Track Listing

1. Phantom on a Pedestal
2. Hymn to the Idea of Night
3. Auditory Spirits
4. Skeleton Dance
5. Gallery of the Invisible Woman
6. Dream of the Nightmare
7. Fantasma-Parastasie

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #59165 in Music
• Brand: Dig
• Released on: 2008-10-14
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .13 pounds

Album Description
"Tim Hecker plays with pink-into-white noise, tinkling synths that float between the speakers, the occasional over-the-airwaves voice, and knotty samples of guitar with the Earth-drone pedal pushed to the jet-black metal." -- Pitchfork "Tim Hecker's deft hand at creating textural masses where melodic beauty, even tenderness, and granular noise coexist in a manner that inevitably invites comparison to Fennesz." -- Stylus "[Aidan Baker creates] an intriguing exploration of worlds of tactile sensualism ... and a deeper look at the inner forces and powerful unseen drives that lurk below. It's a dense and prickly world." -- Dusted

This release sees the pairing of Aidan Baker and Tim Hecker, two of Canada's brightest musicians currently operating in the world of abstract electronic music. Tim Hecker has been enjoying the rewards of a stellar career and discography, void of filler, due to his incredibly high quality control. His most recent full length, Harmony in Ultraviolet, was viewed as a major release in the genre of experimental-electronic music. Aidan Baker works under very different circumstances, releasing material both as a solo artist and as a member of the duo Nadja--in abundance on par with that of Merzbow or the late Muslimgauze. Thankfully, Baker has the ability to record and write new music quickly without sacrificing the quality of his art. One listen to this release and it is fairly evident how these two artists came to collaborate in the first place. It is immediately apparent that both artists have a penchant for creating an incredibly powerful blend of ambient noise.

Customer Reviews

Fantasma Parastasie - A Very Good Collaboration
Track listing -

1. phantom on a pedestal
11. hymn to the idea of night
22. auditory spirits
33. skeleton dance
44. gallery of the invisible woman
55. dream of the nightmare
66. phantasma-parastasie

It's possible that, like me, you have heard and enjoyed Tim Hecker's Harmony in Ultraviolet. In that case, you will not be dissapointed with this album. Hecker's influence on this cd remains throughout. Added to Aidan Baker's own sounds yields a truly fantastic work. Auditory Spirits contains a particularly haunting mesh of ghostly-faded guitar and a crystalline, drone ambience. The "no filler" guideline attributed to Hecker's other efforts definitely applies here.

The "droning" itself is only constant in how often the music morphs and alters course. With the exception of track 66. Fantasma-Parastasie, each is split into 10 sub-parts that roughly contain a microcosm of the greater whole. Expect to be taken to many faraway places and times while listening with an open mind.

My PC media player has a very small pause between tracks. Obviously, that would make the cd very difficult to enjoy, however, turning on crossfading alleviates that issue.

Headphone Commute Review
Toronto based Aidan Baker and Montreal based Tim Hecker pair up to deliver an abstract and experimental ambient piece on a Canadian Alien8 Recordings. Hecker is not a stranger to a noise-prominent label, having previously released Mirages (Alien8, 2004), and a re-issue of Radio Amor (Mille Plateaux, 2003). In addition, his ambient recordings have already graced quality labels like Force Inc, Staalplaat, Fat Cat and Kranky. This is, however, his very first collaboration. Baker, on the other hand, is known for his work with Leah Buckareff, together cooking up ambient drone metal under the Nadja moniker. Baker's discography is immense, and mostly consists of live improvised long pieces. His ability to churn out guitar heavy drone soundscapes can be overwhelming, but together, with Hecker's luscious synth work, they pull out a whole different beast. The overdriven guitars combined with hiss, crackle and static, vibrate feverishly across the frequency spectrum, occasionally revealing a hidden pattern, a loose structure, and a graceful melody. The paced slow-core riffs, rolling at a speed of a sleeping giant, are fed back into themselves and split through a harmonic meat grinder. All this is again mashed up, tweaked out, and faded in through a torrent of bit-crushed digitally violated audio waves that give your speakers (and ears) a massive workout. Fantasma Parastasie is a relaxing fatigue - it cradles you gently by screaming its head off. Thus, together, Backer and Hecker, define an oxymoron of ambient noise or shoegazer metal. This should be a special treat for those with a taste for Belong, Ben Frost, Fennesz, Jasper TX, and Lawrence English. Where as Baker has a bucket of upcoming albums, too many to fit in a paragraph (see my Two and a Half Questions with Aidan Baker for a full list), Hecker is scheduled to release his seventh studio album, An Imaginary Country, in March 2009 on Kranky.