Just picked up/downloaded a copy of They Might Be Giants new album “Mink Car”.
On one of the tracks called “Older” they use a few instruments I’ve never heard a thing about. This is an excerpt from the not-quite-liner notes:
“We recently got to perform this song on the Conan O’Brien show, but that was before we added the two instruments heard at the top. The first one you hear is called a “Rauschpfife.” It is then joined by the strident Saroussophone, a 19th century substitute for the Contrabassoon. Obligatory wisecracks about the reasons for their current unpopularity have already been made and are unwelcome.”
Anyone know anything else about the history/use of these intruments? Both are winds, and the Rauschpfife sounds a bit like an oboe with a cold.
Any insight as to what they are is much appreciated.