Snowpocalypse

The first winter snow of the new year fell yesterday in the great city of Chicago. Ever since I moved here over the summer I knew this day would come; the season everyone has been warning me about, "The Chicago winter". I'm not even a full month into it and already it's absolutely miserable. Canadian Drone and Ambient artist Tim Hecker is going to make it a lot worse.

Heckers music is hard to describe in words because it's a very emotional listen. To me it's like a midnight blizzard: cold, howling and swirling, dreadful, introspective, and ultimately beautiful. It's hard to choose which tracks to recommend since each of his albums have different moods and should be listened to in their entirety.

The first track is from the album Ravedeath 1972. A majority of the album was written with pipe organ in an Icelandic cathedral, so everything sounds distant, old, and suffocating. The track starts off abrasive and grainy, but then a melody starts to form, and then pulsates in this breathtaking track.  

The next track is from the follow up album Virgins. Virgins, is a lot more in your face. Louder tracks that are very jarring, surreal, and absolutely depressing. The track black refraction is one of the quietest and loneliest spots on the album so its easy to recommend  I could go on and on about how I love the piano loop that gets distorted, the haunting noises in the far corners... But instead you'll just have to listen for yourself and check out the rest of his work.

-Adam