Loughborough, UK-based instrumental hiphop/beats producer Kel McKeown (aka Kelpe) apparently spent much of his adolescence enduring bone-crunching skateboarding injuries and crafting “crap rave efforts’ on the Commodore Amiga, before his latter-day self-described “head-nod-tronica’ explorations came to the attention of J Saul Kane’ DC Recordings label in 2003. Upon its release back in 2004, McKeown’ debut album as Kelpe “Sea Inside Body’ received critical acclaim from the feted likes of The Wire, with McKeown’ fusion of leftfield instrumental hiphop and IDM elements being favourably compared to the likes of Four Tet, Dabrye and Boards Of Canada, a description knocked sideways slightly by Kelpe’ ensuing contrastingly upbeat 2005 12†“Sunburnt Eyelids’ EP. Three years on, this second album from Kelpe on DC Recordings “Ex-Aquarium’ sees McKeown continuing to stick to the aquatically-themed titles, whilst adding even more levels of intricate textural and instrumental detail to his productions, which seem as equally informed by the IDM-hiphop of peers such as Prefuse 73 and Dabrye, as they are by pastoral UK folk and Steve Reich-styled minimalism.
Opening track “Whirlwound’ certainly provides an apt encapsulation of this approach; with its emphasis on peeling intricate levels of percussive texture out of an armoury of sample live drum kit sounds, it immediately calls to mind comparisons with the similarly drum-focused likes of Kieran Hebden / Four Tet, but in this case, the overall sense of rhythmic attack is tempered by the gauzy plucked guitars and blissful ambient pads that float in the foreground, dragging things towards more beatific waters. By comparison, first single “Shipwreck Glue’ gets far more chunky and groove-infused, dropping thick layers of Luke Vibert-esque bassy Moog swells beneath a clattering backdrop of sampled cymbals and jagged breaks in what’s easily one of this album’ most extrovert and synth-heavy moments, while the jaunty “Yippee Space Ghost’s smoothly fuses an intricately-assembled backdrop of handclaps and snare sounds that calls to mind Jimmy Edgar or Flying Lotus, with the sorts of wide-eyed, blurred analogue synth pads you’d expect to encounter on BOC’ “Music Has The Right To Children.’ “Skylla’ meanwhile manages to inject a dose of downbeat dub, with the sorts of slow, crackling rhythms you might associate with Pole neatly melding with sampled harmonium tones and thick, squelchy analogue synths, before “Half Broken Harp’ takes the treated textures of the titular instrument, and sends them trailing out over a spectral backing of sharp-edged MPC rhythms and feathery acoustic guitar tones, in a gorgeous slice of pastoral folk-hop that suggests Caudal’ wide-eyed explorations. Those with a taste for lush, multitextural beats along the lines of Luke Vibert and Kieran Hebden’ leftfield excursions will be delighted by this impressive second album offering from Kelpe.
Chris Downton
