southern records

Doldrums have been working on this album from 1997 to 1999, mostly in Virginia where Bill Kellum lives and operates the VHF label. The other two members of the band, Justin Chearno and Matt Kellum would travel from Texas and New York City, respectively, to record. The final track of Desk Trickery was recorded at a festival in Denton, TX where the trio made a rare live appearance.

The title refers to the computer technology applied to the mixing process. there's a great deal of computer-mutated guitar damage going on. You may think it's sampling, looping, sequencing, break beats and the like but it is actually electric guitar sounds transformed via silicon chips. There are also some mighty wah-wah jams, putting that much underused fx peddle through its paces. Of these seven guitar-powered rave ups, Bill Kellum sings on two.

Lots of folks may talk about mixing instrumental improvisation and the transformative capacity of digital technology - Doldrums actually do it. They've dragged the swollen corpse of prog rock straight into the future, and brought along some mountain boogie too; courtesy of Matt Kellum's doubled up drum tracks. No clinical demonstrations of instrumental technique or digital editing will be found on Desk trickery, just a commitment to kick out.