Kelpe - The Curved Line

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  • Kelpe has always been a difficult one to place. He's an artist associated with IDM, though never sounds much like any of the Braindance, Rephlex or Warp lot. In the past you'd find him gracing the likes of Bangface and Bloc. festival, playing with artists such as Jaga Jazzist, Bonobo and Squarepusher. The live drumming, courtesy of long-time collaborator Chris Walmsley, and downbeat yet sunny demeanour plays right into the Ninja Tune camp of old, but Kelpe has kept himself apart from such institutions. At first, he released chiefly on the now-defunct D.C. Recordings, before stepping out on his own Drut Recordings. The Curved Line is McKeown's fifth album, and it shows how much has changed in since his debut, Sea Inside Body. Back then, his sound had a harsher, darker quality to it. The dreaminess was there, but it was still fairly challenging electronica, like hip-hop on the turn of a nightmare. He's basically just mellowed out since, adding a more vibrant and wider spectrum of colours to his palette. In some ways, The Curved Line is a return to the slightly more baleful music we know Kelpe can make, but it's all coated in saccharin to make it easy to swallow. The underlying cuteness is betrayed in track titles like "Chirpsichord" and "Sick Lickle Thing." The album gets interesting when things take a more forbidding turn, as in the heavy-hitting "Red Caps Of Waves," that first tease of tribal techno in "Drums For Special Effects" and the restless, synthy "Incantation" that hisses so sinisterly. But there's not enough of them. The Curved Line is a pretty harmless, quirky listen, and enjoyable enough if you've got a bit of a sweet tooth.
  • Tracklist
      01. Doubles Of Everything 02. Chirpsichord 03. Calumet 04. Sick Lickle Thing 05. Red Caps Of Waves 06. Valerian 07. Drums For Special Effects 08. Morning Two 09. Canjealous 10. Incantation
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