Clipping - Midcity (noise rap)

http://clppng.bandcamp.com/album/midcity

This is pretty awesome stuff. Clipping are a noise-rap trio from LA composed of rapper Daveed Diggs, along with William Hutson (Rale), and Jonathon Snipes (Captain Ahab).

I guess Death Grips or B L A C K I E are the inevitable comparisons, but Clipping don't really sound remotely like either. They're a lot less aggro and more restrained, for one, and Daveed Diggs is a fast-rapping hedonist rather than a sloganeering punk bellower. The noise bits are often used to break up Diggs' verses more than to provide a full-on assault.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BQRfHFgz6cM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l5RVbch7rEg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=igHJ7lr-uK0

And they have a hilarious name.

and I have to work the late shift the night they are playing in town :/

I only found out about them cause someone was talking about seeing their show here a couple days ago

they're worth checking out

sub pop

that makes sense

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JIAQv_8qkqE

Damn, I had missed this thread earlier. Yeah, great stuff, was tipped off to this earlier in the year by Brian Miller and the Foot Village bunch.

ooooh. This is great!

Yeah this album is fantastic

damn how did I miss this

Right? I wd recommend this to almost anyone on ILM

getmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoney

i do like this yes

I love that tune ^^^ and on a superficial level the vid reminds me of New Kingdom, definitely need to get this album. I don't generally like noise rap type stuff but this dude has got style.

Yeah I think one thing I like about clipping is that unlike a lot of noise-rap, they don't reject rap's more stylized elements

southall bait

Yeah I think one thing I like about clipping is that unlike a lot of noise-rap, they don't reject rap's more stylized elements

― suggest bando (The Reverend), Wednesday, July 31, 2013 7:44 PM (47 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

otm, and i love how the noise and the rapping kind of feed off one another. good as hell.

this is catchy

also noisyish

getmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoney

'give'?

saw these guys tonight -- totally killed it.

I think the Clipping album is very exciting in the way that they have unleashed a very raw debut without some top notch producer making it sound like everything else and it gives me that that good old fashioned feeling, that I ain't got a clue what their next one will sound like.

i got bored with these guys pretty fast except for the outro

getmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoneygetmoney

I want to like this but I can't get with the lyrics

They're almost aggressively stupid. I guess that's the point. Fuck off though.

Decent noise mind

Coming round a bit now. I guess the lyrical content is 'noise' too. MC Ride does that shit with more poetry and Odd Future with more mischief. Can foresee them all being polled off at some stage. Obviously Dälek kill them all

get.it is superb actually

apart from the fact he's aggressively subjugating women in the lyric

I'm actually a lot happier with noise dudes graduating to doing rap like this than chillwave soundscapes, which seemed to be the trend 5-6 years ago

http://www.wearenames.com/

these guys opened up for Clipping when I saw them

coming around to the lyrics a bit. think there are satirical elements. definitely trying to make us uncomfortable while also kinda thrilled at the ride

definitely satirical elements -- what's the song that is just insanely fast?

currently on guns.up which might be the best track yet

losing interest

regaining interest

mobb2it was a whopping great momentum-killer but the songs after it have been gr8

can't work this shit out

the outro :DDDD

gangsta steve reich

yeah sorry for that v precious reaction there, this is utterly amazing & perfect for 5am

Sub Pop has begun presale for CLPPNG, the second full length album from clipping.
Available on cd. 2xlp. digital.
Presale orders of the vinyl get a bonus 7" with "Ends" (feat. Brian Kinsman of True Neutral Crew / ex-Foot Village) and non-album track "Brian" (feat. Brian Chippendale of Lightning Bolt/Black Pus) on the bside.
ORDR HR
ORDR WTH TSHRT

Lyrics video released for the track "Work Work (feat. Cocc Pistol Cree)" from CLPPNG
WTCH HR

Full CLPPNG tracklisting:
CD / DL Tracklisting:
1. Intro
2. Body & Blood
3. Work Work (Feat. Cocc Pistol Cree)
4. Summertime (Feat. King T)
5. Taking Off
6. Tonight (Feat. Gangsta Boo)
7. Dream
8. Get Up (Feat. Mariel Jacoda)
9. Or Die (Feat. Guce)
10. Inside Out
11. Story 2
12. Dominoes
13. Ends
14. Williams Mix (Feat. Tom Erbe)

