Galen Tipton & death's dynamic shroud.wmv - You Like Music (2024)

 

Deconstructed Club / IDM / Plunderphonics

RIYL: Giant Claw, Iglooghost, A. G. Cook

★★★★

death's dynamic shroud are an infuriating trio for a completionist like me. Ever since I discovered Heavy Black Heart back in 2017, I've been working my way back through their extensive discography, picking up another album or mixtape each time I find myself itching for their distinctive plunderphonic avant-pop sound, loving it for awhile, and eventually moving on to the next in proper sequence. Slowly, steadily, I remain on pace to eventually hear all the brilliant work they have to offer before I die, right? Or so I hope that's how it would happen. Instead, every time I check back in on them, as I did again just recently, I find that in addition to the massive backlog I have yet to conquer there are maybe three or four new additions released just in the last few months.

Most of this is the fault of their bandcamp subscribers-only NUWRLD series of .wmv-flavored offshoots and side projects, as each of the three members use the moniker for their similar-sounding solo projects and external collaborations as well. Frustratingly for me, though, each of these would-be throwaway experiments maintains the same quality bar as their proper releases, and I find myself having to track them all down before I can feel comfortable moving backward again.

This is exactly how I came to listen to You Like Music, a collaboration between Orange Milk Records founder Keith Rankin and the like-minded studio wizard behind Recovery Girl, Galen Tipton. Both are known for their pretty and pretty out-there vaporwave and hyperpop collage aesthetics, so You Like Music is actually an anomaly in both of their catalogs as it plays as a back-to-basics set of club-ready anthems. They keep the 4-on-the-floor beat as well as the listener's attention with fresh and sweet samples throughout the forty or so minutes they share together, and though repeated listens reveal miniature details that evoke the immersive sound design of their main projects, it's clear this energetic collection is the melding of two brilliant minds just having a blast and enjoying themselves. The record's title isn’t the only thing it gets right, and at this point I'm expecting it will keep me in place on my dds deep dive for a while still.