Artist: Giant Claw
Album: Mirror Guide
Format: Digital / Vinyl
Release: May 14, 2021

Music by Keith Rankin
Visual art by Ellen Thomas and Keith Rankin
Mastered by Starkey

Giant Claw - Mirror Guide

Artist: Giant Claw
Album: Mirror Guide
Format: Digital / Vinyl
Release: May 7 or 14, 2021

Music by Keith Rankin
Visual art by Ellen Thomas and Keith Rankin
Mastered by Starkey

Artist Statement:

I have been recording Mirror Guide off and on since my previous album Soft Channel came out in 2017, working on pieces in my spare time while co-running Orange Milk Records and trying to make a living as a freelance visual artist. 

I wanted Mirror Guide to feel less frenzied than some of my previous music, and decided to use a hyperreal string sound as a lead instrument the rest of the sounds could orbit around. I improvised long stretches with the digital instrument and picked moments that elicited some emotional response in me as the foundation for each piece. It helped to imagine a small synthetic ensemble playing every additional part, considering the choices an individual might make if they were focused primarily on their instruments’ role within the group. 

In my improvised sessions I also gravitated towards what I called a ‘bouncing ball’ rhythm - later described to me as an exponential rhythmic sequence. After thinking about how genres often center around a core rhythmic pattern I adopted the sequence as another consistent feature for the album. 

In the past I’ve cut up pop acapellas as vocal elements, but on Mirror Guide decided to work with several artists I had come to know from three very different music scenes. I traveled to Pittsburgh for a few days and recorded with vocalist Tamar Kamin (from the band the Van Allen Belt) generating hours of improvised and lightly prepared melodic material that I later edited into several songs. I also incorporated more poetic almost spoken word vocals from Japanese musician and photographer NTsKi and a small segment of screeching moans from fellow Ohioan Diana Gruber. 

More generally I found inspiration from artists like Paul Lansky, Ryuichi Sakamoto, and the range of emotion in the music of Geinoh Yamashirogumi Orchestra, best known for scoring the Akira soundtrack which is a longtime favorite. I was also encouraged to complete Mirror Guide through conversations with the late composer, tape collage pioneer, and friend Noah Creshevsky, who gave me several boosts of confidence after hearing early versions of the music.

Giant Claw - Until Mirror (vocals: Tamar Kamin)

Giant Claw - Disworld (vocals: NTsKi)

Giant Claw - Mir-Cam Online

Giant Claw - Mir-Cam Startup

Giant Claw - Earther

Grinning Cat

Sleepy Eye

Image 1983 - 1998

Amanogawa

Sakura

Tobiume

People On Sunday

Merry-Go-Round

Go Plastic

Tommib

Playlist of new & re-connected joints that made their way into my headphones as well as my hardrive, from anytime during the week of 1/22/12-1/28/12, though not a continuous mix, still, sort of mixed 

Oval - Do While (command + x)

Shed "The Praetorian" (50WEAPONS017) Out Feb 18

Nothing Is Still

Birds On The Tarmac (Footnote III)

'Push Power ( a 1 )', out now on Ninja Tune: https://actress.lnk.to/push-powerSo 

'Karma & Desire', out now on Ninja Tune: https://actress.lnk.to/karma-desireSo

Follow Actress -
Spotify: https://found.ee/actress-sp
Apple Music: https://found.ee/actress-am
Instagram: https://found.ee/actress-ig
Facebook: https://found.ee/actress-fb
Twitter: https://found.ee/actress-tw
Youtube: https://found.ee/actress-yt
Bandcamp: https://found.ee/actress-bc
Soundcloud: https://found.ee/actress-sc

Karma & Desire

Fire and Light

Vinyl Edition available now via Second Thoughts Records:
https://secondthoughtsrecords.bandcamp.com/album/music-for-turntable-guitars-sampled-instruments

Recorded and produced by Chuck Blazevic, Summer 2017 - Fall 2019.
Mastered by Stephan Mathieu at Schwebung Mastering.
Graphic Design by Simone at Studio-Noi.
Co-released by Second Thoughts Records and Reliable Effects

Music For Turntable, Guitars & Sampled Instruments

Form And F a d e

Giant Claw - Mir-Cam Startup

Orange Milk Records

Recent comments

Persephone Otherkin

Related tracks