Thursday, February 23, 2012

The Latest Trent

The driving force behind the group Nine Inch Nails, Trent Reznor has recently been venturing in new areas for his muse—namely writing scores for movies. His music for “The Social Network” garnered him an Oscar last year. And his score for “The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo” is equally brilliant. As you’d expect, his music ranges from dark and moody to driving and raucous. And it contains some interesting prepared piano which I mentioned in my recent Hauschka post. I was never a huge fan of Nine Inch Nails, but I really like the new direction he’s going in.



Friday, February 3, 2012

How do you prepare a piano?

I know, that sounds like a set-up for a real corny culinary joke. But in reality, it describes a technique used by the German musician Hauschka. It involves placing various objects between the strings or onto the hammers of a piano. The technique has been around since the late 19th century and Erik Satie was an early practitioner. Hauschka’s music displays the influence of Satie as well as modern minimalists like Philip Glass and Steve Reich and he’s been releasing a cd nearly every year since 2005. The first video shows how one prepares a piano. Bon appetit!