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Includes unlimited streaming of Dungeon Ballads
via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
Two men, two guitars, some drum machines, software, and a basement. Recorded over a series of frantic one-take jams somewhere in the middle of fucking nowhere, Dungeon Ballads is the sound of two distinct – although not distant – worlds colliding: that of the band (in this case, of the punk/shoegaze variety), and that of the club (read: gritty haus/tekno rave in a shed in Poplar).
Digitally framed, shaped and manipulated, undercut with analogue drum loops and motorik machine grooves, Kessler V’s debut LP is nevertheless a fully, at times full-throttle, ‘live’ affair, warts n’ all very much to the fore, for all that there are nods to Raster, Namlook/FAX and The Sight Below (to name but some of Ballads’ electronic reference-points).
The point of the project is not to tritely ‘trick’ the listener into thinking that they’re listening to something they’re not (or vice versa), but to push past the limitations of a humble, DAW-anchored set-up and cramped surroundings, into a widescreen space defined by force, feeling, and good old-fashioned fervour.
And indeed, sonically, the final results – three extended wig-outs set up by a drone – are palpably more ‘rock’ than ‘laptop’, ear-bleedingly angular, abrasive, electrified and piercing, pointed at the heavens like a sawn-off with skag needles for bullets.
credits
released March 13, 2017
Recorded, processed, mixed & edited by Kessler V, 07.15–03.17.
Mastered by Datashat @ Misc. HQ, London, 03.17.
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supported by 5 fans who also own “Dungeon Ballads”
A solid compilation of ambient, electronic, drone and experimental music. Varied and consistent plus the design for the cassette edition is simply beautiful. It's playing on my deck on a regular basis. SampleScience