LP Tracklisting:
1. Body & Blood
2. Work Work (Feat. Cocc Pistol Cree)
3. Summertime (Feat. King T)
4. Inside Out
5. Tonight (Feat. Gangsta Boo)
6. Dream
7. Get Up (Feat. Mariel Jacoda)
8. Or Die (Feat. Guce)
9. Taking Off
10. Story 2
11. Dominoes
12. Williams Mix (Feat. Tom Erbe)
[Plus a 100 locked grooves on side 4]

Upcoming tour dates:
Mar. 12 - Austin, TX - SXSW / Hotel Vegas (Volstead Inside) / Inland Empire Touring Day Party (3:30pm)
Mar. 14 - Austin, TX - SXSW / The Owl of Austin / PORTALS Day party (2pm)
Mar. 15 - Austin, TX - SXSW / 512 (Downstairs) / Official SXSW Showcase (10:15pm)
Mar. 18 - Scottsdale, AZ - The Western
Mar. 22 - Los Angeles, CA - The Church on York
Apr. 26 - Leizpig, DE - Conne Island
Apr. 27 - Cologne, DE - Baustelle Kalk
Apr. 29 - Nurnberg, DE - K4
Apr. 30 - Krems an der Donau, AT - Donaufestival
May 16 - Flushing, NY - Knockdown Center (Red Bull Academy Extreme Music Mini Fest)
Jun. 13 - Barcelona, ES - Sonar
Jul. 04 - George, WA - Sasquatch

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8WBYzu1_OqM&feature=youtu.be

cool

King T!

whoa nice! intriguing softer sound, interpolating pop-rap tropes while keeping it decidedly recondite & modernist

CLIPPING has become my favourite rap group, probably. above even Dalek these days (well, they're on hiatus really)

Ha, was just about to post all this, thanks Rev.

that sounds much better than the earlier album

also I still h8 lyric videos but that lyric video is cool

what didn't you like about the earlier album? one of my favourite rap albums of...all time, really - completely stunning to me

it was literally unlistenable iirc

to me it mostly sounds like bad rapping over bad noise

this track sounds great though

xp

Williams Mix (Feat. Tom Erbe)

very cool Tom chose this way to put this out instead of some new music compilation. this track is actually a realization of a piece by John Cage from 1952, thousands of samples all splices together in under five minutes. original version took 1-2 years for Cage / Tudor / the Barrons to assemble by hand, Tom's written software that assembles a brand new edit from a library of source files every time you hit play. but yeah if they ended their last album essentially with a cover version of 'It's Gonna Rain' putting a Cage realization at the end of this one makes perfect sense

their SF show at Public Works last year was great, want to hear this

album is phenomenal btw

which one?

sub pop one

this album [the second one] is FANTASTIC

It's got some crazy strong points but the sound of his singing in the chorus of "Tonight" is grating as hell and really drags down the middle of the album for me. When I remember to skip it the album's significantly more satisfying.

I like the way "Get Up" blossoms around 2:15, but for the first two minutes I want to smash the snooze button on my stereo.

Am I being crazy or does the chorus of Tonight sound like a purposeful vamp on fun.'s big hit?

New album streaming:

http://www.npr.org/2014/06/01/316471065/first-listen-clipping-clppng

this is alright. quite like the video for work work too

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-2GozE6XEqg

this is so good, damn.

^

This is ok but lyrically gross.

I think its a mistake to take all of the lyrics on face value.

i was grabbed by the production first, with a mental note to come back and figure out what's going on with the lyrics.

'story 2' is a fun little time signature game, it works too.

Yeah I'm assuming there's some irony/subtext/etc going on with the lyrics I didn't catch on my one superficial listen but for now file it under https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XF2ayWcJfxo

See my posts upthread for the same concerns, addressed

Yeah I don't know, "satire" is a pretty weak defense if the satire just consists of repeating the same tropes. I really have no interest in debating about this, I'm just saying it's keeping me from fully connecting with the album.

luckily i'm suuuper good at ignoring lyrics

not sure which lyrics ppl are thinking of but all the women on this album are badass/in control whereas all the male characters are despondent/ridiculous/doomed. that's what I took away from it

King T's spot excepted I guess

king tee!
holy shit!!!

mencap otm

this has really grown on me, especially once I took out "Tonight"

oh hey

https://clppng.bandcamp.com/album/something-they-dont-know-b-w-mouth

The group consists of MC Daveed Diggs (who stars in the Broadway musical Hamilton)

only just found this out!

it's why they haven't been touring much this past year

http://clppng.bandcamp.com/album/remxng

a bunch of new stuff on their bandcamp

new ep is goooood

this is pretty fucking cool
http://www.barsworkshopnyc.com/

New album, Splendor and Misery is out on September 9. It's an (deep breath)...

