by Jason Birchmeier

Montreal producer Tim Hecker made his initial breakthrough as Jetone, but followed with ambient music attributed to his born name. This experimental ambient work, released by Alien8 sublabel Substractif beginning in late 2001 with Haunt Me Haunt Me, Do It Again, won much acclaim. It also familiarized listeners with the producer himself, and not just because it featured his real name rather than a moniker: Heckers self-titled work was much more personal than his Jetone recordings, its ideological characteristics reflecting his interests and its experimental slant reflecting his ambitions. For his self-titled recordings, Hecker drew inspiration from pop culture and showcased his ideas within dense collages of found sounds and computer-generated noise. Critics loved the experimentation and also the ideological richness. It also didnt hurt, of course, that Heckers more techno-orientated work as Jetone attracted a large following of curious listeners who otherwise probably wouldnt seek out such ambient music. The producer also extensively performed live, another means of connecting his continually growing audience.

As a graduate student studying digital acoustics and software, Hecker spent years dabbling with electronic music before finally debuting as Jetone in 2000 with Autumnumonia for Pitchcadet. The release interested Force Inc, which released Heckers next album as Jetone, Ultramarin, a year later. Following this popular release, he aligned himself with Alien8, an experimental label based in Montreal. He recorded Haunt Me Haunt Me, Do It Again for the labels ambient sub-label, Substractif, and watched it inspire critical praise upon its release in late 2001. The album proved so successful that Substractif released a follow-up EP, My Love Is Rotten to the Core, less than a year later in hopes of building upon the lingering critical buzz surrounding Haunt Me. Hecker then recorded Radio Amor for Mille Plateaux, Force Incs experimental ambient sublabel, which released the album in April 2003. Inspired by a 1996 journey to Central America, where he experienced a memorable boat ride off the coast of Honduras, Radio Amor consolidated the various aspects of Heckers previous two efforts into his most accessible ambient work to date and accordingly won him yet more acclaim. In 2004 Mirages came out, followed by his contribution to Staaplaats Mort aux Vaches series, a 41-minute live radio set that was released in 2005. The next year, Harmony in Ultraviolet hit shelves.