Giant Claw – ‘Mutant Glamour’ LP
Mutant Glamour is the new full length LP from Keith Rankin’s Giant Claw project, a culmination of three years of steady musical output. The album has a variety of themes: mutation, fashion, freaky sex, trash culture, our weird alien bodies, and so on. Musically it’s a sprawling, layered combination of improvisation and meticulous composition through editing, one that is deceptively seamless and of a whole. On the record you’ll also find wild atonal saxaphone, free jazz breakdowns, a lush ballad, and the insane sequences and broken arpeggios that one might expect from such a “synth act.” Except Mutant Glamour is much more than synthesizer music. It’s a restless document of clashing cultures and sounds expressed through electronics, flirting with a lot of traditions (dance, noise, jazz, prog rock) but never really settling on any one platform.
Team Jordann – ‘Champion’ CS
Music makers known as Daytime Television and Teams join up to form Teamm Jordann. We’re excited to present their record, Champion, on Orange Milk. I keep saying that I’m not exactly sure what is sampled and what’s performed on the album, which is part of what makes it so exciting. What I do know is that it bangs pretty hard, is super catchy, and puts an emphasis on editing, chopping, and screwing. If you’ve seen the video for “Stadium” (https://vimeo.com/26452463) then you have a decent idea of what you’re getting into: the sounds of a pixelated digital screen within a screen, a beach run against a DX-7, Michael Jordan dunking.
Pajjama – ‘Starch’ CS
I have a hard time resisting the urge to call Pajjama an epic Norwegian prog rock outfit. Really though, their sound is more nuanced than that description might imply. There is a heavy synthesizer presence, for one, and a certain winking cheesiness that recalls a darker Yellow Magic Orchestra or some forgotten funky library record. Also — the composition skills. They are at the forefront for much of Starch, which makes the album’s 13 minute runtime go by in a flash. But don’t be fooled, some band’s work their whole careers to stumble on this many exciting sounds, ideas, and irresistible melodies. Just listen and you’ll probably be hooked.
HCMJ – ‘Honeybee’ CS
James Webster’s HCMJ project continues to evolve in unexpected ways, and we’re happy to present Honeybee, an experiment in twisted droning metal, dark synth weirdness, and galloping acoustic ballads. Diversity is key here, with contrasting movements passing by like cogs in an epic tone poem. The album is also conceptually based around a group of sailors from the late 16th century who return to the shores of Spain only to discover that the land has become like a corrupt jpg – broken and whitewashed.