Press
„Aphanite documents the meeting of two idiosyncratic and experienced free improvisers – German, Berlin-based trumpeter-electronics player Axel Dörner, who has developed a completely different language for the trumpet as well as inventive, extended techniques that make use of breath and microscopic sounds as much as conventional note-playing, with Swiss guitarist-sound engineer Beat Keller, who is based in Winterthur, Switzerland, and Berlin, who has developed a unique musical language based on the use of an electric feedback guitar, and extended playing techniques and unconventional guitar tunings. (…)
The unusual and enigmatic music of Dörner and Keller is defined by their unconventional approaches to the trumpet and the guitar, enhanced by extended techniques and special electronic effects, that transform the instruments into otherworldly sound generations. But Dörner and Keller are more than mad sonic scientists. Their electro-acoustic, sound-oriented conversations are highly nuanced and restless and employ elements of experimental music, contemporary music and abstract and industrial-like noises but balance cleverly and sometimes even playfully these indescribable sounds while suggesting an organic flow. The deep listening essence of this meeting keeps the mysterious audible dimension of the unpredictable sonic frictions and events and allows Dörner and Keller to weave complex, layered textures, that are subversive, thoughtful and stimulating at the same time, and often morphing into one sonic entity.“ (Album-review: Axel Dörner / Beat Keller: Aphanite)
Salt Peanuts, April 2024
https://salt-peanuts.eu/
„Ein wahnwitziges Debüt der beiden Schweizer Grenzenüberschreiter Joke Lanz und Beat Keller. Ein sehr kurzweiliger Trip durch diese Welten, oft humorvoll, immer abwechslungsreich!“
Freistil, November 2023
http://freistil.klingt.org/
„Keller and Lanz are kindred spirits who enjoy experimenting with noisy sounds. (…) Both are restless sonic explorers with open minds and wild imaginations. The thirteen short songs oscillate between perfect dissonance and intelligent harmony and address the urgent, daily issues that interest Keller and Lanz, mostly visiting the local pub, watching «office ladies» or English football, exchanging observations («…Prince Andrew is a strange guy, he’s not sweaty…») and drinking too many pints of beer that would make them fucking drunks or the troubles of musicians who tour too much. «Tom Cora» uses samples of the great late cellist and transforms his music into a noisy-surreal one.
Two dogs string these rough diamonds together on a ritual shaman chain, with an intentionally inflated pathos and healthy doses of irony and humour, coming from a similar source to Mary Shelley’s Flash of Inspiration, or a holiday in Fukushima as two of the pieces are titled. Shelley receives her thanks from Two Dogs, alongside Jean-Luc Godard, Jim Jarmusch, Meredith Monk, Jimi Hendrix, Jello Biafra,Captain Beefheart, Agatha Christie, René Magritte and the English Football Premier League. Well, Shelley wrote the Gothic novel Frankenstein, and Two Dogs add some dadaist, friendly manners to its smoky Frankenstein-ian brew of sounds spiced with some noises from post-apocalyptic Fukushima.“ (Album-review Two Dogs: «Songs from the trash can»)
Salt Peanuts, May 31, 2023
https://salt-peanuts.eu/
„Das Album vereint dreizehn experimentelle Stücke, welche gekonnt auf einem schmalen Grat zwischen Humor und Abgrund balancieren.“ (about the LP Two Dogs: «Songs from the trash can»)
Tagblatt Switzerland, April 2023
https://www.tagblatt.ch
The best Experimental Music on Bandcamp in August 2021:
Saadet Türköz & Beat Keller: «We are strong»
https://bandcamp.com
„This history adds another layer of compelling emotion to a record that never fails to grab attention.“
Review «We are strong» - The Best Experimental Music in August 2021
https://bandcamp.com
„«We Are Strong» is one of the highlights of the last four years. On it, Saadet Türköz meets the Swiss guitarist Beat Keller, who puts his expressive playing entirely at the service of the performance of the experimental musician and singer.“
Field Notes Berlin, 2021
„Saadet and Keller are extremely inventive throughout the album, and it is an excellent example of improvised music that draws on aspects of traditional sounds as well as free improvisation. It’s a heady mix.“
London Jazz News, July 31,2021
„Turkish singer Saadet Türköz collaborates with Swiss guitarist Beat Keller on We Are Strong - a pared-back selection of yearning folk music and textural jazz arrangements.“
The Guardian, August 2021
Meg Woof presents Adventures In Sound And Music: Saadet Türköz & Beat Keller «Aksu» From «We Are Strong»
The Wire,
https://www.thewire.co.uk
December 2021
Chris Bohn presents Adventures In Sound And Music:
Saadet Türköz & Beat Keller: «We Are Strong»
The Wire,
https://www.thewire.co.uk
October 2021
„Kein Geringerer als Elliott Sharp schreibt in den Sleevenotes zu anzuzeigender CD von einem Tribut an den „Meister der Miniatur, Anton Webern“, den der Posaunist Werner Puntigam mit seinen Improvisationen, die er im Duo entweder mit dem Gitarristen Beat Keller oder dem Schlagzeuger Georg Wilbertz gestaltet, hier erstattet. Und ja, die 24 Stücke, von denen keines länger als 3 Minuten dauert, lassen fürwahr an dessen „Bagatellen“ denken, freilich unter Abzug dessen, woran das Spiel von Puntigam überreich ist: des Witzes. Die Kürze der Interaktionen korrespondiert mit ihrer Intensität. Puntigam greift in seine gewohnte Trickkiste und unternimmt seine atonalen Streifzüge mit Klängen, die wie Sternschnuppen hervorplatzen, extrahiert aus dem Kontext, abstrahiert von konventioneller Rhetorik. Aber selbstverständlich kein Einzelgespräch, sondern Konversation dahin- gehend, dass die Art und Weise, wie ein Musiker seinen Kurs und seinen Sachverhalt festlegt, dann vom anderen geprägt wird, der ihn immer wieder um- und weiterdreht, bis am Ende dieser Reihe von metonymischen Strategien und metaphorischen Konstruktionen ein Zusammenspiel entsteht und zugleich wieder zerfällt.“ (Album review Werner Puntigam & Beat Keller: «Und ja, and yes,»)
5 out of 5 stars
Concerto, June 2020
„Yet they all fit together since the playing is minimal and focused. Elliott Sharp compares this duo to Austrian Serialist composer Anton Webern from the earlier part of the last century and I can hear the way the brevity and clarity are related. Thanks to E# for putting this gem out there!“
(Album review Werner Puntigam & Beat Keller: «Und ja, and yes,»)
http://www.downtownmusicgallery.com/
„super-minimal (…) sound-trip (…) dabei aber stets: wissenschaftlich, asketisch; reinraum. frequenzdemonstrationen inklusive obertonstudien.
