Interview with Keith Rankin of Giant Claw and Orange Milk Records

In the past twelve months I've done quite a bit of writing about the output of Keith Rankin, both under the moniker Giant Claw, and along with Seth Graham on the micro label Orange Milk Records. Twisted, cyberpunk, synth freakouts, that are, quite frankly, unlike almost anything else. Recently, Keith was gracious enough to spend a few minutes giving his thoughts on his own musical inspirations, the direction of Orange Milk, and even provide a few recommendations for additional mind expanding listening. So without further ado, choose a sample, and proceed below...

Talk a bit about your musical background, influences, and the origins of Giant Claw.

It's funny, because I've been thinking about your formative musical years a lot recently, and I've realized that there were three songs that struck me as totally magical and emotionally moving when I was young. They were Ministry's "Psalm 69", Green Day's "Basket Case", and Tom Petty's "Mary Janes Last Dance". Even though everyone knows those songs, go listen to them again on youtube. I don't even know where I'm going with this, I just wanted to shout out Green Day. Being really young and exposed to music is so crazy though, you love every single interesting thing you hear, or at least I did. Anything with rich harmony or melody would blow my fucking mind, and thinking about it now, I love the idea that your young mind is so removed from outside context. There's no "This shit has been done before! This is a rip off!" After a certain age it becomes really hard to hear music at face value, removed from culture and what you know about the nature of human beings. In 2011 Phil Collins admitted he didn't like music anymore. That's so deeply sad to me, but that's probably the end result of your curiosity totally dying.

Anyway, I started using the name Giant Claw in 2010, kind of as an exercise in getting rid of my own personal boundaries in making music. That's a pretentious way of saying I wanted to take a break from really rigid structure and composition, cause I felt those things were boxing me in. But of course I quickly adopted a lot of other boundaries and structures in an improvisational framework. It's really hard to challenge yourself, but I want to keep trying. That impulse was the origin of Giant Claw, I guess.

Can you describe your creative process, and how you arrive at your sound? Is it your intent to create such hectic and overwhelming tracks, is it just the organic result of your personal taste?

Recently my creative process starts with an idea, like "Ohh... I should do THAT!" And then I'll try to do it. And the idea can be something like "I want to sample jazz drums and mix it with synth," or it can be just a little melody, or anything. But I've also had so many other processes in making music, like actually trying to compose with a keyboard and notation, or just sitting down almost blank and improvising for an hour, or trying to rip off an existing piece of music, which always ends up sounding totally different. It feels weird trying to claim any one of those. The creative process is an amazing thing, I've said before that I wish there were documentaries just showing artist's detailed process. It might be boring for a while, but it'd still be enlightening.

As for arriving at my actual sound, lately it's been through using two synths and a computer. The setup area is fairly compact and easy to move around, so I guess the sound springs from equal parts convenience and just liking the tone of those synthesizers. I use a lot of samples as well, where I used to use real drums, guitar, piano, more traditional instruments. I wouldn't mind returning to a more varied setup at some point.

Your latest, Mutant Glamour seems to have this sinister feeling behind it I haven’t heard in previous Giant Claw releases. Am I imagining that, or was it intentional?

Yeah I guess that was kind of intentional. I was trying to channel a more sleazy feeling on some tracks, or the idea of ugliness being glamorous. I was just talking to my ex-girlfriend the other day about American fashion. We had gone to the post office and were behind this slick looking middle eastern guy and an overweight American girl wearing washed out jeans and a pink sweatshirt or something. And she was like "Is it just me, or are foreign people better dressed than the typical American?" or something along those lines. And I found myself defending this middle class, mall-roaming American fashion sense, full of aesthetically disgusting prints on gross looking worn out hoodies. Like Dragon Ball Z Jerseys and huge XL man jeans. Yeah, it is weird and so removed from classical ideas of beauty and slickness and all that, but it has this strange appeal. I think that's a good example of 'Mutant Glamour' in a literal sense.

I have to ask…, with all that 8 bit sound…, favorite old school video game?

By far the game Snatcher. I'm not sure if that's old school enough, the version I played was emulated from Sega CD. Eitherway, it's an amazing game, basically a point and click noir mystery, like Terminator mixed with Blade Runner, seriously, with some of my favorite music. It's just very charming. Going back before that, I don't know. Most of the older NES games I love because of their soundtracks, like Gremlins 2, which, if you could call it an album, would be one of my favorite albums.

