Tim Hecker | |
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![]() Hecker in a Japanese temple during the recordings for his album Konoyo | |
Background information | |
Also known as | Jetone |
Born | Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada | July 17, 1974
Origin | Montreal, Quebec, Canada |
Genres | |
Occupation(s) | Composer |
Instrument(s) | Electronics |
Years active | 1996–present |
Labels |
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Website | sunblind |
Tim Hecker is a Canadian electronic musician, producer, composer, and sound artist. His work, spanning albums such as Harmony in Ultraviolet (2006), Ravedeath, 1972 (2011) and Virgins (2013), has been widely critically acclaimed. [1] [2] He has released eleven albums and a number of EPs in addition to a number of film scores [3] and collaborations with artists such as Arca, Ben Frost, Jóhann Jóhannsson, Daniel Lopatin, and Aidan Baker. [4] [5]
Born in Vancouver, British Columbia, Hecker is the son of two art teachers. During his high school years, he played in rock bands with friends, before acquiring a sampler and working on solo material. [6] He moved to Montreal, Quebec in 1998 to study at Concordia University and explore his artistic interests further. [6] He initially performed internationally as a DJ and techno producer under the name Jetone, releasing three albums under the moniker. [7] By 2001 he became disenchanted with the musical direction of the Jetone project. In 2001, Hecker released the album Haunt Me, Haunt Me Do It Again , [8] under his own name through the label Alien8. [7] He followed with Radio Amor (2003) and Mirages (2004).
In 2006 he moved to Kranky where he released his fourth album Harmony in Ultraviolet. [7] [9] He subsequently incorporated the use of pipe organ sounds which were digitally processed and distorted. The album was called the 9th best ambient album of all time by Pitchfork. [10] For the album Ravedeath, 1972 , Hecker traveled to Iceland where together with Ben Frost, he recorded parts in a church. [11] Ravedeath, 1972 was awarded the Juno Award for Electronic Album of the Year. [12] In November 2010, Alien8 re-released Hecker's debut album on vinyl. [13] [14] Live performances contain improvisations by processing organ sounds that are manipulated, with great fluctuations in volume. [15]
In 2012, Hecker collaborated with Daniel Lopatin (who also records as Oneohtrix Point Never) on an improvisatory project which became Instrumental Tourist (2012). [16] Following 2013's Virgins , Hecker returned to Reykjavik, Iceland for sessions in 2014 and 2015, to create what would become Love Streams . [17] Collaborators include Ben Frost, Johann Johannsson, Kara-Lis Coverdale and Grimur Helgason, whilst the 15th century choral works by Josquin des Prez birthed the foundations of the album. [18] In February 2016, it was announced that Hecker had joined 4AD while Love Streams (2016) was released in April of that year. [19] [20] Hecker admits to thinking about ideas like "liturgical aesthetics after Yeezus " and the "transcendental voice in the age of auto-tune" during its creation. [21]
In addition to touring with Godspeed You! Black Emperor and Sigur Rós and recording with the likes of Fly Pan Am, Hecker has also collaborated with the likes of Arca and Aidan Baker. [5] [22] He has also contributed remixes to other artists, including Ellen Allien, John Cale, Isis, and Interpol. [6] [23] [24] [25]
Hecker pursued a professional career outside music and worked as a policy analyst for the Canadian Government in the early 2000s. [26] After leaving his employment in 2006 he enrolled at McGill University to study for a PhD, [27] with a thesis on urban noise that was published in 2014. [28] He has also worked there as a lecturer in sound culture in the Art History and Communications department. [29]
Hecker occasionally makes sound installations and has collaborated with visual artists such as Stan Douglas [35] and Charles Stankievech. [36]
Hecker, along with other musicians Ben Frost and Steve Goodman (Kode9) and artists Piotr Jakubowicz, Marcel Weber (MFO) and Manuel Sepulveda (Optigram), provided music for Unsound Festival's sensory installation, Ephemera. [37]
Hecker composed the score for Damien Jalet's performance piece Planet [wanderer]. [38]
Hecker composed the score for 2016's The Free World , [39] selected to be shown in the U.S. Dramatic Competition section at the 2016 Sundance Film Festival. [40] He composed the score for BBC Two drama series The North Water directed by Andrew Haigh and based on Ian McGuire's novel of the same name. [31] [41]
Hecker also composed the score for the Austrian drama and horror film Luzifer , which won the Best Actor Award for Franz Rogowski at Fantastic Fest in 2021 [42] and Best Actress Award for Susanne Jensen and Best Actor Award for Franz Rogowski at the 2021 Sitges Film Festival. [43] [44]
Hecker composed the score for Infinity Pool , the 2023 film by Canadian director Brandon Cronenberg, starring Alexander Skarsgård and Mia Goth, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival. [45] [46] [47]
Ellen Fraatz, known professionally as Ellen Allien, is a German electronic musician, music producer, and the founder of BPitch Control music label. Her album Stadtkind was dedicated to the city of Berlin, and she cites the culture of reunified Berlin as one of the main inspirations for her music. She sings in both German and English. Her music is best described as a blend of IDM and Techno music, which is dance-floor oriented and has noticeable experimental elements. She lives in Berlin and calls it the "best city in the world."
