Kelpe
About
Kelpe is the recording alias of London-based electronic artist and producer Kel McKeown. Growing up in the university town of Loughborough, England, McKeown first began experimenting with music as a teenager, using a Commodore Amiga home computer and a sampler to make rudimentary rave beats in the early '90s. Kelpe’s influences range from the bleeps & bass of classic Warp artists and is inspired by electronica acts like Prefuse 73, Boards of Canada.
The diversity of the music that inspires Kelpe finds reflection in his own sonic adventures, informing his ever evolving sound. Coming to the attention of DC Recordings in early 2003, his first release for label was the 12″ EP ‘The People are Trying to Sleep’, a wide eyed carnival of fractured hip hop beats and warped electronics. This was followed by the critically acclaimed album ‘Sea Inside Body’ (September 2004), an album described by The Wire as “One of the most engrossing listens in recent electronic music”.
Kelpe continued on DC Recordings with second LP ‘Ex-Aquarium’ (2008) and third ‘Cambio Wechsel’ (2009) as well as several EPs on the label and an official mix CD “Death Before Distemper 4 – Mixed by Kelpe”. Since 2009, Kelpe has branched out from DC Recordings and released with heavyweight electronic labels. In Autumn 2010 he released 2 EPs “Margins EP” on Black Acre, securing a place in Bleep.com’s top 10 EPs of 2010.
Making a name for himself across and beyond Europe for solo live sets and as a duo with long time collaborator Chris Walmsley (Psapp, Broadcast, etc), the live setup incorporates MPC style beat manipulations, tiny analogue synths and a lot of bass. With or without the addition of live acoustic drums from Chris Walmsley (AKA All Traps Set), the explosive live act has travelled far and wide, from California to Lithuania, playing alongside diverse acts such as Aphex Twin, Ghostpoet, Gaslamp Killer, and Daedelus.
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