MIRROR GUIDE

The electornic music scene has splintered off into so many genres and subgenres that it's almost requiring a PHD to navigate the maze of subtle variations that have flooded the electronic music world in the last two decades. The world of digitalization was a game changer allowing wild imaginations to easily escape the limitations of traditional analog equipment and there has been no shortage of wild nerdy artists who seek to carve out a world of their own making sonically speaking.

Ohio born and based Keith Rankin better known as GIANT CLAW is one such musical maestro who has found his calling by tackling everything from old school progressive electronic and plunderphonics to the newer digital art crazes such as vaportrap, epic collage, glitch and the hypnagogic pop offspring utopian virtual. Apparently busy at home in his CLAW cave, Rankin has been a busy boy by crafting 17 full-length releases, one split and several EPs since 2010 with no end in site. Damn, he's even taken his show on the road with his 2021 release "Millennium Bug Live 2018-2021" documenting his live endeavors. Apparently this guy knows his stuff and has set some blazing trails in the electronic underground.

While his debut was a unique amalgamation of progressive rock and digital fusion with chiptune sounds, GIANT CLAW has unleashed a tidal wave of ambient, progressive electronic, minimal synth and even synthpop releases but his latest release MIRROR GUIDE shows a serious sophistication which includes the world of modern classical to his eclectic mishmash of circuit bending madness. Utilizing a plucked cello and female singer, MIRROR GUIDE showcases the bizarre deconstruction possibilities of how you can rip it all apart and create you own little musical Frankenstein. The album may be cutting edge as far as technical advancements may go but very traditional in its classical leanings as well as featuring eight tracks that just miss the 34-minute playing time.

With comparisons to the 20th century's Conlon Nancarrow, you know this is going to be strange one since as a successor GIANT CLAW uses modern machines to perform tasks impossible by humans or at least a small number. This is the ultimate juxtaposition of melodies, rhythms, timbres and musical cadences run amok with a jittery glitch frosting to add a bit of anxiety to the otherwise smooth lush vaporwave style of chill out music. Given the human element by Japanese singer NTsKi, the music remains alienating yet suitable for Earthlings simply looking for something completely out of the ordinary. Given the series of strange trap beats and lush orchestrated melodies, the album sounds like a disaster waiting to unfold but in the end finds a near flawless execution of the staccato grooves making a truce with the soft and sensual.

Like much of this kind of abstract electronica, MIRROR GUIDE seems to have no purpose with the only intent to bedazzle the listener with production wizardry but that is not necessarily a bad thing if your proclivities seek such excesses out. There's always an audience for the bizarre and utterly unclassifiable and no lack of interest by those who feel the need to create it. For a modern electronic album steeped in the latest technical crazes, MIRROR GUIDE is surprisingly smooth in its execution overall with its nurturing just enough classical elements to provide a grounding of some sort. It's the kind of anchoring that actually keeps you engaged for the album's run.

Neither too sickeningly chill nor too aggro-tech obnoxious, GIANT CLAW found a nice mix of disparate elements to paint his latest masterwork upon and although i can't say this is the mosts inviting musical delivery i've ever encountered, i have to admit that it's certainly more endearing than i was expecting. And given Rankin's restless work ethic, it will surely be replaced by a new member of the extended musical family in no time. While i've not scoured the swatch of albums that have preceded, for a debut introductory experience, i find myself endeared by this modern micromanaged electro-soup. Great job.

3.5 rounded down