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 - Mirror Guide Pt. II {you And Me} (vocals: NTsKi)

DIY SUMMONINGS

;;Glitter Teafumes FullDiskRestore;;

Popcorn the DiskShiner19 - ;;Glitter Teafumes FullDiskRestore;;

Njörkha

Track art by Octa Möbius Sheffner:
twitter.com/gerogerigaygayg

Vocals and lyrics by Murrumur:
@murrumur

I exist in your pictures and not in your mind
Hauntological existence, my hair dye was different
Sleeper agent, invisible ink tattoos
My spine was shaped different
It's freezing, I shiver in backrooms where you kept me
Scar me directly for permanent difference
Dripping through floorboards and hide into blankets
Losing all interest
I think I feel different

Everything I know I don't understand
I understand what I don't and otherwise hope
You understand what you know

Everything I know I don't understand
I understand what I don't and otherwise hope
You understand what you know

I think I feel different

You don't even know
You don't understand

I feel sick
Under the weather whether or not things go well
Worms want my cells back
Is my persistence selfish
Because my selflessness is poisonous
Resonant joylessness is ominous and omnipresent
Funeral parade
A thousand feathers fall in ambient entropy
Among apathetic dancers and marching bands
Dreaming glitches and swallowing gravity

Everything I know I don't understand
I understand what I don't and otherwise hope
You understand what you know

Everything I know I don't understand
I understand what I don't and otherwise hope
You understand what you know

You don't even know
You don't understand

Dawn of the Final Hour

67.alps (You Don't Understand)

67.alps (You Don't Understand) (w/ Murrumur)

youcanfindme_20220726

Ryumas - Blind Egg 『BOOTLEGGED』
Vajra141 - Sun is an Egg 『REBUILD』
Bingus - Mute Egg 『REMIX』
Raeth - Pearlescent Umbrage 『UNCLASSIFIED』

;;CONGRATS ON A COMMUNITY-OWNED EGG;; KEEP AN EYE OUT;;

Nu̸̫̐ Millennium Eggs 『BLVCK.MVRKIT』

Rob A Bank

spotlight_20230623

(Chant: whispered, spiraled — illusion vs truth)

Existing in fantasy / creates illusions—
Never exist. Never exist.

Creating it in thought / robs the living of vision—
Never be. Never see.

Illusion births awareness of future / alters the past—
Be not deceived. Be not relieved.

To see past your experience / is to rewrite reality—
One mind. Another mind.
One eye. Another eye.

✨ Refrain (chanted):
Illusion is a mirror / mirror is a mask—
Behold the eye that beholds itself.

Litany of illusion (A clearer View)

Ambient ethereal soundscapes for your pleasure, relax, chillout and enjoy.

ETERNITY - BORN OF ETERNITY

Track 02 of DE/COLONIAL WRITING$

Buy it on bandcamp
https://marcioz.bandcamp.com/album/de-colonial-writing

Spotify:
https://open.spotify.com/album/6ETycekvDjSbFQFyDJErJC

Everywhere:
https://smarturl.it/DECOLONIALWRITINGS

'DE/COLONIAL WRITING$' takes influences from samba, flamenco, trap and industrial music to develop a new possibility for the brazilian music pallete. Growing up in Curitiba, Marcioz was immersed in samba carnival bands since a kid, playing repinique, surdo and other typical instruments present in afrobrazilian music. That same origin makes key difference to define DE/COLONIAL WRITING$ as a sound wishing to imagine electronic music from the colonial period in Brazil. The project doesn't try to solve any of the worlds issues, simply accepting its uncapabilities, it rather wants to cause thought, imagination and creativity from the listener.

'HINO DO CABELO RUIM' tries to gather all the self-hate and trauma imposed over Marcio's hair into one track essay. 'SHOWYOUTHI$* (Cityismine)' wants to take an aggressive angle view over Curitiba's streets and blocks. 'Shut the Fuck Up Please' is a short one instrument ambient piece willing to musically imagine the sound of overlong discourse.

This EP is dedicated to Marcia Regina, who passed away a couple of months ago. Mother of Marcio and Henry

coverart from Osório Belém - Mãe Maria (1945)

instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/itsmarcioz/

twitter:
https://twitter.com/marciozmusic