Tim Hecker: Boards up the House and visits an Imaginary Country

Before Canada’s Tim Hecker launches his next solo full-length (“Imaginary Country”) on Kranky in early 2009, an upcoming remix for futuristic electronic grindcore band Genghis Tron (signed to genre leaders Relapse) is sure to keep fans happy for a little while. Hecker’s spin on “Board Up the House”, included on a three-track Vinyl split on Crucial Blast Records and as part of the final installment of a five-part series of remix EPs, is an anthemic slab of minimalistic orchestral pastures masked by overtone-rich feedback-drift and a perfect example of Hecker’s ability to combine the tenderness and consoling poetry of Ambient with the blurred fuzz of Metal and Drones – a remarkably different approach compared to his compatriots of Nadja, whose version of “I Won't Come Back Alive” (also included on “GENGHIS TRON Board Up The House Remixes Vol. 5”) keeps the frenzied drumming intact thus creating a haunting virtual band feeling. And yet, it is testimony to his antipathy towards stagnation that he has decided to work together with the latter formation on “Fantasma Parastasie”, a majestic collaboration on Alien8 Recordings.