I'm needing some peace and quiet here lately, and I'm finding myself turning to an interesting fellow named Volker Bertelmann, for you can't really have a quiet house or you'd surely go mad. I stumbled across Hauschka, as he is more generally known, awhile back on someone's blog, (before I knew better than to not keep track of where I was getting things so as to be prepared to thank them here.) I always loved piano pieces. Classical music was never a love, however. But piano music was somehow different and I could lose myself in anything that came out of a piano for hours or days. photo credit: bhollins

Hauschka does odd things to his piano. He plays a prepared piano, something created conceptually by the great John Cage. It's adulterated by all sorts of objects, thrown in, tied into, and otherwise mucking up the striking of hammers and tweaking of strings inside the instrument, thereby creating an altered sound. I love the idea of that when I'm feeling rather mucked up inside. But more importantly I love the sound that Hauschka makes and the elements of other instruments he blends into these pieces. It's good music for a quiet day, a day to just give my fucking head a rest.

Happy Wednesday, get over the hump with me, gently... save the exertions for this evening ;)

Haushka Room To Expand 2007

La Dilettante
Chicago Morning

Hauskha's webpage more downloads there
buy Room To Expand


photo credit: corrado.nuccini