What gear are you currently working with?

My current setup is a macbook, a Korg Polysix synth, a Korg MonoPoly, and samples.

You and Seth Graham (Henry Dawson) maintain Orange Milk Records. What are the origins of Orange Milk, and how do you approach aesthetics and artist selection?

The origins of Orange Milk can be boiled down to me and Seth saying "Let's start a label!" It was actually pretty innocent. We both had records we had just finished that we wanted to put out, and also we wanted to release a Caboladies LP and Ga'an's first self titled album on LP. If I'm being honest, there is a lot of underground music that I don't like, and we get a lot of demos now, so curating can be tricky. I don't know, a record just has to have some sort of spark of life. I might need to think about this more so I don't come off sounding like an idiot, but it's almost about dedication. Even if a musician is totally clueless about every aspect of making and recording music, if there is a sense of passion or dedication, or a simple thrill in making things, I feel that always comes through and makes for an interesting record. I'm not going to say we have a 100% curatorial success rate, but that little spark of excitement is what we look for.

The Orange Milk catalogue strikes me as pretty fearless. Is that a purposeful attempt to challenge the audience and shape tastes?

I can't say it's intentional. I interviewed the guys from NNA Tapes for the site Altered Zones last year, and they shared a similar sentiment. You just like a lot of different music, and don't want to put kind of meaningless boundaries on what you can or can't release. You know, I'm just a fan and champion of new music, and I feel like the current generation is pretty open to destroying genres because of the internet and filesharing. So the idea of being afraid to release something that you enjoy because of cultural pressure or whatever is totally insane.

In the current world of digital self promotion possibilities, what role do you see the small run label playing, and how do you see that continuing to evolve?

With the internet it's definitely possible to make a great album and get tons of attention, but that isn't really the rule yet, most artists still invest a good chunk of money to get decent press. Small labels can operate almost like an underground artist who is putting out an awesome album every month or so, if that makes sense. You can spend what available money you have on pressing records, then use the digital self promotion you mentioned to slowly gain people's attention, if you're lucky. Then when you put out an album you have the combined perception of the artist and label, which hopefully resonates with people.

I'm not saying I champion this outcome, but it would be really interesting to see what the music industry looked like if bigger labels went bankrupt, or if downloading crippling them to such a degree that it made no sense to keep going. I think music keeps heading in the direction of fragmentation, or tons of little niche genres rolling around together without as many media-hyped narratives as we've seen in the past. And the internet supports that kind of scattered model perfectly. So I don't know, maybe in the future there will just be hordes of niche artists barely making minimum wage directly through digital sales, or maybe the remaining big labels will keep merging until we only have one massive media monster that gains control of internet usage and essentially regulates content like radio or TV. That would fucking suck, but it seems likely.

I’d love a couple recommendations to check out. What tops your list of 2012 releases to this point?

Not counting any albums on Orange Milk, I keep coming back to DJ Rashad's Teklife Vol. 1. I also really like the Grimes album, Black Dice, the YYU album on Beer on the Rug, Blanche Blanche Blanche's LP, Moon Pool and Dead Band, White Suns, Death Grips. Those are some of my favorites off the cuff.

A million thanks to Keith for being cool enough to take time out to answer my questions. If you haven't already, I strongly suggest you check out his stuff in all of it's various forms by visiting Orange Milk for the physical. And for instant gratification, head over to the Giant Claw and Orange Milk Bandcamp pages, and take the time in any form you can to support Keith and all the folks working so hard to maintain a vibrant independent music scene for all of us to enjoy.

Giant Claw - Mutant Glamour

Heads up on a couple (see below) of killer new summer releases from Orange Milk Records.

The first, represented here, is Mutant Glamour, from the Keith Rankin solo moniker, Giant Claw. An entire, full length LP of manic, massive, unexpectedly varied synth. Frantic passages of contradictory influence, from traditionally nostalgic sounds cannon to the Giant Claw project, to saxophone passages, and even down tempo tracks like the exceptional Glitter Logic. It truly feels like the glamorization and romanticism of an entire cultural movement. Of digital excess, sensory overload, and societal decline. A simultaneous celebration and satire of the 8bit generation. I suppose it could be that, or then again, just an incredibly well executed album of electronic music. Taken either way, the entire ten track LP holds up as one of the most mind expanding examples of Rankins work yet. When the machines rise up, this will be their soundtrack.

