Tosca No Hassle

Slow down. Relax. Take a deep breath. Steal back an hour from your busy life. This is really worth your full attention. 

So the info page opens on the microsite for the new release album No Hassle by Tosca. The Austrian duo of Richard Dorfmesiter and Rupert Huber are “back with their most magical and mesmerizing album yet, a luxurious tapestry of analogue and digital sounds, submerged samples, live instruments, soundscapes and sensual rhythms,” - Steven Dalton  

In the interview video on the microsite, Dorfmeister says, “It was a really nice experience at the first concert. We didn’t use a normal P.A. with, you know, left and right. We didn’t do the whole left-right thing. We had six speakers on the first floor, and two more upstairs. It was crucial, because you can do so many things that nobody’s used to.  So we had 8 channels to mix sounds with. We looked for special locations. Churches are perfect, because the feeling of the room is like an instrument. Churches have a feeling. A feeling 10 times deeper than any club situation that we’re normally used to. It’s more like a concert, in which to invest 1 hour of your attention, more like an ‘audio massage’.”

“We didn’t do any of it on purpose. It’s just our sounds. We love this merging of different things from anywhere. If you can explain the way we do it, then like this. We’ve been reducing all the time, to try to get rid of things. We really tried to keep it as minimal as possible. We have much more material, but we’re choosing the stuff that off from the sound. Unpretentious. We’re not trying to be different, we just like it this way. it’s perfectly uncommercial, but this is just how we like it.”

Dorfmeister: “This is what everyone wants but what nobody has: no hassle. We just want no hassle. Not too much of anything. A good balance. Feel right music, without boringness.” 

Huber: “I think it’s a human right not to have to deal with reality all the time.”

Your job? Forget about it. Things to do? Ignore it. Put the crackberry down. Just take an hour and chill out to the most unique and original ambient electronic album to come out in a very long time, and certainly one of the best for 2009.

Classy Insults

The exchange between Churchill & Lady Astor:
She said, “If you were my husband I’d give you poison,” and he said, “If you were my wife, I’d drink it.”

A member of Parliament to Disraeli:
“Sir, you will either die on the gallows or of some unspeakable disease.” 
“That depends, Sir,” said Disraeli, “whether I embrace your policies or your mistress.”

“He had delusions of adequacy.” - Walter Kerr

“He has all the virtues I dislike and none of the vices I admire.” - Winston Churchill

“A modest little person, with much to be modest about.” - Winston Churchill

“I have never killed a man, but I have read many obituaries with great pleasure.” – Clarence Darrow

“He has never been known to use a word that might send a reader to the dictionary.” - William Faulkner  (about Ernest Hemingway).
“Poor Faulkner. Does he really think big emotions come from big words?” - Ernest Hemingway (about William Faulkner)

“Thank you for sending me a copy of your book; I’ll waste no time reading it.” – Moses Hadas

“He can compress the most words into the smallest idea of any man I know.” - Abraham Lincoln

“I didn’t attend the funeral, but I sent a nice letter saying I approved of it.” – Mark Twain

“He has no enemies, but is intensely disliked by his friends.” - Oscar Wilde

“I am enclosing two tickets to the first night of my new play; bring a friend…. if you have one.” - George Bernard Shaw to Winston Churchill
“Cannot possibly attend first night, will attend second… if there is one.” - Winston Churchill, in response.

“I feel so miserable without you; it’s almost like having you here.” - Stephen Bishop

“He is a self-made man and worships his creator.” - John Bright

“I’ve just learned about his illness. Let’s hope it’s nothing trivial.” - Irvin S. Cobb

“He is not only dull himself, he is the cause of dullness in others.” – Samuel Johnson

“He is simply a shiver looking for a spine to run up.” - Paul Keating

“There’s nothing wrong with you that reincarnation won’t cure.” - Jack E. Leonard

“He has the attention span of a lightning bolt.” - Robert Redford

“They never open their mouths without subtracting from the sum of human knowledge.” - Thomas Brackett Reed

“In order to avoid being called a flirt, she always yielded easily.” - Charles, Count Talleyrand

“He loves nature in spite of what it did to him.” - Forrest Tucker

“Why do you sit there looking like an envelope without any address on it?” - Mark Twain

“His mother should have thrown him away and kept the stork ” - Mae West

“Some cause happiness wherever they go; others, whenever they go.” - Oscar Wilde

“He uses statistics as a drunken man uses lampposts.. . for support rather than illumination. “ – Andrew Lang (1844-1912)

“He has Van Gogh’s ear for music.” - Billy Wilder

“I’ve had a perfectly wonderful evening. But this wasn’t it.” - Groucho Marx

(Thanks to King C., a forward from Jack W.)