Tuesday, January 27, 2009

New Music for a Cold Winter

Hey there. Just returned from the Curumin show and it was just what we needed on a cold night. There is something about the Samba grooves that really make people feel good. Lots of smiling faces in the Cedar tonight.

My post is a short one this week and I thought I'd spread the word on a new artist I recently discovered. His name is Volker Bertelmann, a German pianist and composer, but he performs and records under the alias of 'Hauschka.' Volker has been working with prepared piano on his last few records, an art form onto itself. Artists from John Cage to Tin Hat Trio have used prepared piano to great effect. One method to 'prepare' a piano is to place paper clips or thumbtacks on the strings or hammers to create wonderful percussive sounds. There are of course endless possibilities when it comes to 'preparing' an instrument. More on this in a later post.

For now, enjoy the Hauschka track that sold me - Freibad.

For those that like visuals, here is Hauschka live at Cube Microplex in Bristol, Sept. 2007.

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