Tim Hecker and Daniel Lopatin

This is the first in a planned series of collaborations curated by NYC's Daniel Lopatin (aka Oneohtrix Point Never), this time featuring Juno-winning Montreal ambient drone maker Tim Hecker. The proceedings begin with "Uptown Psychedelia," one of the album's standout tracks, which is so Hecker-heavy you could be forgiven for asking, "So, where's Lopatin?" As the album progresses, the trademark sound of both musicians becomes apparent in the twisting interplay and Hecker's mountain-shaking distortion allows room for Lopatin's neo-kosmische noodling. Based on a three-day improv session at Mexican Summer studios in Brooklyn, NY, Hecker and Lopatin's goal was to jam using the clichéd sounds of an "Instruments of the World" MIDI pre-set suite. Is it less than the sum of its parts? Perhaps. However, it is an ambitious and interesting album that not only plugs the gap nicely between Tim Hecker and Oneohtrix Point Never albums but signals interesting things to come from Lopatin's SSTUDIOS series.