Artist.......: Hauschka
Album........: Room to Expand
Label........: 130701
Genre........: Electronic
Catnr........: n/a
source.......: CDDA
rip.date.....: Feb-08-2007
str.date.....: Feb-26-2007
quality......: VBR/44,1Hz/Joint-Stereo
Url..........: http://www.hauschka-net.de/
track title time
01. La Dilletante 04:06
02. Paddington 03:57
03. One Wish 05:21
04. Chicago Morning 04:56
05. Kleine Dinge 04:05
06. Belgrade 03:33
07. Sweet Spring Come 03:53
08. Femmeassise 04:04
09. Watercolour Milk 04:30
10. Zahnlucke 03:45
11. Fjorde 03:38
12. Old Man PLaying Boules 03:22
Runtime 49:10 min
Size 64,3 MB
Release Notes:
Following previous releases by Set Fire To Flames,
Sylvain Chauveau, and Max Richter, the stunning
æRoom To ExpandÆ album sees the addition of
Hauschka, a new artist to FatCatÆs 130701 imprint.
Hauschka is the alias of Dusseldorfûbased pianist /
composer Volker Bertelmann, whose work is based
upon an exploration of the possibilities of the
'prepared' piano - a playfully disruptive
intervention into the preconceived idea of the
piano as a pure-toned, perfected instrument waiting
for a gifted virtuoso to play on it. Instead,
Volker explores and influences the outcome of his
playing by getting right down inside the instrument
- clamping wedges of leather, felt or rubber
between the strings; preparing the hammers with
aluminium paper or rough films; placing crown corks
on the strings, weaving guitar strings around the
piano's guts, or pasting them down with gaffa tape.
These little modifications throw up an array of
rustling, drumming, shivering, scraping, resonating
sounds which either provide the focus / drive for a
piece or hook the ear into an intriguing, slightly
unusual frame. As æRoom To ExpandÆ shows, his
resulting tracks are composed both originally and
charmingly, forming vivid, unconventional pieces
made through what Volker terms a playful
æresearch-enthusiasmÆ.
Always assured and adventurous, the album flows
beautifully, from the spritely, layered sprawl of
the string-backed æLa DilettanteÆ to the
ever-evolving growth of æOne WishÆ; the minimalist
repetition and percussive noise of æSweet Spring
ComeÆ and the sparse, delicate beauty of æKleine
DingeÆ or æOld Man Playing BoulesÆ. ThereÆs a
lovely sense of depth and balance to the album û
skipping through a range of moods, each piece is
animated with its own particular character, its own
weight and feel. Across the albumÆs 12 tracks,
Volker is able to deploy both a forcefulness and a
delicacy of touch; varies tempos; integrates other
instruments when necessary; uses space and silence
as well as bolder, more ectstatic outbursts. This
is a beautiful, involving and evolving album, whose
bold, accessible melodies, rhythms and structures
immediately act as hooks, whilst a wealth of
micro-detail rewards close-listening.
Rather than striving for any purist academic
perfection, VolkerÆs playing appears as much
informed by modern electronica or Indonesian
gamelan as it is by any classical cannon. With the
aid of his material interventions, the piano
becomes as much a machine for generating rhythms as
it does for melody. Here and there, tracks utilise
additional, non-piano sounds such as synthesizer,
drum machine, electric bass, or other acoustic
instruments like vibraphone, strings or brass. His
pieces may be seen as small rhythmic
sound-vignettes or just quiet ballads which have
their roots in east-asian harmonies; the minimalism
of Reich, Glass, Nyman, etc.; in Satie or Ravel; in
20th Century composers like Henry Cowell, John
Cage, Arvo PΣrt, Steffen Schleiermacher, Frangis
Ali-Sade, Edison Denissow or Philip Corner and
other artists from radical '60s art grouping,
Fluxus; as well as maverick popsters like SchrΣger
Otto.
With a growing emergence over the past couple of
years of pianists working between the cracks in
modern / classical / electronic genres û the likes
of Kenneth Kirschner, Max Richter, Julien Neto,
Sylvain Chauveau, Goldmund, Library Tapes, etc. -
this album is certainly timely and should place its
author up there amongst the best of them.
Hauschka has previously released two albums on the
Karaoke Kalk label - 'Substantial' (2004) and 'The
Prepared Piano' (2005); and a 7", 'What A Day'
(2005) on the Ear Sugar label. Besides working as
Hauschka, Volker is a member of Music A.M., a
collaboration with Stefan Schneider (To Rococco
Rot) and Luke Sutherland (Long Fin Killie); and of
the electronic / club tracks duo Tonetraeger, his
project with Torsten Mauss. A remix album of tracks
from æThe Prepared PianoÆ will be released on
Karaoke Kalk in May 2007, including mixes from
Nobukazu Takemura, Tarwater, Mira Calix, Frank
Bretschneider, Vert, Wechsel Garland, Eglantine
Gouzy, and Barbara Morgenstern.