This man and the players he recruits just keep blowing my mind.
I feel like "Tensions" is the perfect jazz song if you want to hear every player in their element. The horn players are showing off, Mingus has a great bass solo in the middle, the drummer, Danny Richmond, subsequently has a spectacular solo and then in the last 2 minutes everything comes together to create a climax that nearly made me climax. Chefs Kiss for that track, but that's not even my favorite or 2nd ... read more

I just listened to this on a bus ride home from downtown. The vibe felt perfect for this album; City lights, dark streets, scenery passing by in a blur, people in their cars or on the sidewalk or in the comfort of their homes. All that to say, I wasn't the biggest fan of the first two tracks. Not to say they are bad or anything, they just didn't blow me away especially considering the crazy amount of praise this album gets. Track C and Medley however were masterpieces and those songs ... read more

This album clicked instantly and for the entire duration I felt like I was in music heaven. It got me excited for jazz again and it made me interested in Big Band jazz.

A basic dystopian-esque ambient album that sounds like 100 other ambient albums you've probably already heard. But even so, this album is an exception for me. It may sound like it has already been made but for me Tahoe holds a special place in my heart.
What initially dragged me into listening to this album is the amazing cover. There is something about this kind of cover that draws me in and interests me so deeply. I can relate it to 6 Feet Beneath The Moon and Cosmogramma, both of which ... read more

I can listen to this album for forever and probably never get tired of it. It sometimes feels like this album was made to satiate my taste because it is perfect to me. The jazz elements are there, prog rock elements are there, the weird but easily listenable approach to the song structures are there. It has every element I love and long for when discovering music. Christian Vander was a visionary with a style so unique that it spawned a generation of music that revolved around this made up ... read more

Spiritual, enlightening, freeing.
Crazy good string sections, effortless vocals and intensely passionate playing.
Christian Vander was known for his drumming, but on here he takes to the forefront and sings/scatts and does it to such a degree that amazes me.

This album got Pharoah Sanders out of retirement and it is his last studio album before he died in 2023; I think that right there is enough of a reason to listen to this.

To start, Promises is a one-of-a-kind experience and should be listened to with your full attention, eyes closed; no distractions. The movements follow a simple motif/sequence that flows throughout the entire album which is unchanging and consistent, while Sanders plays his saxophone, which is livid at times and calming at ... read more

I remember when I listened to this because the day felt just like how this album sounds. It was right around when the album dropped, might've been the day after it dropped, but I was skipping class and I went to my usual spot to read. I checked my Spotify for new albums and I realized Tim dropped, and I thought why not play it. I remember not liking the album as much as I do now, because it was interfering with my focus.
Each first minute or two to the tracks are deceptive because they ... read more

Less emotionally evocative than its counterpart; Konoyo. But still a nice listen. Especially when paired with Konoyo

Listening to this back to back with Anoyo is a wonderful experience, but I think this album is a bit better than Anoyo. It features Tim at his most dissonant and shows him again getting out of his comfort zone and trying something new.

'Konyo' was recorded in a Buddhist Temple in Japan where he guided a Gagaku ensemble (a group specializing in traditional Japanese court music) on what to play. The instruments, as you might be able to imagine, are much different than on his previous ... read more

Tim Hecker being more experimental and opening up new avenues to explore.
This project has a few of my favorites from Hecker; Music of the air and Castrati Stack. If you don't check out this album, at the very least give these two songs a listen. The vocals featured on them are unlike anything I've ever heard.

My favorite album of all time. (Review for my future self)

I first listened to Virgins 3 years ago during a trip to Los Angeles, but my first exposure to this album was the track Black Refractions which I listened to a year before that. The song resonated with me so deeply and was unlike anything I ever heard up to that point, and I remember thinking that the song was breathing and constantly transforming. It sounded like how I felt at the time; Alienated and alone. And so I listened to that ... read more

My bias for Tim Hecker might be speaking here, but I really liked this album. Daniel Lopatin, also known as Oneohtrix Point Never, did great on here too and I think their styles come together very well. As a fan of both of these musicians, I found myself excited listening to this album for the first time, and I found that they work so well together. According to Pitchfork, they worked together in the same room, which isn't very common in an age where you can collaborate with someone across ... read more

Great for reading, dozing and thinking.

I find it so cool how Tim recorded this album in a church in Iceland using these enormous pipe organs, and did it all in one session. He recorded the pipe organs straight into his computer and Ben Frost, Australian composer and long time collaborator, recorded the piano bits. Tim's creative process is unique and clever on all of his albums but on here, (and Konoyo) I think he's tapped into something truly genius; something that most musicians strive for but only few manage to attain. ... read more

I think the name of this album is perfect because it is exactly that; An Imaginary Country. Well, that's where it takes me at least. It takes me to a place that is equally familiar and foreign, somewhere that is made up; a piece of fiction that my mind has created. A place that is made up of fragments of reality and filled in with the creativity of wherever my mind feels like going.
'An Imaginary Country' - like most of Tim Heckers music - is highly imaginative and layered. The ... read more

I used to listen to Harmony In Ultraviolet while walking through the gloomy streets of downtown Portland. The smell of the air, the dark blue hue of the sky, the greyish clouds and light rain flood my memory as I sit back and just listen. It all feels so distant now. Like how you sometimes smell something that brings you back to your childhood.

It's hard for me to gather my thoughts on this album because it is such a visceral and cathartic experience. You probably won't get it on ... read more

Sadly Hecker's most underappreciated record and one I found boundless enjoyment from upon revisiting.

My first relisten of Mirages after not hearing it for over a year was sort of a shock. Maybe I wasn't paying much attention to the sound or I assumed that it wouldn't hold up to his other albums because on my first listen I didn't have the best experience. I wasn't satisfied and even after revisiting some songs I still felt like it didn't hold up to his other ... read more

Radio Amor is a cold, vast landscape that follows themes of desolation and homesickness. There is an aquatic air about these songs; almost as if some sounds were meant to emulate being submerged underwater. These sounds make me picture myself floating aimlessly through the ocean. I see the clouds and blue sky above me, and I feel at peace with myself. But then I start to feel an intense yearning for home and I get really scared.

There are many motifs that pop up throughout this album, one of ... read more

I am finally doing it.

Tim Heckers debut project is surreal and meditative. The songs transport you directly into the world that Tim has created for us. A world that is not only dark, desolate and cold, but also warm and filled with a strange sense of hope and longing.
Throughout this 53 minute ambient masterpiece, you'll find yourself lost, contemplating and staring into nothingness and seeing everything. Well, I can't guarantee all of that but, something I can guarantee is that ... read more