Kelpe - LP10 (April 5, 2024)

[silentvision]

 

1. Only 92
2. Schlesinger
3. The Palace Guard Loop
4. Events Proved Me Wrong
5. When It Turns
6. Round Trip 
7. Tennis Rush
8. Dunderhead
9. Down the Line
10. Lost Love and Speak Soon
11. The Palace Guard Loop - No Drums (bonus)

 

London producer Kel McKeown celebrates the release of his tenth album as Kelpe, with a vinyl edition of uncategorisable dance music on Kit Records.

Kelpe's work combines live drumming with synthesis and guitars. Like the nine records that came before it, LP10 treads the line between gauzy melancholia and bustling, dancefloor-ready energy.

Listening to Kelpe's music can feel like fluttering through a photo album at speed. Familiar faces and locations are revealed, nostalgic scenes assembled then scattered by unruly rhythms and samples.

Analogue percussion takes centre stage on LP10. This restless drumming - gear-shifting from hip-hop through to jungle - showcases McKeown's chops as an instrumentalist, while harking back to the scrambled beats that were a hallmark of his early releases.

Kelpe has worked closely with the visual artist Nikita Iziev on this record. Inspired by pioneering film director John Schlesinger, the serendipitous geometry of new wave cinema is mapped out in fractured moments across the music and artwork.

While the track 'Schlesinger' echoes the bouncing unpredictability of the sleeve, 'The Palace Guard Loop' pours neon fertiliser over fender rhodes jazz keys. Adrenalin reaches its zenith on 'Events Proved Me Wrong', as Kelpe hits his stride for a homespun drum and bass workout.

LP10 will be the final full length Kelpe album.