Afrofuturist, dystopian concept album that follows the sole survivor of a slave uprising on an interstellar cargo ship, and the onboard computer that falls in love with him. Thinking he is alone and lost in space, the character discovers music in the ship’s shuddering hull and chirping instrument panels. William and Jonathan’s tracks draw an imaginary sonic map of the ship’s decks, hallways, and quarters, while Daveed’s lyrics ride the rhythms produced by its engines and machinery. In a reversal of H.P. Lovecraft’s concept of cosmic insignificance, the character finds relief in learning that humanity is of no consequence to the vast, uncaring universe. It turns out, pulling the rug out from under anthropocentrism is only horrifying to those who thought they were the center of everything to begin with. Ultimately, the character decides to pilot his ship into the unknown—and possibly into oblivion—instead of continuing on to worlds whose systems of governance and economy have violently oppressed him.

New album, Splendor and Misery is out on September 9. It's an (deep breath)... Clipping, bitch

this is amazing

incredible, even

this is a superb interview as well, endlessly quotable: http://daily.redbullmusicacademy.com/2016/09/clipping-interview

'A Better Place' is a track of the year contender

saw them live last Sunday. Surreal and great.

this is pushing Jute Gyte for my album of the year, it's absolutely extraordinary

look even if you hate this can more people please talk about it

listening now! I saw these guys in Oakland a few years ago (Sarah you may have been at the Lobot show?), and they were cool. Tellingly, all the opening bands were punk or noise, and I remember Jon Snipes from the wild/funny/aggro Capt Ahab -- I'm guessing if there's not so much talk, it's because this is WEIRD. ??

anyway, liking the rhythm arrangement on All Black at the moment

yah they rule hard!
snipes is a legend.
daveed stars in hamilton!

Pretty damn impressive album

xxp - I saw them at Terminal. Hutson is tight with the dudes who live(d) there.

xp - you should have come to the SF show on the 11th ... it was great. They had a harpist.

i know i saw ton of video but i had to do my radio show :(

you gonna be at El Rio tonight?

yah my gf is djing

cool I will tell you in person how awesome it was

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nm65PCbUMZI

it's their year

remember really loving "Work Work" a couple of years back though I didn't really investigate the rest of their catalogue. totally floored to find out dude is the new love interest on this season of Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt (not to mention in Hamilton).

also they are up for a hugo award!

And he was on Sesame Street

http://songexploder.net/clipping

friends, they have gone deeper into the sickness

Indeed they have. Someone on the tracks rollout thread was complaining about the decline of speed rapping. There Existed an Addiction to Blood sports at least a couple of fine instances. And 'Piano Burning' is classic for its literalism and shameless length alone.

"Blood of the Fang" is such an addictive track

Run For Your Life is one of the most electrifying things I've ever heard tbh

'bloodless'

bloodless insofar as bled dry

this is only their second most brilliant album but that's only because S&M (lol) was an all-timer

This album is glorious

:)

did you hear Splendor & Misery? if not I think you will be blown away by that too

I will go back to that after I finish this (also amazing) Sudan Archives album

fair, and I will give SA a listen

I still haven't gotten to the other clipping. album because I am very stuck on "Story 7"

fair, but the other one also has a good story episode

Forgot to post earlier but yes, spectacular album all around.

"The Deep EP" is fire

Three quick songs about merpeople descended from drowned slaves rising up and taking over the world to stave off global warming is basically going to be immediate catnip to me

love that one

y'all remember

I am more and more into "He Dead" and "The Show" these days

splendor & misery is v cool

dude is the new love interest on this season of Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt (not to mention in Hamilton)

If the clipping. team ever committed to a full-blown stage production I would be there opening night (or, more realistically given the Hamilton association, several months later at the earliest).

currently obsessed with "Body and Blood"

that song RULES

love this band

If the clipping. team ever committed to a full-blown stage production I would be there opening night (or, more realistically given the Hamilton association, several months later at the earliest).

Already happened, well Snipes and Diggs. Surprised this hasn't came up on this thread yet: https://patty.bandcamp.com/album/patty-the-revival

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bfMmwwKFylc

That whole Patty album is brilliant imo.

