There is so much joy to be found in experimental music, with endless opportunities to experience sound and rhythm as pleasure, where discord becomes genuine discovery. Like, when you hear a synth emit a sound that could only be described as an amplified wet noodle slapping a thin slice of ham, that's funny.
Seth Graham and Keith Rankin (a.k.a. Giant Claw) embrace the insanity and bliss of this music through co-running Orange Milk Records, with a (mostly by Rankin) to match. Where Giant Claw releases its evolving music at steady clip, Graham takes time to meticulously draw out his MIDI creations. Gasp is, by far, his most studied and steadied work — glitched classical music frayed at the ends of reality, yet gleefully sculpted.
The evocatively titled "Flower Cheese" is one of the album's most patient tracks, as woodwinds breathe orc oxygen and pizzicato strings eventually melt into pixelated noise. It is playful music, visually accompanied by James Webster's equally fantastic and futuristic CGI rooms that eventually become more crowded with floating squids and chrome balls. Oh, and there are some giant arms that pay off in a weirdly satisfying way. Don't think too much about it — "Flower Cheese" is more fun that way.
Gasp is out now via Orange Milk Records.
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