Tim Hecker, Atlas (10" EP)

2006's Atlas is a great distillation of Hecker's approach and palette.  He nicely juxtaposes fully blown-out and distorted sounds with prettier and more natural sounds.  Even in the dynamically static sections of the two pieces (one per side), there is a lot of subtle movement.  Each piece includes unexpected and drastic dynamic shifts.  A particular highlight is in "Atlas Two", when the piece moves from full and loud to a much quieter volume—the sound surprisingly transforms from a prettier palette to a very harsh, if still quiet, timbre in the foreground.  The component sounds are consistently compressed, so that dynamics shifts are radical when sounds enter, exit, or change drastically.  The frequency distribution emphasizes high end a bit heavily, with the mid-range scooped to give this space.  The bright colors of the packaging have a very different character from the narrow palette of the music inside.