Artist: Hauschka
Title: Snowflakes & Car Wrecks
Label: FatCat
Genre: Avantgarde
Bitrate: 179kbit av.
Time: 00:39:39
Size: 53.07 mb
Rip Date: 2009-01-28
Str Date: 2009-02-23
1. Ginsterweg 3:57
2. Eisblume 6:53
3. Wonder 3:57
4. Tanz 9:13
5. Kindelsberg 3:02
6. Hauberg 8:59
7. Tagtraum 3:38
Release Notes:
On the heels of October's 'Ferndorf' album, Dusseldorf-based
pianist / composer Volker Bertelmann (aka Hauschka) kicks of
the new year with a beautiful extended EP of previously
unreleased material, all of which was recorded during the
'Ferndorf' sessions. Featuring seven new tracks (five on the
vinyl edition), the EP is a great follow-up to an album which
has continued to draw widespread critical acclaim.
Where previous albums comprised mostly solo recordings of
Hauschka's 'prepared' piano (with a few electronic and
instrumental overdubs), 'Ferndorf' was a far more expansive
and fully-realised album, with many of the tracks also
featuring a string duo, enabling an increased solidity and an
expanded, rousing dynamism. Still retaining the shivers and
tics (as by-products of) of the modified internal workings of
the piano - alongside some sweet electronic touches - these
are less central and instead what's foregrounded is the
melodic / rhythmic push and pull, and a development towards
more orchestrated music and notated compositions.
Having studied classical piano for ten years, Dusseldorf-based
pianist / composer Volker Bertelmann's work as Hauschka is
largely based upon a playful exploration of the possibilities
of the 'prepared' piano - an adventurous intervention into the
preconceived idea of the piano as a pure-toned, perfected
instrument simply waiting for a gifted virtuoso to play on it.
His resulting tracks are vivid, unconventional pieces made in
a spirit of playful research-enthusiasm.