Black vinyl, full sized liner notes, pretty much aesthetically perfect. Available over at Orange Milk.

Interview with Kevin Greenspon of Bridgetown Records

Kevin Greenspon photo by Sarah Collins

Over the past few months, I've been pretty blown away by the sounds coming out of CA based Bridgetown Records.  You may have even seen write ups for the incredible "Hope" by Former Selves, and the stunning synth mastery of Giant Claw.  Well, I've been fortunate enough to chat via email a bit with Bridgetown artist and label head Kevin Greenspon.  Turns out, Kevin is one of the most open, communicative, and hard working dudes I've met in the tape scene.  He was gracious enough to answer a few questions about running a label, his own personal music tastes, and even give his opinion on the always polarizing topic of digital distribution.

  


The new Spring batch of Bridgetown tapes was just released, please tell me a bit about the origination of the batch and how it relates to the context of Bridgetown as a whole.

Each season, I like to release a batch of albums that I think complement each other nicely musically and stylistically. Planning for this batch really started probably a year and a half ago when I helped Bryce of Reighnbeau out with a few Southern California shows when he was on tour with our mutual pal Emma, playing songs as Elephant Paintings. I had already released an album of his solo ambient works and seeing him perform these beautiful folk songs made me instantly want to release more of his music. He had already burned me a CDr of music he was recording as Reighnbeau a few months prior when I stayed at his house in New Mexico, but after this show we played together, he gave me a copy of the first Reighnbeau tape that I fell in love with. So a year later, he finally had the "Ashes" album finished and I was thinking of who else would work well with this. Jeff of Sky Stadium and I were talking about releasing his first full-length to follow up his recent "Plateau" EP I released and it felt like a great fit because the two albums had this really rich character that was very sincere and understated. The Hakobune tape was a no brainer because I was already a fan of Takahiro's work and he had helped me out with getting some of the label's music to Japanese fans, and his work is very humble as well. I could go on, but the bottom line is that I like to group artists that I think work well together. Sometimes we forget that genre or sound isn't the only thing that can link different musicians, that our approaches, personalities, ideas and mutual friends can be just as important.


The Bridgetown roster is very diverse, much more so than many labels in the tape scene. Was that an intentional direction to you chose to pursue, or did diversity "find you"?

It's subconsciously intentional. I like a lot of different kinds of music and that reflects in the variety of artists I choose to release. I do like to keep things varied on purpose, but oftentimes it does "find me" when something I didn't ever think about releasing materializes. I don't ever plan out that I want to have one each of a pop, folk, rock and ambient tape in a batch with the intent of adhering to a road map. I simply release what I want to, and it happens as naturally as picking out something to play on my stereo.

When selecting artists to work with, do you consider their place within the context of your current aesthetic, or do you consider each artist's release individually, and separate from the canon of Bridgetown?

They need to be able to stand on their own in both regards. I want to release music that can hold up when removed from the rest of the label's history and also contribute to the greater picture of Bridgetown's entire discography. Just because an album is great doesn't mean it necessarily fits alongside the rest of the artists I've put out releases for, and if something is too dependent on what surrounds it to be able to withstand scrutiny, it might not belong here either. However, this balance is never mirrored between different releases or from separate viewpoints. What may seem like a perfect fit in the canon of the label to me may seem like a curve ball to the audience. The Dr. D.R. Barclay tape I just released is a good example. A lot of people have already wrote me saying that it was extremely unexpected and completely unlike anything they'd ever heard on Bridgetown. One could see it as a compelling document on it's own because it was such a unique idea but not realize how much it makes sense in the catalog to me. David Barclay is someone I have a great deal of respect for in what he's done in the underground music community, and our few times hanging out together quickly proved how similar we are personality-wise. His DJ tape represents a lot of those connections I have with people who are serious about what they do but still kind of goofball weirdos that often take bad ideas too far. Rest assured, if I'm releasing it on Bridgetown, it's because it belongs there, whether my reasons are clearly visible or not.

