A Hawk and a Hacksaw

Small World: New Mexico’s A Hawk and a Hacksaw find a second musical home in the Balkans.

  Stroh violins are used widely by street musicians and gypsies throughout Europe. Their street-market sound is amplified through a metallic horn, rather than acoustic resonation. When asked about this unique instrument, A Hawk and a Hacksaw’s Heather Trost excitedly relates a story as her bandmate Jeremy Barnes—former drummer of Neutral Milk Hotel—plays the accordion in the background, adding a surreal effect to the phone call from New Mexico.

Traveling around Europe, where she and Barnes lived for two years, they stumbled upon two Stroh-playing buskers in Romania. The two duos played music for each other, happily alternating songs.

“It was so cool. Mine was broken and they knew how to fix it, so in broken French and Romanian sign language they took mine and I gave them a bit of money for theirs,” says Trost, proud of her souvenir.

Music, and loving it, isn’t confined to “normal” means of communication, or even geography. Although based in New Mexico, A Hawk and a Hacksaw draw influences from the former Yugoslavia, Greece, Turkey and Romania, creating a sound all their own—although reminiscent of Beirut and DeVotchKa. Trost says that New Mexico and the Balkans are more alike than expected. And both regions’ influences are represented on the band’s new album, Cervantine, arriving March 8.

Adding subtleties to the duo’s sound, mariachi and norteno music were ever-present in New Mexico and have, surprisingly, made their way to the Balkans, too.

“Mexican music is highly influenced by European brass bands because of colonization. Now, there are a lot of brass bands in Europe that are learning Latin styles. It’s this interesting cultural-feedback loop,” Trost says.

Cross-pollination is nothing new, but Trost says, “It’s been sped up with the Internet and people being able to explore other cultures without traveling.” Although they admit to using YouTube to find new music, “armchair traveler” is not an accurate description of this duo.

During their two years living in Budapest—studying music and playing at dive bars, weddings, clubs or on the streets—they took trips to the Balkans, specifically to Transylvania in Romania, and saw similarities to home. “Both areas are keeping their culture and language intact, but [are] also interacting with the larger community. There are similarities of how communities remain true to cultural identities,” says Trost, specifically in architecture, local customs and, of course, music.

Their European time was fruitful, facilitated by playing with local musicians. “It can be a little intimidating to play with people you don’t know or are in awe of. But people everywhere just want to connect. Music is a fundamental aspect of that,” Trost says.

The gypsy spirit and its musical leanings rely heavily on communality. As such, the two lean toward collaboration to learn and grow and, more practically, to add sonic depth beyond the duo’s range without using electronics.

With that in mind, they recorded Cervantine, despite the limitations resulting from their favorite collaborators being in Europe. Instead, they used the Internet. In Albuquerque, they tried a different tack during recording. “We had always overdubbed a lot of our stuff. Before, we would record a basic track and we would have people record over it while we traveled around Europe,” Trost says.

With the foundation done in Albuquerque, collaborator Chris Lidouski added multiple instruments remotely to the album, while his sister Stephanie provided some vocals. Cervantine was recorded in 2010, the same year Barnes and Trost started their own record company, L.M. Dupli-cation. That decision didn’t come from simple necessity, but to fulfill a dream. Trost says they want to go back to Romania to record their friends and idols. With an assist from A Hawk and a Hacksaw, the two regions seem to move closer again.

“It’s not just for ourselves but for the music that we love to hopefully reach a wider audience,” Trost says.

The Romance of Perfumery

 Since ancient times, we have used scent to entice and excite. Eighteenth century's King George III banned perfume as a form of sorcery, after taking note of how women of ill repute used it to seduce men. And modern perfume manufacturers - with scientific evidence backing them up - develop perfumery blends with just such a purpose in mind.

Why are some scents more conducive to romance than say, business pursuits? When you inhale an aroma, it sends a myriad of messages through the olfactory nerve endings to the limbic system of the brain. This system, known as the "old brain" oversees instinctive responses like emotional, sexual and aggressive behaviors. And some scents - like jasmine, vanilla and ylang ylang - may stimulate the release of neurochemicals that trigger sexual response.
In addition, our personal preference of seductive scents may be influenced by pheromones, barely visible scent molecules that travel through perspiration. Pheromones, from the Greek pherein "to carry" and hormon "to excite" - play a powerful role in socio-sexual communication.