Bits of 'Body and Blood' look suspiciously like braggadocio to me.

https://clppng.bandcamp.com/track/chapter-319
Back for obvious reasons w/ the first official release of 2014 track “Knees On The Ground” + a searing new one since the relevant people clearly didn’t get the message the first time around. If you thought being the only homicide detective on this train might’ve softened Diggs’ edge then, well, no, it certainly hasn’t.

Another new album due out October 23rd!

https://subpop-wysiwyg.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads%2F1598398526990-Clipping_VOBBB_900px.jpg

Visions of Bodies Being Burned

Intro
Say the Name
Play
Wytchboard (Interlude)
'96 Neve Campbell (feat. Cam & China)
Something Underneath
Make Them Dead
She Bad
Invocation (Interlude) (with Greg Stuart)
Pain Everyday (with Michael Esposito)
Check the Lock
Looking Like Meat (feat. Ho99o9)
Drove (Interlude)
Eaten Alive (with Jeff Parker & Ted Byrnes)
Body for the Pile (with Sickness)
Enlacing
Secret Piece

oh fuck!!

A fine fine thing.

ho99o9 and jeff parker, together at last

totally didn't know he was a big star in hamilton until recently

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=punrsuK62fM

He's great. It was about 18 months or two years ago when it all came together for me to realize that the Clipping dude, the guy from Hamilton and Rainbow's goofy brother on Black-ish were all the same guy.

xxp - if he were from Minneapolis and not from Oakland, that fact would have been inescapable to you (as it was me)

also, because it was never posted here -- an earlier thing by one of the "other dudes" in clipping

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eNt0_uSAJ24

With a cast member of that video being a certain ILX veteran!

xxp - if he were from Minneapolis and not from Oakland, that fact would have been inescapable to you (as it was me)

― horrorshow hidden text (sarahell), Wednesday, August 26, 2020 3:39 PM (forty-eight minutes ago) bookmarkflaglinkp

haha yeah, if only someone from Doomtree or Rhymesayers was in Hamilton

partly though i also knew almost nothing about hamilton in general until it came to disney+

omfg they are manifesting

knuck if you buck the bur......sar

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hRP5uAuDAr4

"say the name" sounds massive

My first playthrough, I thought "eh, it's okay"
My second playthrough, I thought "oh actually this bangs a little"
Every subsequent playthrough, I've been "FUCK YES FUCK YES"

same

listening independently from the lyric video was key

I may have spent a large portion of the past two weeks listening to the entire Clipping discography

I know it's not considered The Point of Clipping but "Body and Blood" is an all-time workout classic

"Body and Blood" has become my morning hype-up song

I find the reliance on white-noise-as-percussion in the earlier releases a little one-dimensional at times but I still like them a lot, and of course the rapping is fucking ridiculous

As a vocalist, Diggs has the charisma of a metronome and the expressive range of a sock puppet. Performing in a stiff monotone, he exclusively raps fast or faster, enunciating words with crisp diction but never relishing them or giving them life. “And there may even be some meaning gleaming in the streets that they built/On top of dead bodies in the olden days when the pen was a quill,” he raps on “Intro.” “The best menage is a death menage, agree?/ Chest massage with electric rods for three,” he says on “The Show.” You can appreciate the internal rhymes and inversions, but his flow is so robotic it rarely feels like he appreciates them.

Guess I'm still not over that review.

the same writer semi-panned the last Algiers as well. at last, I have a nemesis

I admit I thought this revive was going to be about their cover of "Tipsy" (really -- it's from the Save Stereogum compilation that came out last week, I think).

Watching Clipping palling around on Twitter with Backxwash has been a joy recently. If you've not heard the Backxwash mini-album yet, btw, you absolutely have to: https://backxwash.bandcamp.com/album/god-has-nothing-to-do-with-this-leave-him-out-of-it

oh my god https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/19431-clipping-clppng/

It's possible that a capable MC might have balanced CLPPNG's deficiencies, but Diggs is far from capable. His backpacker-y flow sounds shopworn compared to the radically out-there beats, and his lyricism is lacking overall; hip-hop may be a massively self-referential genre, but the fact that nearly every track has at least one reference to an older Top 40 rap song seems like a grab for borrowed interest. Considering clipping.'s left-of-center style, he’s not particularly weird, and the persona that he projects—smart and misanthropic—is muddled at best. Overall, CLPPNG is chock full of ideas, and if its failure is due to overambitiousness, well, there are worse ways to fail.

what the actual fuck is this

Like I said, I'm still reeling. I suppose this means P4k reviews have retained the potential to offend me in 2020.