Kevin Greenspon photo by Sarah Collins

As a single individual running a DIY label, you obviously have a great deal of blood, sweat, and tears invested in every tape you release. Exactly how many hours of prep does each release take?

There is no way to really know how much time goes into the label. I don't punch in and punch out on a time card or separate the time I'm doing things related to the label from the rest of my life. It's always meshed together. If I'm doing something while the computer's on and I get an order or an email, I can't help but put together the package as soon as possible or answer whatever question comes my way or reply to someone who just liked some album I put out and wanted to talk for a minute. I know other people who do this who need to differentiate the two 'worlds' and it's understandable how one might not want to let the two conflict and encroach upon one another but I just can't do that. I don't ever think of albums I release in terms of their exact monetary cost of materials or the total time it took to make them from start to finish because a lot of the steps are staggered over several months, and I try to get other things done while I'm waiting for supplies or final masters or whatever else. Long story short, I've almost always got some step of the tape-making process for at least one release on my mind at any given time, and that's an understatement!

Are there artists and/or labels, now or in the past that inspire you to create, and have driven the direction of Bridgetown?

Pretty much all of my friends and all of the other small labels across the world doing this as well. There are so many and they're all doing such different things that it would be a crime to just summarize them under an umbrella term. For the most part, I don't really listen to current music that isn't on DIY labels with the exception of pop radio. I'm not really checking out the bigger indie or punk stuff. So my interaction with modern music has this large gap between tapes and records that rarely make it to more than 100 or maybe 500 people over the course of their existence and music that's pumped out of the speakers of every Payless Shoes or dentist waiting room in the country.

I think this has had a pretty big influence me because while I'm primarily releasing home-recorded music by artists who may only have a limited knowledge of music theory or audio production (myself included), I want to present it as something that a broader audience can like. I believe underground music doesn't need to be condemned to obscurity, where only other people who are heavily involved in the underground worthy of enjoying it or being aware of its existence. So I'm trying to present what I release as something that people are all allowed to be a part of. I just don't want to go the typical indie label route and hire some press agent, put together a slick website and promotional campaign or try to tout my albums as a hip thing that comes at a premium. I still do it with a DIY ethic dubbing and assembling tapes myself and relying mostly on word of mouth and a small but dedicated base of supporters who trust my judgment. I think this direction of making one fan at a time has been pretty successful.

The other day someone told me he had only been to one show ever- obviously he's not living in some punk/artist co-op, but that doesn't mean he can't be into this stuff. In one of our first conversations, he said he pretty much got a cassette player to hear some tapes I released and now he has a ton of Bridgetown titles.

Just this week I was talking to a pal in the UK who's been really supportive of the label and when he was curious about some of the upcoming releases, I shared some live videos of my friend Nial who's one of my favorite guys going in California right now. Despite being completely unexposed to harsh noise, he was floored and wanted me to send him a copy with some other stuff he wanted before it comes out, which won't be for a few months. And I sure will because I'm really happy he was into it. These are just a few examples of how I think underground music, genres and aesthetics don't need to be confined to the previously initiated. "Regular" people can like this stuff just as much as anyone else.

Are there directions you aspire to take Bridgetown that you have not yet explored? Do you attempt to challenge your audience with Bridgetown releases, or meet their current expectations, or maybe a bit of both?

There are, one of which is that I want the music to be a bit more readily available and not strictly limited. I'd like to do larger initial editions for a lot of releases but it can be risky or I just don't have the space. When possible, I like to be able to make more copies of albums that should be heard by a larger audience, even if it's only 15-50 more people at a time over a period of a few months. There are a few larger editions coming up because I don't want anyone to miss out on being able to have a copy of the release as intended, so I'm making progress.

