Selected Memories from the Haunted Ballroom is the debut studio album by the Caretaker, an alias of musician Leyland Kirby.

It differed from Kirby's earlier works in that it did not manipulate pop songs to create noise albums, as he did under the V/Vm alias.

In the late 1990s, English musician Leyland Kirby started recording as V/Vm, releasing noise albums sampled from pop songs.

[4] The original samples are slowed down, distorted, and echoed for an intent of creating a disorientation to the listener, with layers applied akin to films by David Lynch.

[20] Along with releases by the Caretaker such as A Stairway to the Stars and Persistent Repetition of Phrases, it remains as one of his most prominent ambient records.

[23][24] Writer Adam Parkinson cited the album as a "sonic crystal, as the 'actual' music co-exists in close circuits with its 'virtual' counterpart, and we are listening to both a 'presence' and an 'absence'.

[17] "By The Seaside", while presenting a more coherent structure, has metallic screeches accompanying the instrumentals, rising and falling as the song progresses.

"[4] Duncan Simpson, writing for Musique Machine, felt the record's "unique listening experience [...] is just the trick" for fans of dark ambient/industrial music.

Club's Seal O'Neal stated Kirby's work at depicting memories as "the ghosts that torment us" was "like listening to death itself.

"[7] According to writer Corey Seymour from magazine Vogue, the title Selected Memories from the Haunted Ballroom "goes a long way in describing the music.