Acid In the Style of David Tudor

Low art/high art — the culture world will have a hard time shaking off that distinction. Hecker's artistic process on this album could be tracked down to it, too (or at least that's what he wants us to believe): acid house on the one hand, modern composition on the other. However, his music has been working on that both-sides-of-the-fence mode from the beginning, as he has been using the raw power of electronic music in increasingly circumvoluted processes and formulas. Acid in the Style of David Tudor may be marginally easier to listen to than Sun Pandämonium or PV Trecks, but it remains a demanding experience, one that will send your head buzzing in disorientation. Hecker's toys of choice here are a Buchla modular synthesizer and a Comdyna analog computer — old school, you might say. And the sounds he coaxes out of them do have a distinct "early electronics" flavor, though his spatialization technique is far more developed than what the pioneers of the genre achieved in the past century. The tracks bubble, gargle, zip, and zap in every direction, as Hecker moves through a gallery of psychoacoustic tricks to make your ears p***k and catch your attention. Please listen on loudspeakers to experience the full impact of this album. Tying back to the low art/high art dichotomy, Acid in the Style of David Tudor is packaged with an indigestible highbrow 16-page essay by Robin Mackay on the concept of "ofness." It reads like a Ph.D. thesis, while the music itself can be experienced at a much more atavistic level, your senses (not just hearing but equilibrium too) getting pulled into Hecker's unique soundworld. Abstract: yes. Difficult: yes. Boring: definitely not (if you skip the essay). ~ François Couture, Rovi