And you're quoting a different reviewer, to boot.

every Pitchfork review of their stuff I've found is fucking stupid

yup, they've been dismissed by three different p4kers!

I mean compare that paragraph from the CLPPNG review to this, on "Story 2": https://www.rapanalysis.com/2016/10/clipping-rap-music-analysis/

that was in 2014 when every indie nerd was s'ing their own metaphorical d for not liking backpacker rap

Very glad we've moved past that tbh.

you're also talking about ILX until Kendrick got huge tbf

We're not quite there yet tho. Melomane's time will come.

pitchfork love to play the inauthenticity card when a rapper gets too clever for them

"why, Diggs is no G! he is naught but a theatre kid! what does he know of the Streets?"

The Streets sucks

'Geezers Need Excitement' is pretty damn funny to North American ears tho.

btw, that "Tipsy" cover is here: https://soundcloud.com/user319642724/tipsy-j-kwon-cover

is there any connection btwn "Say the Name" and the new Candyman? if not there really should be

I don't know about new Candyman but I saw somewhere that Diggs had talked about loving the '90s movie.

hell yes:

https://youtu.be/tq-hODfHPf0

METRONOMIC

Cam and China sound so fucking badass on this goddamn

um hell yes

https://www.instagram.com/p/CFxEnNSgn_6/

my 6yo just now, "What's the name of that song about visions of bodies being burned?"

all these gangster rapsters or whatever they're called, putting Satan into the minds of our young

I'm back on The Deep EP and it boggles my mind that people are interpreting "y'all remember when you had to let 'em breathe" is a line about the Drexciyans showing the surface dwellers mercy in a song that ends with a giant tidal wave on an EP that ends with a song called "Drownt" using slang that is most commonly used to describe shooting someone, ie putting holes in them to ventilate them

hell yes

https://youtu.be/c0RYIIzsvFw

I really hate these lyric videos but every single so far has been incredible

They're just that good.

uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh I'm levitating

Also I just found this

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1qd97k4Jr80

Daveed just casually killing it there like it's nbd, jesus

That new song is unbelievable

DJP you are going to lose your fucking mind when you hear the whole album, holy crow

wall to wall bangers

whiney's clipping profile is really good

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/19/arts/music/clipping-daveed-diggs-chapter-319.html

also:

“There Existed an Addiction to Blood” closes with a cover of the composer Annea Lockwood’s “Piano Burning,” for which the group set a piano on fire in the desert, recording the crackles and pops on 17 microphones. Eight mics did not survive the session, including an Audio-Technica 825 that Snipes had since college.

“We were listening to that channel, and it was just crackling,” Hutson said. “We were like, ‘Oh my God, look at it, it’s on fire.’”

bravo, Whiney

Thanks, man!

Good piece, yeah.

good read brah

This album is relentless!

Yes, I'm absolutely loving this so far. Sounds amazing on good speakers.

Looking Like Meat - it could be autechre on production...

okay the intro alone is terrifying

I hate to say it, but I found myself a bit bored with this one, barring the highlights. The contemporary classical namedrops are pure pap as far as I’m concerned but I wish they’d look beyond minimalism (broadly speaking) because there’s not always enough going on in the music to keep me fully engaged. This was not an issue on their previous LP, including on the piano-burning closer. I probably need to spend more time with the whole thing.

ha, I think I prefer this one just because there are More Bangers

Daveed Diggs is one of the most talented emcees I've ever encountered

The bangers on this one top the bangers on TEAATB, no doubt about it.

That said I wouldn't mind them mixing up the sonic palette a little more on the next one (though yes I know these came out of the same sessions as TEAATB)

They already released an all-time masterpiece in 2016; I'm pretty content for them to make simply great albums, which they're doing imo

I'm lukewarm on "Say The Name," but the rest of this album has so far been one "holy shit" moment after another for me.

6.0 from the irrelevant Conde Nast webzine!

