Hauschka prepared piano

Super-magnets, art erasers, rubber tubing, Tic-Tac boxes, ping-pong balls, duct tape, aluminium foil, leather straps, marbles, and vibrating sex toys: these are just a few of the assorted oddities that German musician Hauschka uses to create his singular sound on prepared piano. With a career that’s taken him from German hip-hop to drum-n-bass, Hauschka’s music challenges the perceived boundaries between high and low culture, having appeared at festivals alongside the likes of Zomby and Dixon as well as touring with double Grammy-winning violinist Hilary Hahn.

His newest LP Abandoned City was made entirely on the piano, utilizing disruptive methods to alter the timbre, sustain, and reverb. The results are by turns lush and oppressive, exposing new melodic colours and percussive undertones on repeated listens. There are plenty of surprising details that make you question how one man can wring so much variety from a single piano.

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