An Arnolfini / Qu Junktions Presentation...

HAUSCHKA + MAPSTATION
plus Chipper

Cinematic piano recitals, fourth world electronics, ripped atmospherics all have their place tonight as three very distinct performers move the sounds of their beloved instruments (piano / laptop / cello) to new places by their highly imaginative and captivating methods and styles. A night of musical adventure.

Hauschka is the captivating Düsseldorf-based pianist Volker Bertelmann. Channelling minimalism and the spirit of John Cage, he opens up his instrument and performs public operations on its innards using guitar strings, gaffer tape and other bits of junk. Hauschka's live shows have great appeal and receive a rapturous reception where ever he goes. Whether playing grand piano or upright, he sets himself up so that the audience can see his preparations and the movement of the hammers as he hits each key, creating a hypnotic visual analogue to his music. He mixes up his own pre-determined compositions with totally improvised pieces, prizing out the one-off potential of new operations and instruments. He has toured the world where ever there are pianos, including a sold-out London show with Max Richter, a US tour with Múm and Japanese dates with Colleen. Eric Satie's mischievous miniatures, Indonesian gamelan and The Books all get a look in. He also is a engaging raconteur and his beautifully measured and his relaxed and endearing performance style made him a star of Venn 08.

Also from Düsseldorf, Mapstation (aka Stefan Schneider of To Rococo Rot) is an integrated fourth world/electronics project in the pioneering tradition of Can's Jaki Liebezeit or Brian Eno. A bold and evocative reimagining of African rhythms and textures by a electronic whizz kid. Stefan has also co-produced the St Etienne album 'The Sound Of Water', and has collaborated with The Pastels, I-Sound and Alexander Balanescu. Distinctly a one of a kind type of musician with a very signature sound and style.

Chipper is a solo cellist who envelops her playing in a shroud of electronics. Distortion, hiss and digital effects become parts of her instrument's vocabulary in extended compositions that are unique, moving and absorbing. A Bristol based musician and artist who is also a member of Crippled Black Phoenix and has played with Oxbow, North Sea Navigator among many.

Further reading:

Hauschka is the captivating Düsseldorf-based pianist Volker Bertelmann, who records on Fat Cat. His music can be microscopic in detail and quietly entrancing, or widescreen and cinematic in scope and feel. A suite of songs can take you on a journey into the world of the piano and all it can conjure for the listener. Hauschka performs beautiful post-classical chamber works drawing on minimalism and laced with the spirit of Fluxus. The results are startlingly original and vivid yet immediately accessible - Eric Satie's mischievous miniatures, Indonesian gamelan and The Books all get a look in. But what Hauschka does so eloquently is he also manages to channel the spirit of John Cage's prepared piano, opening up his instrument and playfully performing public operations on its innards using guitar strings, gaffer tape and other bits of junk in search of new colours and textures. The melodic and harmonic properties of the piano, so often dominant in piano music, are set against the homespun clicks, scrapes and rattles of the internal mechanisms when certain keys are played. Harnessing the percussive potential of the instrument and wrapping this around his keen melodic ear makes Hauschka an auteur of the ebonies, as well as an alchemist of the wood, string and metal.

A measured and engaging raconteur, Hauschka's live shows have great appeal and receive a rapturous reception where ever he goes. Whether playing grand piano or upright, he sets himself up so that the audience can see his preparations and the movement of the hammers as he hits each key, creating a hypnotic visual analogue to his music. He mixes up his own pre-determined compositions with totally improvised pieces, prizing out the one-off potential of new operations and instruments. He has toured the world where ever there are pianos, including a sold-out London show with Max Richter, a US tour with Múm and Japanese dates with Colleen. Check his myspace to see him perform, where there are a number of videos - www.myspace.com/hauschka

Hauschka's second album on Fat Cat 'Ferndorf' is out in early September and coincides with this tour, alongside a digital single and a video triptych by Japanese animators Overture (responsible for Múm's 'Rhubarbidoo' video). The new record retains the shivers and tics of his modified piano but now expands the texture to integrate lush string arrangements and some sweet, understated electronic touches.

Mapstation is the musical project of Düsseldorf-based polymath Stefan Schneider, a founding member of both Kreidler and To Rococo Rot. As part of To Rococo Rot, he co-produced the St Etienne album 'The Sound Of Water', and has collaborated with The Pastels, I-Sound and Alexander Balanescu. With mapstation he has recently moved towards an integrated fourth world/electronics project, invigorating his music with African textures and rhythms. Stefan is doing what pioneers like Can's Jaki Liebezeit or Brian Eno did in the 70's but in his own original way. He likes to move in all directions, making desperate elements one. His ear for sound composition and audio integration is formidable.

Stefan's work has long provided a bridge between the worlds of rock and electronica, now he has forged a sound involving former Fela Kuti percussionist Nicholas Addo Nette. Their record 'The Africa Chamber' is a collaboration and a distinctively German remapping of African rhythms and vocal patterns. The repetitive pulse of 303's and digital software create a deliberately unauthentic map of Africa, a kind of hallucination of the continent's world of sounds. A bold and evocative reimagining of tribal rhythms, like Shackleton or Asa Chang and Junray.

Recently Stefan released an album entitled 'Forest full of drums' on Staubgold, a collaboration with drummer Paul Wirkus recorded entirely in a forest nearby Düsseldorf. The two set up a drumkit and started playing between the beeches, admidst the birds, accompanied just by an occasional roar of an airplane above or the steps of some curious joggers. You can view a video of the making of the album here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HAI7Rec7OCQ


A delightful evening takes place at Arnolfini, Bristol
Thu 18th Sept 2008 / 7.30pm / £8 adv

Tickets on sale at Arnolfini Box Office. In person or phone

Labels: bristol, CHIPPER, HAUSCHKA, MAPSTATION, QU Junktions