What If Hauschka

• 1 I Can’t Find Water 05:08
• 2 Constant Growth Fails 04:08
• 3 My Kids Live on Mars 03:56
• 4 I Need Exile 04:54
• 5 I Can’t Express My Deep Love 03:32
• 6 Nature Fights Back 03:58
• 7 Familiar Things Disappear 05:12
• 8 Trees Only Exist in Books 07:25
• 9 We Live a Thousand Years 04:06
• 10 Egos Are Detached (Bonus Track) 05:04
• 11 Knowledge Is Passed On (Bonus Track) 03:37
• Total Runtime 51:00

Info for What If

Es gibt den Komponisten Volker Bertelmann, der für seine Soundtrackarbeit gerade erst für den Golden Globe, BAFTA Award und Oscar nominiert wurde – und es gibt den Musiker Hauschka und der hat ein neues Album namens "What If".

What If ist ein radikales, forderndes und komplexes Meisterwerk dessen Klang-Collagen viel zu aufgeregt und spannend für die Chillout Piano Playlisten dieser Welt sind. Es klickt, scheppert und rumpelt sich durch neue Klangwelten, die wir so von Hauschka noch nicht kannten.

What If – was wäre, wenn unsere Kinder auf dem Mars lebten? Oder jeder von uns 1000 Jahre alt werden würde? Die Songtitel der neuen Platte spielen mit diesen Fragen und bebildern sie in einem durchweg abenteuerlichen Soundspektrum, das von Highspeed-Tracks auf dem programmierbaren Player-Piano bis zu spacigen Stücken mit Moog-Bass und gut präparierten Beats reicht.

What If wird uns 2017 nicht mehr loslassen, Hauschka spielt immer noch Piano zum Schwelgen, im selben Moment aber schickt der Künstler sein Publikum in einen Parcours mit herausfordernd holperigen Beats und schön schwierigen Fragen.

Hauschka (Volker Bertelmann)
is a composer, songwriter and experimental musician who has brought an exciting new perspective to the prepared piano. The prepared piano – a technique for getting new sounds from the acoustic keyboard by resting pieces of paper or drumsticks on the strings of the instrument - has been used for centuries, but Hauschka was unaware of the tradition when, at the dawn of the new millenium, he began exploring ways to get new sounds out of his Bechstein grand upright. “I wanted the sound of a hi-hat (cymbal) to add a percussive effect to a composition I was writing. I took foil from a Christmas cake and wrapped it around the strings [inside the piano]. From there, I was inspired to use other objects on the strings to get bass drum sounds, or tacks on the piano hammers to get the sound of a harpsichord. When I was playing techno music, I had samplers where you could get a different sound on every key. I thought it would be great to have that effect on an acoustic piano. I was not aware of John Cage (one of the first 20th century composers to use prepared piano) when I started searching for ways to alter the sound of the keyboard, but as I got more into prepared piano, I was influenced by Cage’s theories.”

The Prepared Piano, Hauschka’s first recording using prepared piano, was a solo album of spontaneous improvisations. The sounds he generated changed the course of his musical journey and he’s since used prepared piano in a variety of settings. On Ferndorf, pieces composed in honor of his childhood home in Germany, he balanced improvisation with compositions that featured cellists, trombonists and violinists playing his inventive arrangements. The ‘acoustic techno’ of Salon des Amateurs featured drummers Samuli Kosminen (Múm), and Joey Burns and John Convertino (Calexico) and dropped subtle electro effects into the mix. On Silfra, an improvised collaboration with classical violinist Hilary Hahn, he dipped into classical music and ambient pop to create an expansive soundscape. With Abandoned City, Hauschka returns to the solo prepared piano to produce an evocative work full of unexpected grace notes and mysterious sounds.

This album contains no booklet.