OSTRACON
Unauthorized Modifications
UEM0337
Unearthed Music 2011
06 Tracks. 46mins08secs

Amazon UK: DLD US: DLD iTunes: DLD

Hailing from Minneapolis, Ostracon is the latest electronics and drums duo to have surfaced. Following on in the footsteps of Burnt Friedman & Jaki Leibezeit or Kieran Hebden & Steve Reid, to name but two, electronic musician John Keston, best known as one half of Keston & Westdal, and drummer Graham O’Brien have teamed up for a rather curious, and excellent, first record.

While O’Brien sticks to traditional drums, Keston’s approach is somewhat quirkier. Instead of relying on keyboards, he uses custom-made programs and hand manipulated light controllers to transform video signals into sound structures. Continue Reading »

KESTON & WESTDAL
One Day To Save All Life
UEM0333
Unearthed Music 2008
12 Tracks. 61mins37secs

John Keston and Nils Westdal have been working together since the tail-end of the nineties, although their debut album, Super Structure Baby, was only released four years ago on short-lived New York imprint Coup De Grâce. With this record, Keston & Westdal presented a series of chilled electronic compositions infused with chunky jazz overtones, fusing Keston’s background as a jazz pianist and Westdal’s warm and enveloping bass. The album was followed by a second opus, Truth Is Stranger, released in 2007.

One Day To Save All Life takes quite a different path. Partly leaving behind the soft lounge forms they had become accustomed to, Keston & Westdal investigate here much more complex grounds and occasionally find themselves in the vicinity of Boards Of Canada or Isan Continue Reading »