Review Summary: Favoring melody over abrasive noise clipping. releases an ep that's every bit as uncompromising as one would expect from them but at least twice as palatable to the casual listener.
It’s Clipping bitch! The Los Angeles experimental hip hop outfit is back. With a flair for noise, elaborate sampling techniques and the now Tony Award winning Daveed Diggs (Hamilton) utilizes his dexterous and jack-rabbit fast flow to prove they are one of the more interesting and polarizing rap groups among the underground. However I find myself on both ends of the polarization at times. Their debut mixtape Midcity displayed a lot of promise, particularly for Mr. Diggs and his very story-heavy, detail oriented raps. They followed this with their Sub-Pop released self-titled debut that for the most part I enjoyed quite a bit.
Now, as much as I love noise, this affection holds nothing on how much Clippings’ producers William Huston and Jonathan Snipes do. By this I mean, they ***ing love it. Their past two albums, and this one as well, begin with tracks very plainly titled “intro” where-in Daveed displays his lightning fast flow to detail a story that sets the tone of the album before mandatorily letting you know “it’s Clipping bitch!” Immediately after this proclamation they oppress you with noise to close out the track, and as a statement it totally works. However while I appreciate the statement they’re making. "We’re Clipping, we’re noisy and uncompromising and it only gets worse from here." It also is where I take issue with a lot of tracks they create. I mean really, you expect me to listen to a shrieking alarm clock going off for a three minute duration?
This new ep seems to meet my polarized feelings halfway. On one hand I think their use of sampling and mixing prowess is extremely clever. I like how bold they are to turn power drills, shrill electronic samples, feedback and anything else they dig out of a storm drain into an ear grabbing melody. On the other hand I simply cannot stand listening to high frequency harsh noise for the entire duration of a track, no matter how insightful the rhymes are over them or how melodic the aforementioned noise is. All this being said this ep, while it certainly has its quirks, this ep seems to favor crafting memorable melodies out of this dissonant noise as opposed to just oppressing the listener into a Merzbow-esque pit of despair.
The first track past the intro is called "Shooter" and I think it’s the best song Clipping has ever made. The beat is incredible, the sampling, like I’ve come to expect from Clipping, is absolutely ingenious and perfectly placed. Prior to this my favorite Clipping song was probably "Work Work" off of their previous release, and I love that song for pretty much the same reasons here, but I think this song is even better. The beat is composed primarily of gun sounds and a rubbery synth that seems like something DJ Mustard would have put an “Aye” track behind and called it a day. Using gun sounds in a beat is for the most part unoriginal and has been done a million times but the use of them in this track is actually quite unique. The sprinkler effect that takes place of a high hat goes off without a hitch and adds a very trap like vibe to the song making it a lot more palatable. Daveed’s verses are compromised entirely of metaphors that would have put Lil Wayne to shame and he adds a very memorable chorus into the mix to tie this song together.
"Back Up" brings in the first features of the ep with a darkly funny verse from underground rapper Antwon. This track is notably nosier and more oppressive but it’s mixed well enough to not bother me. This track also has a great chorus and some memorable refrains. This track also brings in the dark sexual themes implied on the album art. For the most part Clippings lyrics reflect, street life, drugs, and the adverse effects of the non-stop party lifestyle but sex really seems to be a solid fit for their very primal pulsing beats.
Upon hearing the title of this album “Wriggle” I immediately recalled when I was young, somewhat getting into noise and somehow discovered the Whitehouse song “Wriggle like a ***ing Eel” and I was thoroughly repulsed. It should really have been no surprise to me the Clipping are fans of the powerelectronics/noise group. The title track is an interpolation of that very same song and it is probably the second best song I have ever heard by Clipping next to Shooter. The way they transform the absolutely disgusting Whitehouse noise piece into a late 90’s techno rager with Daveed at his most perverse sounds great. A large amount of noise is present in this track but it doesn’t feel totally oppressive. It really compliments the high energy nature of the track. This song really seems to reward the listener for being familiar with the original song because of how catchy they were able to make a song that’s by nature absolutely disgusting. So if you’re not faint of heart, I recommend checking out the song that is sampled before laying your ears on this. I promise it is worth it.
The last real high point here is another sexual rager called “Hot *** No Love”. A title that wouldn’t feel out of place on a Death Grips release, as a matter of fact, the instrumental wouldn’t either. This song contains the best and most appropriate feature on the album and some very sensual samples from what I can only assume is a pretty obscure porn film. The fact that people have used something they are sampling to masturbate to probably is very sardonically funny for the group. It is to me at least. Unfortunately the ep ends on a pretty weak note with Our Time, a very melodramatic song that really doesn’t fit the gothic sexual imagery of the album. It features some very flat singing from Daveed and a beat the reminds me a lot of the closer from Run the Jewels last release only with a lot of feedback. It’s not really a terrible song, overall the concept is ambitious but I wish I could say it went off without a hitch.
Overall I’m really feeling this ep. It’s produced and performed great with really no complaints in that department. Daveed consistently has something interesting to say or catchy to hear. I'd say he’s getting even more talented at rapping while creating tension, mood, and setting places, describing people, things and various scenarios. Some diehard fans might feel slightly remiss with the lack of total abrasive noise beating you into submission every track, but for me the tradeoff for great melodies, clever hooks, and mild disorientation makes for better songs that will be easier to return to on repeated listens, as I will likely be doing.