mission: geglückt.“
(Album-review Beat Keller & Darius Ciuata: A2)
https://www.blackmagazin.com/
Unruhr
2017
„Gunfire Orchestra are Beat Keller, Morten Minothi Kristiansen and Reza Khota. 2 SG’s and a dangerous slaptop-configured machine situation.
It’s a too short set, ending all melancholy wisps of fractalled digital fret tones. Several of the kids have joined the assembled, due to the weird umlungu noise melodicon. At some point they remind of a real-time post-Autechre, skirting found rhythms. Reza coaxing hiding feedback from his amplificator box while Morten sternly twists knobs and Keller plays from the other side of guitar, broken, smudged SG on his lap.
This is Post-Industrial Blues Ambiatika.“
Mick Raubenheimer, http://www.dontparty.com/
2016
„Another fantastic release on Wandelweiser, the Haiku String Trio performing seven short trios written by Beat Keller (transparent and lush at the same time, each a gem)… Very beautiful.“
Brian Olewnick, September 3rd 2016
«Beat Keller/Tom Johnson/Joseph Kudirka – String Trios (Edition Wandelweiser)»
Brian Olewnick Best of 2016 list
31.12.2016
„Toutes ces pièces se suivent et s'emmêlent parfaitement dans une poésie romantique où la nature et les émotions prennent le dessus, où le son devient l'expression pure de sentiments exacerbés, des sentiments qui nous inondent et nous bercent. Recommandé.
(Album review Haiku String Trio: «String Trios»)“
http://improv-sphere.blogspot.de
Julien Héraud
21. Novembre 2016
«Beat Keller/Tom Johnson/Joseph Kudirka - String trios (EWR)»
Best of 2016 list
http://improv-sphere.blogspot.de
Julien Héraud
21. Novembre 2016
„A superb program of string trios from minimalist composer Beat Keller, from cinematic to spacious sound work, as realized by the Haiku String Trio of Julia Schwob on violin, David Schnee on viola, and Nicola Romano on cello.“
http://www.squidco.com
„This formation of young Swiss jazz musicians conducted by composer Beat Keller provided nothing less than an excellent modern-day update of big band jazz.
Verdict: first-class contemporary jazz music with a major fun factor.“
Stephan Freissmann
Review of the concert given at the 30th Konstanzer Jazzherbst on the 27th October 2009 in Constance, Germany
suedkurier.de
Oct 2009
„Dieser Spass an der Verblüffung ist den Musikern kaum anzusehen, denn sie gehen mit grosser Ernsthaftigkeit zu Werke, was den Spass nur noch steigert. Fulminant!“
Weserkurier Bremen vom 4. Oktober 2011
„After (unfortunately) only 54 minutes, we are still under the impression that this has been a successful experiment on the part of a group of excellent musicians. We look forward to the next offering from Keller’s musical galaxy!“
Jazzthing, January 2009
„Serious fun from Switzerland: Beat Keller conducts his 10-strong ensemble with a “half big band” line-up through a programme of music-making which is both bizarre and highly spirited. Keller normally develops his compositional concepts over a long period of time, which makes listening to his music very exciting. He enjoys using strong contrasts and takes great pleasure in making full use of his ensemble’s tonal potential. He juxtaposes strict canon and fugal forms with exuberant and frolicsome free blowing and also flirts with circus music and elements of rock. An entertaining and refreshing album – top marks!“
5 stars out of 5 stars = excellent
Concerto Magazine, January 2009
„Syd Barrett, tragisches Genie aus Pink Floyds Gründungszeit, wird im Opener mit Marching-Band- Klängen und Dixieland zu Grabe getragen. Prägend wie Barrett, so blasen die elf Musiker schon in den ersten Takten zum Aufbruch, mit schelmischer Lust zu entdecken, Neues auszuprobieren.
Die Experimente sind allesamt von Beat Keller ausgeheckt.
Sehr hörenswert.“
••••• (= unmistakably top-notch)
Jazz’n’more, December 2008
„Best Debut Release 2008 – Beat Keller: Keller’s 10”
All About Jazz, New York, Jan. 09, A look back at the best of 2008
„…It’s that Beat Keller has made it all work together without letting the seams show.
To that end, he‘s convened a well-drilled and competent ensemble that handles everything he gives it with elegance, aplomb and evident pleasure.
(…) handling everything from lush, Gil Evans-like colors to bold polka riffs to desiccated whistles to jubilant whinnies that would sound just right on an Eight Bold Souls record. Keller‘s 10 is a promising debut.“
Downbeat Magazine, May 2009