Face To Face In The Vastness Of Space

Paul Simon “The Afterlife”

Paul Simon’s version of the afterlife sounds a lot like the life we already know: A lot of mundane encounters and tedious bureaucracy broken up by moments of sublime, confusing beauty. You don’t get any answers, no greater purpose is revealed. You still have to deal with everyone else and jockey for status. And, of course, the closest you get to communing with some divine force is hearing the melody of some silly pop song.

Buy it from Amazon.

Hauschka “Radar”

I saw Hauschka in concert at Joe’s Pub in Manhattan on Saturday, and it was remarkable. Haushka — aka Volker Bertelmann — performed as a duo with Samuli Kosminen, a Finnish percussionist who was just as inventive with rhythm as Bertelmann was on the piano. Bertelmann is amazing to behold. There’s a theatrical element to watching him alter his piano with various objects and devices, but even beyond that, his physicality is fascinating. Like a lot of truly great players, his body language appears to be loose and fluid — it all looks intuitive and easy. They played a fair amount of material from Salon des Amateurs, stripping down the arrangements while building the rhythms up to something more thumping and visceral than what is on record. The version of “Girls” was especially great; I wish I could share that with you instead of this studio version. Bertelmann and Kosminen were on to something really special here — the specific tonalities of prepared piano, complex neo-classical melodies, a touch of improvisational energy, the rhythmic intensity of house music. The music on Salon des Amateurs is very close, but a bit mannered. This performance went further. It sounded wild and fresh, like something that could breathe new life into classical, dance, rock, whatever. I recommend that you go out of your way to see Hauschka, especially if you happen to be a musician.

Buy it from Amazon.