ESP-Disk’ is proud to announce the May 17 release of Eli Keszler’s ESP – Disk’ debut Oxtirn on CD in two editions: a regular one-CD version and a deluxe two-CD set including a concert version.
ESP-Disk’s 2010 limited LP release of Oxtirn sold out immediately, prompting the label to issue Eli’s masterwork for the first time on CD for global distribution. The beautifully packaged CD recreates the original album art executed and designed by Eli. Additions to the gatefold package include a six-panel foldout showing the intricately detailed musical score to Oxtirn; the other side features a new piece of original art dedicated to the CD reissue, one of Keszler’s beautiful abstract artworks. Musically, Oxtirn has never sounded better, as it was remastered for stunning high-quality digital sound. Oxtirn now includes not only the two tracks originally released on the vinyl but also the rarely heard third movement featuring Keszler plus Mori on prepared piano, making this CD the most complete-in-one-place edition of Oxtirn available.
Oxtirn will also be available in a 250-copy limited-edition deluxe release that includes a second CD, Oxtirn Live and a limited print. Although it is a concert version of the same notated score that produced Oxtirn, it’s with a different instrumentation of three guitars, drums, voice, motor harp, tenor harp, bass harp, microphones, clarinet, alto saxophone, crotales, and cymbals, played by the lineup of Keszler, Paul, and Geoff Mullen. And Keszler’s notation allows for interpretational freedom by the players, so while stylistically there are similarities between Oxtirn and Oxtirn Live, they don’t sound the same. Thanks to the guitars, Oxtirn Live sounds a little closer to the rock avant-garde than Oxtirn as keening high frequencies collide and intertwine, free of standard tunings, setting up ear-cleaning vibrations.
ESP-Disk’ will celebrate the arrival of Oxtirn with a release party/concert on Wednesday, May 25, 7-10 PM, at Tribes Gallery, the famed Lower East Side loft space run by poet Steve Cannon and his organization A Gathering of the Tribes.
