Cream Juice - s/t (Orange Milk, 2012)

Cream Juice – s/t
Orange Milk 2012

Cream Juice is Keith Rankin (Giant Claw) and Seth Graham (Henry Dawson – formerly Quilt). This is their debut full-length. Track 1 begins with blippy, synth layered wash and then quickly softens its tone and enters a more long-form, drone section with slow, light, synth pulses. The drones turn into beautiful, harmonious arpeggios rising up and down and become filtered in more synth wash, blips, and pulses. There is definitely a sense of freedom, independence, and improvisation heard in the music as the synths quickly and unexpectedly shift in texture. Their more improvisatory side can be noticed especially on Track 3, featuring an a-rhythmic, synth solo mixed with more noisey, explosive synth. Track 5 begins with queasy, wavering, new age synth drone, transitioning into bubbling, synth pulses very condensely packed, meaning lots of pulses in a small space. Throughout the album there is a great deal of synth exploration and experimentation.

Cassette for purchase: http://www.storenvy.com/products/230657-cream-juice-self-titled-cs

Giant Claw / The Cats’ Orchestra split (Cae-sur-a, 2012)

Giant Claw / The Cats’ Orchestra split
Cae-sur-a

Split tape here featuring Giant Claw, consisting of Keith Rankin and Chris Mengerink from Ohio, and The Cats’ Orchestra, made up of Nicholay Syrov from Russia.

The A Side features Giant Claw, titled "Righteous-Injustice-Hellearth", and was recorded in 2011. Things start off with some initially crackling, rising and falling/enveloped synths droning, arpeggiating, oscillating. The arpeggiating begins to get more serious as the other noises simmer down a bit, meaning more hypnotic, psychedelic and focused. Other synth noises enter the mix in a more free-form manner, and are somewhat chaotic. Some blown out, distorted, bass synth drones enter underneath the arpeggios, which at this point have also gotten a great deal louder and distorted. The distortion and crackling become almost as loud as the arpeggiating melody, which eventually succumbs to the crackle, pop, and oscillating synth.

Side B by The Cats’ Orchestra, titled "Tail Tale", features some minimalist organ melodies and shimmering/wavering drones that sound like they are in a middle eastern mode or scale. There is also a lo-fi drum machine playing a very slow rhythm. The harmonies between the melody and the drones or washes of electronics are somewhat dissonant, and the rhythm between the melody and drum machine are bit off-kilter. The dissonance, free rhythm, and electronic washes of sound all contribute to a suspenseful and sinister aesthetic.




Cassette for purchase: http://www.cae-sur-a.com/giantclaw/