I hope you all have enjoyed this week’s installment of An Album A Day. The Mort Aux Vaches theme might not have been the most creative but the sounds that have been shared here certainly make up for that (in my opinion). I know I mentioned having a few of these CDs left over that I couldn’t share on account of only devoting five days to each theme, so I’ll be sure to include some of those on Sunday as part of this week’s mix tape. Think of it as a final send-off to Week 2 of this new project of mine. Week three will be a little bit more creative. I’m still trying to compile all the albums I want to share and get the atwork/MP3s organized before I skip town on Monday for Vegas. Hopefully I’ll get everything scheduled in time and there will be daily updates to the blog despite my non-presence at home.
Recorded live at VPRO Studio in Amsterdam on May 3rd, 2004 and released later that year in a limited edition of 1,000 copies, Tim Hecker‘s “untitled” performance is one of the best Mort Aux Vaches “sessions” committed to tape since the broadcasting corporation began commissioning recordings back in 1994. And for those of you who enjoy the rest of Tim Hecker’s catalog, be forewarned: this one is about as minimalist a recording as he’s ever produced. The white noise is subdued enough that the rest of the sounds can play out atop the fray and manipulate the overall tone of the piece. The first five or ten minutes are a slick movement from beautiful ambient vibes to darker, more desolate/gray territory. The piece continues to ebb and flow for its duration dreamlike in the sense that it brings you right to the precipice of awakening only to lull you back into feelings of contentment and peace.
Like the rest of my Mort Aux Vaches collection, this disc came in as a record industry guy was selling off the bulk of his personal collection. Each of Hecker’s CDs were present (no vinyl, sadly) from the Alien8 stuff to Substractif albums and EPs. God, if I could have pulled that guy aside and bought his entire collection for myself (instead of for my workplace) I’d have a considerably more impressive CD collection. Alas, I bought the stuff I needed, burned the stuff I wanted (but didn’t need), and my hard drive and my dwindling CD collection are much more impressive now because of it. If only he hadn’t chosen to sell all his vinyl himself on eBay, you’d be getting all kinds of ridiculous treats courtesy of me having spent my annual salary to acquire the collection.
This is one of the few (I think?) weeks that will be dedicated to CDs. I’m much more interested in sharing stories and artifacts from my vinyl collection. There might be a Travels In Constants week somewhere down the line, or a Mystery Sea week, but beyond that I’m hard pressed to think of what else I can do to showcase my digital music archives. For the foreseeable future I’ll be highlighting rekkids. Stay tuned. We’ll pick up again on Monday.
Tim Hecker
Mort Aux Vaches
(Mort Aux Vaches, 2004)
01. Untitled [MP3]
