Eli Keszler may be a drummer, but he’s actually an electroacoustician. As with hardly anyone else, the artist from New York makes the result sound more abstract and atmospheric than like sweaty arm bends. Already on his last solo LP for Shelter Press, »Stadium,« a bit more tangibility was emerging in the sound, and »Icons« on LuckyMe actually offers – yes, at times almost jungle and nu jazz sounding grooves. Already the opener »All the Mornings in the World« lets new age soundscapes and bulbous percussion harmonize with each other, »The Accident« could probably fit well into LTJ Bukem’s »Logical Progression« with its jazzy-progressive borrowings on 45 rpm and »Civil Sunset« could easily be smuggled into the playlist of a beach bar between some old Sonar collective numbers. But even though these rather surprising connections to the familiar and conventional first catch the ear, »Icons« is actually dominated by the sonic miniatures that actually make Keszler’s work so fascinating, and which are inscribed with an eerie emotional ambivalence. At times, elegiac synth tones howl out, probably not by accident reminiscent of Oneohtrix Point Never – the two regularly collaborate – and sometimes it’s not at all discernible which sounds on this album can even be attributed to traditional physical percussion instruments. For Keszler may occasionally reveal himself as a drummer, but actually »Icons« is the work of an electroacoustician, a disassembler and reassembler. And incidentally still said one of his best.
Alessandroni E Il Suo Complesso
L’ora Del Cocktail
Far Out