Music between Ferrante, Teicher and Magritte

In another life, Whistler & Hustler are Stefan Rusconi and Ephrem Lüchinger, old friends from Zurich, pianists both. Stefan is the founder of the double bass/drums/piano trio (plus effects) Rusconi. Ephrem is a member of singer/songwriter Heidi Happy’s band and composes electronica-based film music. Backstage at a film festival, Stefan and Ephrem found themselves sharing the keyboard of a grand piano, playing a wild version of an Aphex Track-piece. It was the beginning of a beautiful idea. Two years ago, the idea began to take audible shape. Whistler & Hustler spent a summer diving – literally – in and out of their pianos, recording countless fragmentary ideas and grooves, sticking religiously to their self-imposed rule: every single last sound had to have its origin somewhere in the piano. Nothing was too much trouble, as long as the sound was right. Thus, for their super funky version of the Bullitt theme tune, they replaced a piano string with 15 metres of dental floss. The flute effect was achieved by plucking the piano strings with plastic spoons. Once they had collected a laptop full of fragments, they set about bashing them into rhythmic and melodic shape on the computer. The resulting debut album was released on 22 February and is available via their own website.

http://www.whistlerandhustler.com