And as ever, the criticism is "too academic, not gangsta enough". Pitchfork you're a fucking embarrassment

It's 0.3 better than the Menswear retrospective! lol

Though Diggs is an animated performer, he isn’t a strong orator

Though Diggs is an animated performer, he isn’t a strong orator

Though Diggs is an animated performer, he isn’t a strong orator

Though Diggs is an animated performer, he isn’t a strong orator

There is a lot wrong in that review, this line is the most egregious.

well in this album's context "Lend me your ears" would have a literal meaning

by contrast occasional pfork contributor and wonderful songwriter in his own right Fred Thomas unsurprisingly nails their appeal in his AMG review - "the midway point between Wolf Eyes and Three 6 Mafia"

https://www.allmusic.com/album/visions-of-bodies-being-burned-mw0003420014

Hey, 6.0 is the highest they've ever rated a Clipping album!

my references have been more blanck mass/disposable heroes of hiphoprisy/gravediggaz
which is to say i'm liking it a lot

idk, it reminds me of when I dragged my friend to see Hausu at an ATP and he was like "that's not a horror" because it's not scary, but it's one of my favorites because I love the filmmaking and the humor and weirdness. I don't watch horror movies to be scared!

yeah, that makes sense.
am i wrong in thinking the critical issues of "authenticity" that i keep seeing from other reviewers (not gangsta enough, too clear of a flow, too dramatic in presentation, too gonzo) run perilously close to "not black enough"?

no

that is exactly what it is

I think backpack/experimental hip hop is to today's generation of critics what prog-rock was to critics of the past

until clipping goes out on halloween and robs children of their candy bags then punches the sidewalk frankly i'm not convinced

xpost idk about that since guys like Earl Sweatshirt are basically making Madlib albums now.

More along the lines of “these guys are writing song cycles about wizards and flying saucers!”

again, idk, because Rolling Stone just said Kid Cudi made an album better than the Anthology of American Folk Music

The walls between backpack and mainstream cracked a long time ago. El-P was about to play the Coachella mainstage before Covid

I think backpack/experimental hip hop is to today's generation of critics what prog-rock was to critics of the past

they're fine with it as long as there's an autobiographical hook they can grok, eg the anime-themed Open Mike Eagle record they just praised (which tbc is actually quite good)

or to put it another way, I don't think anyone is listening to clipping. principally for the lyrics (which is not to say they're bad), but instead for the sonics, mood and for Diggs' remarkable dexterity, and the 'fork seems uncomfortable with that for...some reason

just gonna mention here that the Homeboy Sandman album is very good

"don't feed the monster" that is

The walls between backpack and mainstream cracked a long time ago. El-P was about to play the Coachella mainstage before Covid

― Whiney G. Weingarten, Monday, October 26, 2020 10:40 AM (fifty minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

el-p getting booked to play coachella isn't exactly the most compelling evidence

call me when El-P is on a BLACKPINK track

I suppose the prog parallel is perhaps less about indie rap and more the critical scoffing at technical rapping. More pitchfork:

It must be mentioned as a baseline: Homeboy Sandman is good at rapping. But it’s the kind of good that treats words as a means to an end; that end being proving he’s good at rapping. It’s an empty loop, exacerbated by the fact that he isn’t rapping about much of anything else in particular

I think backpack/experimental hip hop is to today's generation of critics what prog-rock was to critics of the past

― Muswell Hillbilly Elegy (President Keyes), Monday, 26 October 2020 15:30 (one hour ago) bookmarkflaglink

You say this like ILM wasn't deeply complicit until relatively recently (Kendrick uniting the two sides probably the turning point)

well there are critics here

I have been finding myself walking around the condo singing "make them / DEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAD" and I think it's making my partner nervous

on reflection I think what might also be happening re: pitchfork is a general disinterest in industrial-influenced stuff, see also their recent pans of HEALTH and Code Orange

call me when El-P is on a BLACKPINK track

Homeboy Sandman is good at rapping. But it’s the kind of good that treats words as a means to an end; that end being proving he’s good at rapping.

"Body for the Pile" and "Looking Like Meat" are my faves of the not-previously-released tracks. relentless!

Polaris winner Backxwash (who's become very tight with Clipping on Twitter, it's heartwarming tbh) has been daring Pitchfork to give her a 3.0, they haven't reviewed

xp didn't read that piece but criticism of that variety often strikes me as less "I don't like technical rapping" and more "why don't you rap about selling drugs, it's better when you rap about selling drugs"
it's like wrestling fans complaining about how hokey sci-fi television scripts are.

