︎
Hello - my name is
Wyatt Keusch
, and I am a musician who lives on
Vancouver Island
, with my wife and a 7’ imaginary stork named
Griebo
. I have been called, on multiple occasions and with differing intent, a “confusing person”. My musical activity is oriented generally towards the "esoteric" end of whichever idiomatic spectrum on which I happen to find myself, be that tape collage, free improvisation, electronic music or guitar pickin’ (not always grinnin’). In addition to the stuff released under my given name, I also have a number of collaborative ventures and alternate guises, such as Luther Burbank, The Undectet & The Septet, Tired Device, Sub Tela, Jean d’Ys, Khonsu-Djehuty, Hoofwerk, Raymond Désolé, ‘s-Hertogenbosch, The Jack Parsons Quartet, Islands (The Restaurant (The Band)), E.L. James Brown & Jones.Keusch / Hooftet.

I have a BFA from the music school at CalArts, which is the material result of what was ultimately a positive experience, since I made some wonderful friends there, though I contend that art school is (to put it kindly)
a deeply silly place
. From 2008-2015 I ran, with Casey Anderson, the now-defunct Khalija label, on which we released cassettes, CDs and digital material by Mark Trayle, Jason Khan, EVOL, Travis Just + Object Collection, Pierce Warnecke, Scott Cazan, Greg Davis, Tim Perkis, Headboggle & many more. In late 2015, we felt that the Khalija project had run its course, so we amicably closed up shop, and remain great friends to this day (friendship being more important to me than business, status, etc.). Khalija now exists solely in an archival capacity, with the majority of releases still available as downloads through the Bandcamp page; physical editions can occasionally be found on Discogs or in used record shops (mostly in California). Casey and I now find ourselves each operating our own new labels - a wave press and ELEXVE, respectively. ELEXVE is a joint venture with another ol’ pal, Matthew Hettich.

My first two solo albums were released by the Mille Plateaux label, and can be found on all streaming services and possibly at some record stores (though not on this site, as I don’t currently hold the publishing/distribution rights to them). I also appeared on several of their compilations, which are available via the same channels*. From 2006-2014, my primary focus was on live performance, and during that time I played quite a lot of gigs in a variety of locales and contexts; one particularly memorable set was described by Eric Avery as being “the first time [he] was scared at a show since the ‘80s”, which I consider to be praise of the highest order (though it may not have been intended as such). From 2014 to the present, my focus has shifted towards studio work, both solo and collaborative, with live performance being a special occasion rather than a regular occurrence. I do my best to temper my musical (hyper)activity by spending unfocused time with my wife and
our friends
. Each moment is eternal -
live joyfully
.

Since 2013, I have been employed professionally with Cargo Collective, the entity which develops and sustains the platform on which this lovely website is built. I am very happy to have found a position working alongside such wonderfully interesting people. If you need a website, Cargo is the only game in town. Subscribing to the Cargo newsletter is also highly recommended, as I find it a reliable source of fascination (particularly the textual bits).

I don’t go in for the social media runaround, but that shouldn’t be interpreted as a lack of interest in communication (nor as my passing judgement upon the app-inclined). If you’d like to get in touch with me for any reason, no matter how frivolous, you can click the “Contact” link up there in the nav bar to send me an email directly. I’m glad to hear from any and all curious parties, so
don't be shy
.
© 2021