Eli Keszler previews upcoming eponymous album with video for new single ‘Ever Shrinking World’

Acclaimed New York-based composer and percussionist Eli Keszler will release his highly anticipated self-titled album on May 2nd through LUCKYME. Featuring twelve tracks, the album offers a striking blend of abstract electronic sounds, jazz, and cinematic textures. The album features contributions from singer Sofie Royer and saxophonist Sam Gendel who helped him achieve what he calls a “reverent, almost religious feeling,” created from “tiny fragments.” Keszler’s approach was focused on recontextualization and recombination, allowing the music to flow freely across various genres while maintaining its emotional core. “I aimed to take a feeling and let the music move freely across mediums, materials, and genres”, Keszler says, “allowing it to go wherever it wanted while staying out of its way, gently guiding the process.” This fluidity, he notes, often comes from moments of personal change and transformation, reflected in the album’s dreamlike, noir-inspired atmosphere. He adds:

“The world doesn’t feel so static anymore, does it?” Everything seems raw, nasty, and real in a way I don’t recall experiencing before. And yet, a heart-on-sleeve approach doesn’t suit me either. So here I am, submerged in…whatever this is. Full of feeling, quietly taking it in.”

Ahead of the album’s release, Keszler has shared a video for new track ‘Ever Shrinking World’ directed by Japanese filmmaker Daisuke Hasegawa. The video complements the song’s haunting theme, with Hasegawa describing it as a reflection of a world that has “grown increasingly smaller.” He continues, “The reality unfolding before my eyes is infinitely distant, yet infinitely close. In such a dry world, a man and a shark wander in search of uncertain light. ‘Ever Shrinking World,’ within this diminished world.”

Here’s the video for ‘Ever Shrinking World’.

Mixtape #123

We love Nightports’ sublime music. The inventive duo of British musicians and producers Adam Martin and Mark Slater approach their different projects with sets of pre-defined rules. Their recent EP, Wat Chedi Luang, was created using recordings from a unique day and place. Similarly, for their two previous albums, they only used sounds produced by a featured musician, discovering varied ways to explore and rework the artist’s music. Following their 2018 collaboration with Matthew Bourne, last year’s dazzling sonic collaboration, Nightports w/ Betamax, made it to our favourite Albums of 2020 and we simply can’t put it down. So we’re delighted they stitched together this phenomenal mix for us. Dig in!

Audio Player
  1. Anna Meredith – Calion [Moshi Moshi] 0:00
  2. Eli Keszler – Measurement Doesn’t Change the System At All [Shelter Press] 4:30
  3. Floating Points – Anasickmodular [Ninja Tune] 8:03
  4. Beatrice Dillon – Workaround One [Pan (3)] 11:10
  5. Laurence Pike – Rapture [The Leaf Label] 14:29
  6. TOMAGA – Squeek and Chatter [Negative Days] 18:06
  7. Leafcutter John – Pillar [Border Community] 22:35
  8. Sebastian Rochford & Pamelia Kurstin – Ouch [i] [Slowfoot] 27:28
  9. MRR-ADM – 2wo 31:35
  10. Autechre – esc desc [Warp] 33:46
  11. A Winged Victory for the Sullen – The Rhythm Of A Dividing Pair [Ninja Tune] 38:27
  12. No. 3 – No. 3 42:34
  13. Ametsub – Snowy Lava [Progressive Form / Third Ear] 50:30
  14. Domenique Dumont – People on Sunday [The Leaf Label] 54:42

Mixtape #100

We’re beyond excited to celebrate our 100th mixtape with one of our favourite bands: Forma. Formed in Brooklyn in 2010, the band brings together three extraordinary instrumentalists, Mark Dwinell, George Bennett and John Also Bennett, who perfectly complement each other. The trio released the transcending Semblance, their fourth album, last summer, following 2016’s Physicalist, one of our highlights of the year and the first to feature acoustic instrumentation alongside a multitude of modular and vintage synthesizers. Forma have provided us with an utterly sublime selection of music mixing together tracks from the likes of Arica, Maria Monti, Harumi Hosono, Eli Keszler and many more. Dive in below.

  1. Arica – Music in the Nine Rings – Side A (Excerpt) [Poodle]
  2. Geninoh Yamashirogumi – Kaneda (Akira OST) [Victor]
  3. Mark Mothersbaugh – Mayoma [Enigma Records]
  4. Eliocide – Mitosi (Excerpt)
  5. Maria Monti – Aria, Terra, Acqua e Fuoco [Rifi]
  6. Pulse Emitter – In a Cabin [Expansive]
  7. Pete Namlook – The Fate of Energy [Fax +49-69/450464]
  8. Harumi Hosono – Air-Condition [Yen Records]
  9. Henry Cowell / Jah Wobble & Brian Eno – Spinner
  10. Eli Keszler – We Live In Pathetic Temporal Urgency [Shelter Press]
  11. David Parsons – Jalan Jalan [Celestial Harmonies]
  12. Moondog – Be A Hobo (Featuring Jon Gibson, Philip Glass & Steve Reich)