Monday, June 20, 2016

Review: clipping.- Wriggle EP



The first thing I heard from clipping. was their last LP, CLPPNG, and for the most part, I enjoyed it. The instrumentals were very informed by industrial and noise music (The alarm clock beat on 'Wake Up' was just awesome), and rapper Daveed Diggs was a beast on the microphone, with a very rapid fire delivery and wildly erratic flow patterns. However, their lyrical content seemed to be nowhere near as forward thinking as their production. A lot of the lyrics deal with concepts that one might find on any typical mainstream hip hop record (i.e. misogyny, wealth,violence, etc.), but too an almost cartoon-ish degree. I wish they were a little more like Death Grips or other noise hop groups that complement their abrasive soundscapes and beats with equally experimental lyrical content. I've heard whispers that this might be an intentional thing or an attempt at parody of the genre as a whole, but to me, it just seemed like more of the same, and didn't do a lot to comment on it or say why this content may be detrimental to hip hop.

In the break between CLPPNG and this new EP, Daveed Diggs played an instrumental role in the Broadway production of Hamilton of all things, and riding the zeitgeist of that, clipping. recently released a slew of a cappela versions of albums, remixes, and the 24 remix of 'Dream', which is awesome as background music for a nap (Not a joke. Seriously, it's awesome. It compliments Sleep by Max Richter and any number of William Basinski records on my sleep playlist nicely). Still waiting for instrumental versions of those albums to drop (hint, hint.) So, again striking while the iron is hot, clipping. saw fit to release the Wriggle EP, the group's first fully new content in a little bit. Unfortunately, this collection of tracks is the dictionary definition of a mixed bag for me.

The EP begins with a great intro, with Diggs spitting a dizzying set of lyrics at great speed, back only by the sounds of the street at night behind him. This is very reminiscent of the intro on CLPPNG as well, except with a more ambient backdrop. With the bar set nice and high by the first track's stop start flow and rapid fire delivery, the song 'Shooter' sends the six song set into a tailspin it never fully recovers from. Possibly a parody of the sort of hashtag delivery style of rapping that occurred a lot in the late 2000's (again, not really sure how well they show that they're part of the joke), Daveed Diggs launches into a series of punch lines that even the lamest members of YMCMB would find too stupid to put on record ('shooter bout to go nuts: cashew'; 'come up off the lettuce: crouton': 'but that was not to be: Hamlet'....really dude?) Also, the beat is really typical and nothing like you would expect from a noise hop band. I almost expected to hear 'Mustard on da beat hoe' near the beginning.

'Back Up' is a little better, but it suffers from a lot of the same problems that the last album did; a large amount of sexual lyrics that really don't need to be there, not to even mention the silly drugs chant. Diggs and the guest vocalists have decent deliveries, but the lyrics are just more of the same.

'Wriggle' would probably be the best track on the album overall, minus the stupid chorus. Also the sexual lyrics don't come off as offensive or controversial, so much as they come as stupid and unoriginal. This is a post-Lil Wayne/ Too $hort/ 2 Live Crew world, man: we've heard it all before. The same goes for 'Hot F*ck No Love', which is probably my least favorite track on the EP. Where as 'Shooter' was at least funny in how dumb it is, people rapping about urination and rim jobs with audio of what seems to be a prostitute negotiating with a john doesn't interest me in the slightest. The delivery and the beat are not enough to justify such a terrible track. 'Our Time' is just a continuation of the mindless, repetitive, sex crazed lyrics, except with kind of Drake like singing part, which just gives me traumatic Views flashbacks.

I can appreciate that Daveed Diggs is a talented rapper, and the production is interesting for the most part, but I can't get past the lyrics. They're just so one note, and this is hardly coming from a puritanical kind of person. Albums like The Downward Spiral and Only Built 4 Cuban Linx hardly strayed from the sex, drugs and violence schtick, but they did so in a way that was at least engaging, realistic, or to serve some sort of greater purpose. I don't get parody from this set of songs; I get frustrated. With a BDSM gimp on the cover, I might have known what I was getting into, but even that has been done better by groups such as the Velvet Underground, Throbbing Gristle and of course, Swans (look forward to that Glowing Man review btw). This is just not for me. Maybe for those who want a safer, hornier Death Grips or Yeezus with better flows and a spot on the sex offender registry, but not me. When you've got something real to say, get back to me.


Out of a total of five stars, I give this:




Check back in for the aforementioned Swans review, as well as a look at the new Deerhoof record, The Magic.


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