Tim Hecker - Ravedeath, 1972
Critic Score
Based on 19 reviews
2011 Ratings: #20 / 1031
Year End Rank: #32
User Score
2011 Rank: #15
Liked by 171 people
February 14, 2011 / Release Date
LP / Format
Kranky / Label
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CRITIC REVIEWS

100
musicOMH

It's certainly among his most concentrated and well crafted works - the best since Harmony In Ultraviolet and arguably the most successful of them all.

91
A.V. Club

Complex and rewarding in a way that the telescoping salvia trip of An Imaginary Country never was, and tougher and more fibrous than the excellent Haunt Me Haunt Me, Do It Again, Ravedeath, 1972 somehow manages to soothe even as it disorients.

90
Drowned in Sound

It draws upon the grandeur of the past but refuses to crumble its bones into sonic dust.

90
FACT Magazine
Rapture has never sounded so eerie. As the world spirals into hell these are the lullabies to dull the pain.
90
No Ripcord

The record is awash with the feeling of isolation and teaming with crushing amplified annihilation.

88
Beats Per Minute
It makes its own statement, and it does so with the level of maturity and succinctness that we've come to expect from Hecker, an artist who has well earned his place as a leader amongst his peers.
86
Pitchfork

The notion of music as a cheapened, battered object, touches nearly every aspect of Ravedeath, 1972, a dark and often claustrophobic record that is arguably Hecker's finest work to date.

84
Spectrum Culture

His presentation may signal a push toward death, but Ravedeath, 1972 remains more about preservation and life, an open-air tomb where new sounds are free to fester and grow on the corpses of old ones.

80
AllMusic

The overall effect of Ravedeath, 1972 is a balance between sheer sonic wooziness and a focused sense of construction; nothing seems wholly random in each song's development even as the feeling can be increasingly disorienting.

80
Sputnikmusic

Each of Hecker's layers are shards, something incomplete, but with just enough shards, a fragmented, disturbed image is formed, and that is the result of Ravedeath, 1972.

80
Resident Advisor

It seems the man has gone inward, taking the contemplative grandeur and catharsis of recent albums, like the symphonic gush of Harmony in Ultraviolet or the topographical expanse of An Imaginary Country, and re-applied it to a space that feels much more mournful by comparison.

80
Uncut
His primary source is a pipe organ in an Icelandic church, which he processes, filters, deconsecrates, muddles and distorts, and therefore liberates in the course of this album, enabling its latent potential to escape from its wooden room and form a burgeoning cloudscape.
80
Mojo
Very sad and very beautiful.
80
The Needle Drop
Tim Hecker's latest album is a barren wasteland of forgotten sounds. It's music you can truly wander through.
76
Coke Machine Glow

Perhaps the appeal of this music lies in nothing more or less than how painstakingly moulded it is, and in that respect Hecker will probably always release really impressive records.

70
NME
A tour de force of finely textured sound.
70
PopMatters

Ravedeath, 1972 is so amorphous and ungraspable this way that it ranks as Hecker’s most disorienting record, and therefore, perhaps, his scariest.

70
Tiny Mix Tapes
Hecker's freshest exploration of the life of rave death comes thoroughly recommended.
BradTasteMusic
95

Fav: All

Edit (score 99 > 100): It feels stupid even giving this a 99 and not 100 considering I listen to this album now almost daily to fall asleep. Why is this album perfect? For me, it completely transports me to another world effortlessly every time. This is one of the most sonically satisfying ambient albums I have ever heard. From the moment it starts to the moment it ends, I feel like it is trying to tell me something. The ethereal atmosphere of this project is unmatched, and could ... read more

UltimateLifeFrm
90

Claustrophobia in musical form.

Ravedeath, 1972 is the 6th studio album from Canadian electronic music producer Tim Hecker, released in February 2011. The album was written during late 2010 in Montreal, Canada and recorded on July 21st, 2010 at Fríkirkjan Church in Reykjavik, Iceland. After the session, he returned back to his studio in Montreal, spending a month on mixing & finalising the album.

The title itself, has an interesting unravel behind it; the year 1972 is a reference ... read more

WhatTheFunk
82

In November 1972, a group of MIT students decided, without any foundation, to throw a piano from the top of a building. The photos and videos are responsible for immortalizing this event. Decades later, Tim Hecker is left with a picture of this action in his hands. The snapshot freezing time for immortality then awakens the composer. The Canadian has always needed a revelation to lead to the design. "Ravedeath, 1972" is an experience that is lived. We are enveloped by a vaporous ... read more

AnotherWhiteMan
90

White man approved.

Owenx33
98

HOLY 300 RATED ALBUMS

This is the first Tim Hecker album I can say is absolutely soothing.

90

Beautiful, sorrow soundscape that I love coming back to explore.

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