“A drumset sits on the stage unaccompanied during these concerts. There is naturally an anticipation for a specific kind of music because of this, and at that a music on spec no one really wants to listen to…? I don’t even really like drum solos funnily enough…”
Despite the latent sarcasm, which can only be honesty, it’s worth pulling out this quote by Eli Keszler from the ‘LIVE 2‘ Bandcamp to situate his appearance. This is the second instalment in a planned series of live and solo recordings by Eli Keszler, and here we find him in his most stripped-down and eminently present form, a tangible reflection of his ability to pull out a wealth of rhythmic, melodic and timbral solutions and plots from the drums and percussion that are full of power and vision. Because Keszler was never “just” a drummer or percussionist. Rather, he is a multi-faceted artist whose work between composition, installation and the visual arts is intertwined in a way that is as natural as it is intricate and continually inquisitive. With nearly two decades of dedicated work under his belt, the American musician has built up a notorious profile, not only in his solo work – which in itself encompasses a wide-ranging panoply of forms and variations – but also in composing soundtracks and pieces commissioned by organisations such as the Icelandic Symphony Orchestra or So Percussion, or in weaving a dense network of collaborations and appearances ranging from participation in the celebrated MYRIAD by Oneohtrix Point Never or Laurel Halo’s Rare Silk Uncut Wood to equal encounters with Rashad Becker, Jandek, Keith Fullerton Whitman or Oren Ambarchi – ‘Alps‘ reached a decade of existence this year and it’s still incredible, by the way.
Incidentally, the latter is perhaps the contemporary name most similar to Keszler in terms of sphere of action, but each with their own panorama. Improvisation, jazz, environmentalism, electronics, drone and a whole indefinable and mutable field between these (and other) languages that has been explored and offered through publishers such as PAN, Empty Editions, ESP-Disk or Shelter Press: from the overwhelming, almost spectral rhythmic fire – Xenakis would approve – of ‘Oxtirn‘ to the hypnotic polyrhythmy of ‘Last Signs of Speed’, from the enclosed space of the strings and percussion of ‘Cold Pin’ to the ever-changing elegance of ‘Stadium’ and, returning to the beginning of this text, the solos of ‘LIVE‘ there is a whole seemingly inexhaustible world yet to be discovered by Keszler. We’ll be here to accompany him. What a blessing. BS