Haunt Me, Haunt Me Do It Again is the debut studio album by Canadian electronic musician Tim Hecker, released on November 20, 2001, on Substractif, a sub-label of Alien8 Recordings. The album mixes the digital signal processing of glitch with post-rock structures and melodies. The sounds used for this album, as well as most of Tim Hecker’s other works, originate from a guitar, piano, and laptop. The title of the song "The Work of Art in the Age of Cultural Overproduction" is a reference to Walter Benjamin's essay, "The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction". The track "Ghost Writing Pt. 1" samples the American television show Who Wants to be a Millionaire?.
Ben Frost is an Australian-Icelandic musician, composer, record producer, sound designer, and director.
Harmony in Ultraviolet is the fourth studio album by Canadian electronic music musician Tim Hecker, released on October 16, 2006, on Kranky.
Steven D. Bingley-Ellison, known by his stage name Flying Lotus or sometimes FlyLo, is an American record producer, DJ, filmmaker and rapper from Los Angeles. He is also the founder of the record label Brainfeeder.
Daniel Lopatin, best known as Oneohtrix Point Never or OPN, is an American experimental electronic music producer, composer, singer, and songwriter. His music has experimented with tropes from various musical genres and eras, sample-based song structures, and elaborate MIDI production.
Ravedeath, 1972 is the sixth studio album by Canadian electronic music musician Tim Hecker, released on February 14, 2011, by Kranky. The album was recorded primarily in Frikirkjan Church, Reykjavík, by Ben Frost. It makes prominent use of pipe organ, and was described by Hecker as "a hybrid of a studio and a live record." It received universal acclaim from critics, with many reviewers acknowledging the album as Hecker's finest.
Laurel Anne Chartow, known professionally as Laurel Halo, is an American electronic musician currently based in Los Angeles, California. She released her debut album Quarantine on Hyperdub in 2012 to critical acclaim; it was named album of the year by The Wire. She followed with studio albums Chance of Rain (2013) and Dust (2017), mini-album Raw Silk Uncut Wood (2018) and the original soundtrack release of Possessed (2020).
Alejandra Ghersi Rodríguez, known professionally as Arca, is a Venezuelan musician and record producer based in Barcelona, Spain. She initially began releasing music under the name of Nuuro. After attending the Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music, Ghersi first released the EP Baron Libre (2012) under the name Arca and subsequently released the EPs Stretch 1 and Stretch 2; the latter experimented with hip hop and brought her attention from prominent music publications.
Nicholas Britell is an American film and television composer. He has received numerous accolades including a Emmy Award as well as nominations for three Academy Awards, and a Grammy Award. He has received Academy Award nominations for Best Original Score for Barry Jenkins' Moonlight (2016) and If Beale Street Could Talk (2018), and Adam McKay's Don't Look Up (2021). He also scored McKay's The Big Short (2015), and Vice (2018). He is also known for scoring Battle of the Sexes (2017), Cruella (2021), and She Said (2022).
Virgins is the seventh studio album by Canadian electronic musician Tim Hecker, released on October 14, 2013 by Kranky and Paper Bag Records.
Love Streams is the eighth studio album by Canadian electronic music musician Tim Hecker, released on April 8, 2016 on 4AD and Paper Bag Records. The album was recorded throughout 2014 and 2015 at Greenhouse Studios in Reykjavík, Iceland, where parts of Hecker's last two albums Virgins (2013) and Ravedeath, 1972 (2011) were recorded.
Paul Corley is an American composer, producer, and sound artist.
Venezuelan electronic music producer Arca has released ten studio albums, one remix album, two mixtapes, one compilation album, four DJ mixes, one box set, four extended plays (EPs), twenty-nine singles, twenty-three music videos, and ten remixes.
"Blissing Me" is the second single from Icelandic singer Björk's ninth album, Utopia, released on 14 November 2017 via One Little Indian Records. The song was written by Björk and produced by Björk and Arca.
Konoyo is the ninth studio album by Canadian electronic music musician Tim Hecker, released on September 28, 2018 on Kranky and Sunblind Music. A majority of the album was made from Hecker's visits to Japan, where he worked with a gagaku ensemble, Tokyo Gakuso, in Jiunzan Mandala-Temple Kanzouin on the outskirts of Tokyo.
Anoyo is the tenth studio album by Canadian musician Tim Hecker. It was released on May 10, 2019 under Kranky.
Magic Oneohtrix Point Never is the ninth studio album by American electronic producer Daniel Lopatin, under his alias Oneohtrix Point Never, released on October 30, 2020, via Warp. The album draws on a psychedelic radio aesthetic strongly inspired by Magic 106.7, the mondegreen namesake of Lopatin's project, and was recorded during COVID-19 lockdowns, between March and July 2020.
No Highs is the eleventh studio album by American ambient musician Tim Hecker, released on April 7, 2023 via Kranky.