Ravedeath, 1972
by Tim Hecker

A very intriguing drone and ambient style of album that is split up into three major movements with the standout being the opening one “In The Fog”. This movement is very abrasive and loud with the organ playing through the metaphorical “fog” of the other instrumentation. The album feels very claustrophobic and hypnotic with no real climaxes or crescendos but somehow still manages to keep you engaged for the majority of the fifty two minute run time.

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 organ, seeming to emerge from a fog. For 50 minutes, we live totally through this music. "Ravedeath, 1972" is a rare album, an absolute abstraction which each listening places you in an unknown state. "Ravedeath, 1972" is just an attempt to define perfect instability.

9/10

Best track: "Hatred Of Music I"

From RockyRaccoon 04/03/2018 18:33 | #212244

God my comment five years ago was such immature garbage please ignore it forever

From JulianR 02/25/2018 20:48 | #209622

Rarely have I heard an album falling under the (admittedly broad) genre of ambient be this interesting every moment of the way. Most ambient is a long process, an experience, while it feels almost like listening to songs here. I'm not even sure if it is ambient.... Maybe more like soft noise (ie, the opposite of harsh noise). Whatever you want to call it, it is endlessly captivating.

85/100

From jeremih724 09/06/2014 20:52 | #121393

great atmosphere. unlike Virgins, this album is actually pleasant to listen to and indeed quite melodic. a true piece of art

From Mercury 02/09/2014 18:14 | #102689

Some words to describe this album: ethereal, dense, stunning, introspective, dark, gorgeous.

It's one of the seminal musical milestones in modern music as far as I am concerned. It wraps you up in sound and showers you with waves of beautiful noises. There is nothing quite like this that I have heard.

A masterpiece. Please do yourself a favor and listen to this record and just let yourself be sorta pulled out of present time for about 50 minutes. See where this album takes you. It's truly a unique experience.

From Mother Nature's Son 07/29/2013 21:20 | #82673

@RockyRacoon: I think you may have misunderstood the genre. It's not supposed to be even half as melodic as Sigur Rós (don't know the other band) and the point of the music is exactly that it doesn't move along (only very slowly). If it succeeds, it will hypnotize you and put you into an emotionally powerful, atmospheric closet (in this case, a claustrophobic closet) and not let you go until silence pulls you out of it into reality again.

From RockyRaccoon 07/18/2013 13:23 | #81854

This album is an instrumental album. Tim Hecker creates a sound here very similar to Sigur Ros or The Album Leaf. It’s ethereal, heavy on the electronic instruments. However unlike the previously mentioned bands, this album isn’t as good as their music. It’s slow, it gets boring and it just needs to move along, which sometimes it doesn’t. Sometimes it sounds alright but overall I wasn’t a huge fan of this album. I like the sound he was going for, but I don’t particularly like the album overall.

From CellarDoor 04/11/2011 15:44 | #20260

Stunning emotional work of ambient art. A portrait of solitude and despair. Like that amp overheating in Sonic Youth's "Providence", a story of musical decay still relevant in 2011.