I do like to challenge the audience a bit and throw the occasional curve ball. Coming out with 15 new releases simultaneously last June was a great opportunity because I was able to put out a lot of really different music that I felt was related in some way, and people ended up picking up some albums they wouldn't have normally checked out. There are a few avenues I'd like to go down as well. I've been wanting to release more DJ-oriented works that steer away from the artist as a performer of a traditional instrument. The Dr. D.R. Barclay tape caught a lot of people by surprise just simply from how different it was compared to everything else on the label... and his sheer skill didn't hurt either. The next installment will be available on my label showcase tour this Spring and I'll put leftovers on the site when I return. This one's definitely going to be something the audience won't foresee at all simply because of how much sense it makes if you know me. Expectations are important too though, and I think people are safe to assume that certain artists like Former Selves, Vehicle Blues, Jon Barba and Reuben Sawyer will have releases on the label every couple of months. I don't ever think of the label as a "roster," but these guys are as close to one as it gets. Expect to be seeing more of them on Bridgetown.

Kevin Greenspon photo by Sarah Collins

Sites like Bandcamp seek to give independent artists a full service platform to share music without the encumbrances of iTunes and Amazon.  Do you support this approach to digital distribution, or does physical distribution remain central to your approach? 

I'm really on the fence about digital formats. It's been very tough figuring out where I truly stand on the subject, but the more I see Twitter accounts and Bandcamps populate the underground, the harder it is to join the ranks. I've had a couple of releases that blew up on mediafire or blogs and from the moment that would happen, it just wouldn't sell anymore. I've seen how it works for larger scale releases where a much bigger audience needs to "try before they buy" to verify that it's worth their money, but I think for most tape labels, the fanbases are so small that it cripples our ability to recoup expenses and release more music. While it's great that many more people can potentially hear the music that way, I think it's really devaluing to the time, energy and devotion that a lot of us are putting into our labels and music. 

My friend Elijah of Terrors runs a label called Cavelife and closed his 2011 roundup with some words that ring very true in this era where art is becoming increasingly more relegated to monitors and hard drives than physical presentation:

"Finally, I want to say that if you're excited about new music please buy more of it. I can imagine that I hear sighs of exasperation, but I'm serious. Supporting this stuff is crucial. This was THE year when all my friends who run labels, distros and record stores discussed closing up shop due to lack of sales. Which is funny to me because I feel like more people than ever before are hearing the sort of tunes they're hocking, right? It remains to be seen if this is a passing by-product of the terminal/permanent economic recession or standing backlash against a growing glut of cultural-garbage. Either way, if you like any F.U.B.U. poor people musick and you want to see it proliferate you might have to be a patron to it in some way other than mediafire."

What are your own personal listening habits, and how do your personal listening tastes relate to the music you create and release?

I can't really handle being exposed to music constantly, so I actually tend to keep the stereo off most of the time and almost never download anything unless it's sent to me directly. I listen to a lot less music than one might think, given the fact that I run a label, release solo albums and go to as many DIY shows as I have time for. These days, I mostly just alternate between whatever my friends and peers are doing pedestrian FM radio. In between, there's a really wide variety, lots of straightforward electronic/dance stuff and 90s rock with experimental sound peppered throughout. The label isn't necessarily very indicative of my casual listening. That is to say, you won't find much trance, RnB or harsh noise on my label. But don't say I didn't warn you about curve balls.

In addition to Kevin being generous enough to take time out to complete this interview, he has also made available, totally free and legit, a mix tape of his latest batch of tapes.   You can also hit up his personal site for more details at www.kevingreenspon.info 

Much thanks to Kevin for his time and generosity.  Meeting and connecting with folks like this, either in person or over the web is truly what makes this scene so special.  Bridgetown has a complete tour schedule slated for 2012, so take the time, get in your car, and support Kevin and the Bridgetown artists.

Giant Claw - Clash of Moons

Pure madness from Giant Claw on Bridgetown Records. Clash of Moons sounds big and precise, with confident melodic passages, and massive layers of synth programming. The standout title track runs the entirety of side B, with spastic, twitching notes pacing lush melodic progressions. The entire piece moves with such breakneck pace it becomes like watching a flip book of still images come to life. Each finely placed note becomes swept up in the greater whole, as the track evolves into a single living, breathing entity. If a proper successor to the NES were ever identified, it's games would have sounded like this. Prog rock around the edges (just barely), 8 Bit in the center, and a whole lot of other stuff I can't describe.

I picked up Clash of Moons along with the rest of the new batch from Bridgetown which includes really sharp releases from Sky Stadium, Reighnbeau (Loved this one), Dr. DR Barclay, and Hakobune. Kevin sent along a hand signed poster to boot. Killer.