Wednesday, February 20, 2008

Weird Wood

The daxophone was invented by German typeface designer and musician, Hans Reichel. He named the instrument for the German word for badger "Dachs" claiming to draw inspiration from an album titled Mammal voices of Northern Europe, vol. 1 , being most impressed by the badger's performance. Consisting of thin wooden blades fixed in a wooden block with a microphone, it is played by bowing, plucking, scraping, tapping and hitting the unattached end. A separate block of wood, called the dax, can change the timbre and tone of the wooden blade depending on where it is placed. Another variable is the shape of the blade and type of wood used, and Reichel has made countless beautiful blades (see above), each bearing it's own distinct voice and personality. Shanghaied on Tor Road is Hans Reichel's daxophone opera. Reichel is a true genius in both sound and design and the daxophone is the perfect union of the two.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Wow... I'm not sure if I should laugh or think this is incredibly cool. I'm glad I heard it though

Jesse Carter said...

any chance of a re-up of this? Sounds really interesting.

dustinswanson said...

can you re-up this again? if not, i'll live, but i've always been interested in this composer and never been able to seek him out.

Anonymous said...

reup would be very much appreciated :D