I didn't read the piece very deeply but my general takeaway of its vibe was "Diggs spends so much time trying so hard that I can't tell he's a n-----"

call me when El-P is on a BLACKPINK track

i mean... this would not surprise me? Like maybe Run the Jewels on a LOONA album is more likely but narcissism of small differences

um I mean narcissism of small difference is a great rhetorical device to shut down debate, but I really don't think either of these is likely and will personally bet any amount of money that neither of these things will ever happen.

...I wonder how they would feel about Diggs if he was just some guy and not in Hamilton?

I've been wondering how much the Hamilton factor ties into their dismissal too, feel like that has to be a little bit of it.

wasn't trying to shut down an argument, was just suggesting that a run the jewels appearance on a k-pop girl band wouldn't surprise me. a solo el-p appearance might be odd but who knows! maybe open mike eagle on a stray kids track is our future.

...I wonder how they would feel about Diggs if he was just some guy and not in Hamilton?

I don't even think of him this way; I think of him as the guy from blackish. I like his lyrics but not his voice; it's a problem, because the music is often great. If his delivery was more hoarse/horrific/agitated in a New Kingdom/Son of Bazerk/ODB/Gravediggaz sort of way, I'd be much more into this.

i find the monotone, carefully paced delivery very effective

"I wish this Tony-award winning actor was more like ODB" is ... NAGL

I was just riffing on Coachella appearances btw

"I wish this Tony-award winning actor was more like ODB" is ... NAGL

Show your work, numbnuts. If you think ODB wasn't a performance, it's you who's got the problem.

haha, facts

I think of him as the guy from blackish.

Also Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt

he was absolutely the best thing about this very bad play that i ended up leaving at intermission; he's one hell of a good theater actor
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/20/theater/white-noise-review.html

Okay, so I already knew Death Grips and was pointed to JPEGMAFIA by Spotify; who else is in this vein that I should be checking out?

*cracks knuckles*

lol I almost wrote WHINEY/SIMON H BAT SIGNAL

First and foremost is Dälek, obviously. Chase with Cannibal Ox, Techno Animal, B L A C K I E and Food for Animals

i am curious what a djp thinks about DJ Paul

Also, you're into 80s industrial right? Are you up on the Beatnigs?

First and foremost is Dälek, obviously. Chase with Cannibal Ox, Techno Animal, B L A C K I E and Food for Animals

Also Ice's Bad Blood (a Techno Animal offshoot) and anything by Sensational, especially Loaded With Power (any/all of his albums on WordSound are better than the one he did for Ipecac).

I haven't thought about The Beatnigs in decades, wow

getting to see Death Grips (touring Ex Military) with B L A C K I E opening was a wild delight

(obv I was all about them/Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy back in the day)

Dalek is a great call, though I haven't really kept up with the more recent albums. The run of From Filthy Tongue of Gods and Griots through Abandoned Language is phenomenal though.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=00NVXqc_zOk

I've probably said this before, but Beatnigs to this is one of the wildest career arcs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KqgHosrqJ8o

I can remember the exact face I made when I realized who "Say Hey" was by

raise the double standard
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZnQTFBpcBp0

not sure if all this is exactly right but i love all this stuff:

Armand Hammer is fucking amazing and also Elucid solo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z9qV_h0Q3YM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K8_dJ-eVFPw

Billy Woods & Kenny Segal

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=83F4JpVu61k

The Koreatown Oddity

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=65SbCnAMDgo

Kill the Vultures (great underrated group from Mpls)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PRnYMOkKFfs

Jeremy Nutzman (has performed as Spyder Baybie Raw Dog, Pony Bwoy and now Velvet Negroni - VN is more in the Frank Ocean vibe now than what he was doing)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dnc8K_6N-SM&t=40s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yYX4nVXDOx0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lz_WF2OUNd8

oops broken link on spyder

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qqPUEKE9l58

I don't know why I avoided Dälek and Cannibal Ox for so many years

:)

Stuck deciding whether From Filthy Tongue... or The Cold Vein is better eh

Cold Vein is so sick, I'm not in the mood for it all that often but it sure scratches a very specific itch

Another vote for Cold Vein, it's crazy good.

The Cold Vein is all-time, as is Funcrusher Plus, which doesn't get name-checked as often as it should imo. Dälek also rules, of course.

Anyway, this may be relevant to your interests, DJP:

yo is it true vordul got sonned by a wite kid after a aol beef??????

