Evento

Eli Keszler / Rashad Becker (solo performances)

NYC based drummer and sound artist, Eli Keszler, engages in a frictional push-and-pull of percussive sound through instrumental means which are both traditional and experimental. His oeuvre is multi-faceted, consisting of musical scores informed by his print making/drawing practices as well as his construction of resonating piano wire installations (most recently an installation on the Manhattan Bridge commissioned by NPR Radio). His hyper-percussive improvisations are ripe with detailed and pointilistic attacks that build momentum to form frenzied sonic clusters, drawing inspiration from the spontaneity of Han Bennik's percussion work as well as the harmonic density of Colin Nancorrow's compositions.

With full length albums on the vinyl-art label PAN and the legendary avant-garde jazz label ESP-Disk, Keszler's releases have received "album of the year" awards from the Boston Globe and Wire Magazine. After studying composition with Anthony Coleman and Ran Blake, Eli Keszler toured extensively, performing both solo as well as in collaboration with such diverse artists as Christian Wolff, Phill Niblock, Tony Conrad, Joe McPhee, Jandek, Roscoe Mitchell and Keith Fullerton Whitman.

Berlin electronic musician, Rashad Becker, utilizes real-time synthesis and sampling techniques that set into motion intricate sonic worlds that recall the complexities of human speech and various exotic aural phenomena, and warrant comparisons to the detailed sonics of pioneers like Tod Dockstader, and the GRM school of electronic music. Oscillating pitches conjoin, multiply and dissolve in unlikely configurations, creating a complex ecosystem of sound. Also, Becker's work as a vinyl cutting and mastering engineer at Berlin's Dubplates Mastering Studio (where he has overseen thousands of mastering jobs) has endowed him with a unique insider's perspective on the practice and aesthetics of modern day electronic music and production.

After years of performing, Becker's sole release came out on PAN in 2013, aptly titled Traditional Musics of Notional Species. Pitchfork described Becker's LP as an album that "breathes in pointed, often hilarious detail. [Becker's] sounds actually sound like things".