically this resembled Thomas Brinkmann's vinyl-slicing experiments far more than what you'd typically get from Tim Hecker. I'm listening to the complete recording, the MUTEK version picks up once Hecker's warm, enveloping, airy tones kick in, as the set begins to focus on "Radio Amor" material.

So, what else can I say about the great Tim Hecker? He is one of the most reliable artists of the decade, and also one of the most formulaic. Both are meant to be compliments. He has found a signature style that works wonders for him, and I'm completely OK with continuing to listen to sets like these from now until he chooses to stop making them or quits music altogether. He takes his formula and alters it depending on how melancholy he wants his music to be (with choice of additional black metal or shoegaze add-ons) and away he goes. He is to the 00's what Stereolab were to the 90's -- he has about three songs and keeps rewriting them over and over, but those three songs are so damn good that the endless recycling scarcely seems to matter.