Recontextualization is one of the oldest ideas in electronic music. Dating back at least to musique concrète, artists have been pulling sounds from one setting and sticking them into another, radically transforming the content of the source material. More recently, artists like Ultra Red, Terre Thaemlitz and Matthew Herbert have taken sounds and shaped them to comment on immigration (Ultra Red's La Economia Nueva) identity politics (Thaemlitz' Interstices) and corporate globalism (Herbert's record as Radioboy, The Mechanics of Destruction), among other hot topics. But as Montreal's Tim Hecker demonstrates, not all recontextualization need be so political.
The emerging Hecker joins the culture jammers with this 25-minute EP, his second release under his own name. As the cover art and title make clear, My Love is Rotten to the Core is built from the processed sounds of Van Halen. Excerpts from a David Lee Roth interview open the record, and the first track, "Introducing Carl Cocks", is peppered with Kid-606-style cut-ups of Eddie's lead on "Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Love," while a series of familiar "Hey hey hey!" shouts appear at key points. No question, it's a fantastic, mind-warping track.
As the record wears on, musical sources become harder to place and noise becomes more prominent. "Sammy Loves Eddie Hates David" contains more dialog and some creepily processed onstage banner by Roth, and then "Hello Detroit" dives into swirling digital scree. The minute-long "Midnight Whispers" is nothing but interview chatter fading into "The Return of Sam Snead", which adds several layers of voices and sets them against a quivering sound that could be a time-stretched guitar or might be a late-period Eddie synth. The lead tone on "The Return of Sam Snead" eventually shatters into smaller pieces, some of which spin off into little loops of their own.
My Love is Rotten to the Core is a decent record with at least one great moment, but I can't help but wonder: what made Tim Hecker want to build an EP around the sights and sounds of Van Halen? Printed on the inside sleeve is the line, "You have nothing to lose but your hair," so it seems reasonable to conclude that Hecker is making fun of the band and/or Roth. But the music contains almost no humor at all (the shredding of the guitar might bring a smile, but more one of recognition), and how fun could putting down Diamond Dave possibly be in any case?
Ultimately, the relationship between the sources and the final tracks on My Love is Rotten to the Core is uncertain, a problem when extrapolating from such a recognizable pop culture icon. "Introducing Carl Cocks" is the only truly exceptional track-- I love the way Hecker twists Eddie's lead, retaining enough of the familiar tone to jog the memory only to seriously disorient it. It's such a strong track it almost makes the EP, but then the rest is merely pretty good abstract laptop music that happens to be made from guitar solos, with a few interviews thrown in. Most of it could be from anywhere, though, and I can't help wishing it were presented differently.
