first!

always a pleasure to hear a new tim hecker album.

can't wait.

Hecker 'rocks'.

This'll be awesome. I wonder if the water references they outlined in the press release will mean the album sounds more like Radio Amor with its lapping waves of radio static than Mirages or Harmony in Ultraviolet with their monolithic walls of abrasive noise? I love both of these approaches. Let's hope he blends the two for a fresh sound.

not as dark as harmony in ultraviolet but still an excellent release.

It would be so great if Hecker brought back the Jetone sound.

In 2006, he put out and EP "Sundown" as Jetone on Apnea. It was sadly too short a release (only four original tracks) but the originals sound like Ultramarin making sweet love to Radio Amor on a sun drenched beach, a really awesome combo of fuzzed out ambient with Thousand Oaks style rhythm. And there's a really freakin sweet remix on the B side of the second 12" by Alex Under. Bonus!

personally, i think this is a really excellent entry in tim hecker's catalog. it's not the 'great record' that 'harmony in ultra violet' was, but i think it really straddles the divide between his earlier glitch work and his heavier, more metallic drone work. 4/5 from me.

also, i agree on bringing back the jetone sound...it's been way too long since i even pulled out 'ultramarin.' might have to make that happen...

i love this album... seems a bit less obvious than ultraviolet to me, which ended up losing its appeal over the years. obviously too early to tell what kind of shelf life this one will have, but for the moment it's definitely my favorite by hecker.

3 !?! Man this is straight up 5. i think the only thing 'dumbly spelled out' connected with this release is this review....

Well, 3 of 5 is maybe okay.

3 only??? Come on, please.

yeah... 3 is a bit too low... I'm giving 4! :>

i give this review & particularly Joshua Maggott... 2 points.

comparing Hecker's new album (and relatively new sound) to his Jetone releases is as lame as it could be.
and judging from that point is absolutely amateurish.

also, saying Hecker's music has become static is pure rubbish. but obviously you are unable to LISTEN to music without four to the floor kick drum.



'An Imaginary Country' is absolutely fantastic.



I wonder where do they get all these reviewers. Some of them are simply ignorant.

I have to agree with you all, this is a great album. It's not as seminal as "...ultraviolet" but there's nothing static about it. I can't say I feel the reviewer is ignorant, he's entitled to his own opinion, and you can't deny that the more melodic qualities of Jetone are present on this release in a way that they definitely were not on any previous Hecker releases. Still, An Imaginary Country is a vastly different animal from Hecker's other releases and in a word, awesome.

I've been a big fan of Hecker's since Jetone but found An Imaginary Landscape to be largely unengaging. I did not compare it with Jetone - they're completely different beasts - merely mentioned that a return to rhythm might positively affect his non-rhythmic work. Perhaps I'm alone here, and perhaps the score was unduly low - I've never been good with numbers, just check the comments on my other reviews - but I did not hear a 'new sound' here, and think his music is in something of a rut.

And please, Dragon mouth, name calling? This is like primary school.

Beautiful record, will definitely be on my top 10 list this year

i agree with the score. relative to tim hecker's previous work, this is a 3.

trouble with a five star scale is that youll always end up like this. 5 is perfect which i dont think tims ever produced. All the others are definite fours and this isnt quite as good so a three is fine. His album with aidan baker of nadja that just came out is much better

ok,I don't understand why everybody's overreacting here.Hecker has done wonderful works and this is not his best for sure...some things are not meant to be!
I agree with Joshua's 3 .it doesn't mean that it's completely crap anyway....peace people,everybody makes mistakes ,but this was a fair review.

I agree. Hecker's work is in a bit of a rut, and for someone so powerful to keep pressing the same buttons is a little disappointing.

I do think it is interesting though, that if any number of 'beat friendly' electronic artists produced an album with one or two tracks of the same aptitude and style as Hecker, they would be stuck up in 'album of the year territory' by most writers.

I am grateful for the journalists honesty, and ability to see stagnation in a field that is often rendered critically untouchable..

You can never expect an artist album to be the same as a previous one, artists continually change their sound and style, and i find this album just as good as Radio Amor.
Great ambient piece.

I hope to see more of Tim Hecker.

It's a pleasure reading the RA comments. They are very knowledgeable, fair and respectful of others. Its one of the most civilized online communities!

I totally enjoyed this entire album. Great work.