I would actually vote From Filthy Tongue in that poll, it is completely mindblowing imo and it has probably the best pair of closing tracks I can think of

imago otm, I love Cold Vein but From Filthy Tongue has held up even better over the years imo

lol pomentitul beat me to it

DJP is all over that thread already lol, but always worth a read

I saw that the new record was #2 on the Rate Your Music so I checked it out. Liked it but didn't love it.

Now I read the effusive praise and comparisons to artists I adore above and I will have to listen again and see what I missed.

It's not 'experimental' enough imo, too much dead air throughout.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gbxyZAduGvY

visions of puppies being bought

New live album BTW

https://clppng.bandcamp.com/album/double-live

Ha, was just coming here to see if 'Puppy for Hanukkah' had been posted.

I kind of want a Clipping remix of "Puppy for Hanukkah"

I'm just now listening to the live album they released in July and it's a fantastic piece of ambient art

https://clppng.bandcamp.com/album/double-live

July June

y'all

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uPKTwSbxvHM

Holy shit, I just put that on to check and ended up watching the entire performance

Enlacing is just unreal isn't it

I mean it's all unreal and that was a truly special performance

Great interview too

Quick note this is happening tomorrow -- or today, depending on where you're at.

January 27, 2021, 8pm PST:

CLIPPING LIVE FOR NO AUDIENCE DURING A GLOBAL PANDEMIChttps://t.co/GXOn2yimWe pic.twitter.com/tgqdJLI6o8

— clipping. (@clppng) January 22, 2021

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a2MCATB75C8

I'm only 3 songs in and this is fucking WOAH

well if it's anything like their performance last month linked above

(by you, lol)

omg that setlist okay I'd better reserve some time for this

it's not even the complete set list

every band's setlist should end with 'a better place'

The performance of "Blood of the Fang" in this video convinces me that Diggs has three lungs

ok the Body & Blood is astonishing

oh my god the launch into "Get Up/Nothing Is Safe"......man I love these fucking nerds

It’s just brilliant

yeah I watched it all yesterday, they're so good and have turned segues into a new sort of artform or something, also the idea behind how they did Enlacing is one of the best ideas I've ever seen a band have

I watched again this morning instead of having coffee

There Existed.... hits different in a pandemic lol

The vocal sample on Enlacing always reminds me of something when I hear it, but I can't put my finger on what.

clipping take the idea of the tiny desk concert literally

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fn6S9NTpPvk

love the music box mix of "shooter" and the disco mix of "nothing is safe"

lmao they are such kings

I think "Enlacing" is my favorite clipping song, I can't not smile every time I hear Daveed crack up at "pick up the cues like a human, see what you need, fuck are you doing?"

it is a monster aye

new backxwash features some classic clipping production obv, she needs a thread?

I'm listening now, definitely in the clipping sonic wheelhouse. "terror packets" is especially awesome

Ned woke me up this morning by sending me a link to this via Messenger:

https://clppng.bandcamp.com/track/run-it-1

Its great

Clipping fans don't forget to download my new app featuring 23 mimnutes of sounds from the interior of the Splendor and Misery ship, bye

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/fuzzzel-artisanal-white-noise/id6596783978

Oh that is very cool

yes, and love the new song!

I don't know if it's clppng canon or not, but the Room 237 OST (2013) always draws me in when it comes on shuffle.

weirdly just found out i know the guy who directed that vid

And we have word on the full new album.

https://clppng.bandcamp.com/album/dead-channel-sky

This is gonna own

Another fuckin masterpiece

I am currently on “Dominator” and am confident that this is the best album I will hear all year

yeah, wow, thanks for the heads up, this sounds great. I lost track of them for a while when it seemed like they were mired in a sci-fi concept album headspace, but this one just goes straight for the jugular. funny that one track has Nels Cline on it and that pfork actually singled out a new Nels Cline as one of their "new albums you have to hear" choices and yet ignored this one entirely.

Clipping aren't authentic you see, they're theater kid rap

This weirdly feels like a kind of sequel to Splendor & Misery except with the whole planet as the spaceship. It's an insanely great spirit-of-the-age distillation and I think it's up their with their very best

xpost yeah I admit as an old I haven't kept up with the new shit like LazerYeatBasedFaceCobain

This is great!

Sadlol though at the line in "Keep Pushing" about Gitmo being forgotten. Guessing they didn't expect that to be rendered obsolete in the window between recording and release.

Yes, this is really good (as usual). I particularly like the song with Aesop Rock, and the bouncing track that kind of sounds like a Lyrics Born song.