Naturally, not all pheromones are alike. Because of the acidic nature of a man's sweat, male pheromones have a more musky quality than female ones. Musk and sandalwood scents, in fact, may be romantically enticing to women because they closely resemble the chemical make-up of male pheromones. Perfume manufacturers have sought out rare animal sources - such as civet, musk and ambergris - that mimic erotically charged human scents. Exotic and romantic perfume blends are often created with the essential oils of patchouli, sandalwood, jasmine and ylang ylang. Of course, perfume wearers have other goals in mind too. The Egyptians, Greeks and Romans created special blends for seduction, but also for propitiating deities, celebrating holidays, encouraging aggression before battle and inspiring deep contemplation. Today we are still enamored with aroma. And with the help of essential oils, we, like our ancient ancestors, can concoct our own scents to allure, inspire or simply delight.

Blend Your Own Natural Fragrance
A successful perfume is an "aromatic symphony" - a harmonious blend of top, middle and base notes. Top notes are sharp, fleeting scents, those first noticed in a fragrance and the first to fade. Middle notes characterize the fragrance halfway through the drying process - they can be considered the body, or the melody of the blend. And base notes are deep, rich, grounding scents that "fix" the fragrance and prolong it staying power because they evaporate slowly.

When blending a perfume, begin by swirling the essential oils and absolutes together. Then add them to your choice of vegetable-based oil. Jojoba works especially well as a base because it's actually a wax so it won't become rancid and will prolong the life of the perfume. To fragrance hair, clothes and sheets, blend essential oils and absolutes in an atomizer with pure grain alcohol or 100 proof vodka. Or create a delightful, spicy-scented base by adding one stick of cinnamon, one vanilla bean or two tablespoons of spices (cloves, allspice or ginger) to a pint of alcohol. Alcohol-based oils improve as they mature, so prepare them ahead and let the mixtures meld in a dark place for a few weeks before using.

The Romance of Perfumery

 

Since ancient times, we have used scent to entice and excite. Eighteenth century's King George III banned perfume as a form of sorcery, after taking note of how women of ill repute used it to seduce men. And modern perfume manufacturers - with scientific evidence backing them up - develop perfumery blends with just such a purpose in mind.

Why are some scents more conducive to romance than say, business pursuits? When you inhale an aroma, it sends a myriad of messages through the olfactory nerve endings to the limbic system of the brain. This system, known as the "old brain" oversees instinctive responses like emotional, sexual and aggressive behaviors. And some scents - like jasmine, vanilla and ylang ylang - may stimulate the release of neurochemicals that trigger sexual response.
In addition, our personal preference of seductive scents may be influenced by pheromones, barely visible scent molecules that travel through perspiration. Pheromones, from the Greek pherein "to carry" and hormon "to excite" - play a powerful role in socio-sexual communication.

Naturally, not all pheromones are alike. Because of the acidic nature of a man's sweat, male pheromones have a more musky quality than female ones. Musk and sandalwood scents, in fact, may be romantically enticing to women because they closely resemble the chemical make-up of male pheromones. Perfume manufacturers have sought out rare animal sources - such as civet, musk and ambergris - that mimic erotically charged human scents. Exotic and romantic perfume blends are often created with the essential oils of patchouli, sandalwood, jasmine and ylang ylang. Of course, perfume wearers have other goals in mind too. The Egyptians, Greeks and Romans created special blends for seduction, but also for propitiating deities, celebrating holidays, encouraging aggression before battle and inspiring deep contemplation. Today we are still enamored with aroma. And with the help of essential oils, we, like our ancient ancestors, can concoct our own scents to allure, inspire or simply delight.

Blend Your Own Natural Fragrance
A successful perfume is an "aromatic symphony" - a harmonious blend of top, middle and base notes. Top notes are sharp, fleeting scents, those first noticed in a fragrance and the first to fade. Middle notes characterize the fragrance halfway through the drying process - they can be considered the body, or the melody of the blend. And base notes are deep, rich, grounding scents that "fix" the fragrance and prolong it staying power because they evaporate slowly.

When blending a perfume, begin by swirling the essential oils and absolutes together. Then add them to your choice of vegetable-based oil. Jojoba works especially well as a base because it's actually a wax so it won't become rancid and will prolong the life of the perfume. To fragrance hair, clothes and sheets, blend essential oils and absolutes in an atomizer with pure grain alcohol or 100 proof vodka. Or create a delightful, spicy-scented base by adding one stick of cinnamon, one vanilla bean or two tablespoons of spices (cloves, allspice or ginger) to a pint of alcohol. Alcohol-based oils improve as they mature, so prepare them ahead and let the mixtures meld in a dark place for a few weeks before using.