With What If Hauschka delivers his most accessible album. Before German Volker Bertelmann developed into pianist, composer and improviser Hauschka, he was active in hip-hop and techno. He therefore first began to prepare his piano strings with foil, crown caps and other attributes in order to be able to approach the rhythmic electronic sounds of techno. Only then did he discover the composer with
… his works and theories for the prepared piano. On his previous album (2014) electronics mainly served hypnotic minimal. On What If, the computer and synthesizer play more important and illustrative roles. Bertelmann imagines what the world will look like in 30 years. Titles like I Can't Find Water and Trees Only Exist In Books don't bode well. But by breaking through his traditionally hammering, almost machine-like playing, What If sounds more melodic and more varied than previous work. The result is a pleasant and penetrating listening record. (MR)more
