Alexander Hacke & Danielle de Picciotto

We’re super-excited to be speaking today with acclaimed musical duo extraordinaire Alexander Hacke & Danielle de Picciotto; greetings and salutations, gang! Before we saunter down the proverbial Q&A musical pathway, how has the first-half of 2023 been treating the two of you?

Danielle: It’s been pretty full on. Europe is pretty explosive at the moment with inflation rising and war very close by. Ever since the pandemic started people have been very emotional and worried. I guess everybody is wondering what the future will bring. As artists we feel we have the responsibility to create art that can comfort but also raise questions in difficult times so we have been pretty busy. We have been working on finishing our album, I have been doing exhibitions with my art, Alexander has been recording with neubauten, we have organised charity events and toured. Financially everybody is having problems and less people go to see shows but we have been lucky to pull our usual crowds so I guess and hope that our music is giving people something they need or enjoy.

Alexander, for anyone not in the know, how would you describe the vibe or style of music which you and Danielle so lovingly create?

Alexander: In the past we tended to call our music „Cinematic Drone“, which is a term we coined for this purpose I believe, because if you google it you get linked to those flying camera contraptions. It’s hard to say and really not something I am good at. We see ourselves in the tradition of the old school drone artists like LaMonte Young and Tony Conrad, but also embrace a more modern approach if you will, while also really enjoying to combine the very different backgrounds of Danielle and I; her being classically trained and me being this nonconformist noise-head.

Major congrats and kudos on the freshly-minted new single Scharze Milch which is off of your upcoming July 28 album! Danielle, what was the genesis of one of the best singles that we’ve ever had the pleasure of listening to?

Danielle: Why thank you! So happy you like this song! It is dedicated to a dear friend of ours that decided at one point (influenced by Satie who only ate food that was white) that he would only eat food that was black. That is why the song is called “Schwarze Milch: Black Milk”. As he was also very much into the Romanian-born German language poet&writer Paul Celan, the title is a nod in that direction and as he was a wonderfully elegant existentialist, we added a little jazz to perk up the darkness. We enjoyed recording this song very much and are extremely happy that the song is being received so well.

Speaking of that eagerly anticipated LP, Alexander, can you give our ever-inquisitive readers a hint or three as to what they can expect from Keepsakes when it premieres this July 28?

Alexander: Where our previous albums cover the grounds of a rather epic doomsday, or even post apocalyptic scenery, concerning ourselves with universal philosophical and spiritual matters, this is an homage to very specific people we love, so there is a lot of tenderness and subtlety in our approach this time around, which will hopefully please, but also confuse people. It‘s very personal, but still a trip and I am proud of its many eclectic layers.

Danielle, who was the producer on Keepsakes and what did the collaboration between artists and producer look like in the studio?

Danielle: We always produce our albums ourselves. We have such specific ideas on what and how we want our music to sound like that we have never wanted anybody to water down our ideas. But we do have an amazing friend Victor Van Vugt with whom we always mix our music. He has the uncanny skill of being able to place very small and delicate sounds inmidst huge walls of music without being overpowered or undermined. It’s magical and one of the most important elements of our music. Victor is the only engineer we have ever met that can do this.

Alexander, we’re tremendous admirers of the Song of Gratitude track off of the upcoming Keepsakes album! What’s the story behind this little gem?

Alexander: It is dedicated to our fathers. Respectively and alsoas an archaic concept. They both experienced very intense situations, being of the WWII generation and we are attempting to sonically celebrate the impact their strength and care had on us.

Danielle, can fans look forward to catching you and Alexander on the touring/performing circuit in the weeks and months after the July 28 release date of Keepsakes?

Danielle: Yes absolutely ! We will be performing in Meaford, Canada on the 5th of August at the EE Festival (one of the best festivals ever – very recommendable) and performing our new album there for the very first time. The next show will then be in France in Le Mans on the 26th of August at the fesivalSiesteTeriaki. After that we will be touring all of fall into 2024 through Europe and hopefully after that also in the US.

A question for the both of you: Who inspires you musically?

Danielle: Ennio Morricone

Alexander: The work of wonderful artists of very different genres, the traditional music of various ethnicities, but also the crap oozing from streaming services and other commercial outlets, because generic music I despise will motivate me to try and create something superior.

Alexander, what differentiates Keepsakes from the Distinguished Competition on the 2023 music scene?

Alexander: Well we don‘t have a marketing agenda, we don‘t work with Svengali producers prone to get us in the charts, we don‘t care if our work makes you feel too uncomfortable to function in the rat race out there. Quite on the contrary: If what we do works as a wake-up call, then we have achieved our goal.

Danielle, you and Alexander have been creating amazing music together for over twenty years. What’s the secret to your longevity?

Danielle: I think that it’s the fact that we both love music and that we just do not allow difficulties to stop us. We have spent all our lives working on art and music that are not mainstream and that have never been easy to sell but I guess that’s the best kind of training to learn how to persevere. We know that there will always be good and bad times and to take it all in with a grain of salt. There is nothing else we would want to do and nobody else we would prefer doing it with. Of course we have our differences and sqabbles but in the end the happy moments are just so much more important and to experience this with the person you love is an everlasting joyous miracle.

Alexander, at the end of the day what do you hope listeners walk away with after giving copious spins to the upcoming Keepsakes LP?

Alexander: I hope to reassure them that they belong, to motivate them to evolve and to embrace change, to conquer fear and tobe compassionate with their fellow man and actually all of creation. This may sound pretentious and deluded with grandeur, but really: we‘re all in this together and the time is now.