Keith Rankin is an American

electronic Electronic may refer to: *Electronics, the science of how to control electric energy in semiconductors * ''Electronics'' (magazine), a defunct American trade journal *Electronic storage, the storage of data using an electronic device *Electronic c ...

musician and visual artist who records under the alias Giant Claw, a largely

vaporwave Vaporwave is a microgenre of electronic music, a visual art style, and an Internet meme that emerged in the early 2010s and became well-known in 2015. It is defined partly by its slowed-down, chopped and screwed samples of smooth jazz, 1970 ...

and

psychedelic music Psychedelic music (sometimes called psychedelia) is a wide range of popular music styles and genres influenced by 1960s psychedelia, a subculture of people who used psychedelic drugs such as Dmt, DMT, Lysergic acid diethylamide, LSD, mescaline, ...

project. He is known for the vaporwave project

Death's Dynamic Shroud Death's Dynamic Shroud (stylized in all lowercase; also known as death's dynamic shroud.wmv under specific releases) is an American electronic and vaporwave trio consisting of James Webster, Tech Honors, and Keith Rankin. The band releases a la ...

, which he joined in 2014.

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

biographer Paul Simpson describes Rankin's music as Giant Claw as ranging "from dense

sound collage In music, montage (literally "putting together") or sound collage ("gluing together") is a technique where newly branded sound objects or Musical composition, compositions, including songs, are created from collage, also known as musique concrè ...

s and synth freak-outs to mutated

prog rock Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog) is a broad genre of rock music that primarily developed in the United Kingdom through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early-to-mid-1970s. Initially termed "progressive pop", the ...

and psychedelia to

footwork Footwork may refer to: * Footwork (cricket) *Footwork (dance) *Footwork (genre), a genre of electronic music, also known as juke *Footwork (martial arts) Footwork is a martial arts and combat sports term for the general usage of the legs and ...

and

". Rankin has also made several album artworks, such as

Kenny Beats Kenneth Charles Blume III (born May 10, 1991), known professionally as Kenny Beats, is an American record producer, DJ, audio engineer, and songwriter. Early life Kenneth Blume III was born and raised in Greenwich, Connecticut. He got an early ...

and

Rico Nasty Maria-Cecilia Simone Kelly (born May 7, 1997), known professionally as Rico Nasty, is an American rapper from Prince George's County, Maryland. She began Self-publishing, self-releasing while in high school, and had released five solo mixtapes by ...

's ''

Anger Management Anger management is a psycho-therapeutic program for anger prevention and control. It has been described as deploying anger successfully.Schwarts, Gil. July 2006. Anger Management', July 2006 The Office Politic. Men's Health magazine. Emmaus, PA: ...

'' and

Kerwin Frost Kerwin Frost (born July 26, 1995) is an American entertainer, DJ, talk show host, and comedian. He first rose to prominence in New York City's Soho Youth streetwear scene. Early life Frost was raised in public housing in Harlem. He became in ...

Apple Music Apple Music is an audio and video streaming service developed by Apple Inc. Users can select music to stream to their device on-demand, or listen to existing playlists. The service also includes the sister internet radio stations Apple Musi ...

radio show.

History

In 2010, the year Giant Claw debuted, Rankin launched the label Orange Milk with his friend Seth Graham, aiming to release records by underground American musicians. The artwork for all the label's releases have been designed by Rankin himself. ''Fact Magazine (UK), Fact Magazine'' have ranked the label as one of the 10 best of both 2013 and 2016.

Reception

The 2014 album ''Dark Web (album), Dark Web'' was praised by ''Stereogum'' for its deconstructed

style, combining dub music and beat-driven styles. Other works have similarly been praised. In 2021, Rankin released his first solo mixtape for 'Death's Dynamic Shroud' called, Faith In Persona'''. Upon release, it was critically acclaimed by Anthony Fantano who praised his production.

Selected discography

*''Midnight Murder'' (2011) *''Tunnel Mind'' (2011) *''Clash of Moons'' (2012) *''Mutant Glamour'' (2012) *''Music for Film'' (2013) *''Dark Web (album), Dark Web'' (2014) *''Deep Thoughts'' (2015) *''I'll Try Living Like This'' (with

's member, James Webster) (2015) *''Soft Channel'' (2017) *''Heavy Black Heart'' (with

) (2017) *''Mirror Guide'' (2021) *''Faith In Persona'' (under

) (2021) *''Reality 2 : Archive of Fading Mist (part ii)'' (under

) (2022) *''Darklife'' (with

) (2022) *''Together, Our Thing'' (under

, with Holly Waxwing) (2023) *''GenoMods'' (under

) (2023) *''No Tomorrow'' (under

) (2023) *''Transcendence Bot'' (under

) (2023) *''Reality 2 : Archive of Fading Mist (part i)'' (under

) (2023) *''You Like Music'' (under

, with Galen Tipton) (2024) *''Never Really Over'' (under

) (2024)

References

{{Authority control Vaporwave musicians Psychedelic musicians American electronic musicians Musicians from Columbus, Ohio Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Sound collage artists