Clipping. - live for no one during a global pandemic Live Album Review

Harry Mcilroy 

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

Clipping. - live for no one during a global pandemic 

genre - industrial hip hop, horror-core, noise, experimental 

10/10

Clipping (stylised as Clipping.) are an experimental hip hop trio fronted by actor, rapper, and now Tony award winning Hamilton star, Daveed Diggs. That’s quite a resume, isn't it? And judging by the relatively family friendly tone of Hamilton itself, one could assume Daveed would continue to work within this niche. 

But in reality, the sound and lyrical content of Clipping might make them the least family friendly group out there. More influenced by Public Enemy and Whitehouse than Broadway, Clipping is easily one of the most interesting and cutting edge groups making music right now. They are one of the few bands where “unique” isn't hyperbole. This group expertly and seamlessly explores the genres of both harsh noise and hardcore hip hop. The impressive, complex and overwhelming production and mixing is recorded in such high fidelity, even the distortion sounds better recorded than most music out there. And that is no accident. Other than Daveed on vocals, we have production by Johnathon Snipes and William Hudson, who incidentally both have a lot of experience in scoring films. After learning this, the production style definitely clicks a lot more. Every sound employed on any given Clipping track is expertly crafted, recorded and produced, in such a way that their background is a prerequisite. 

Now, I have always really liked Clipping, but I can't say I loved them. That is, not until I saw this performance. A while back, I saw that Clipping were doing the whole “live with no audience” thing, something a lot of bands and artists have been doing. I’ve often ignored these, not out of a missing love for live music, but more that I find live music to be so much better in person than on a TV or monitor screen. This sounds obvious enough, but taking away the audience aspect made it even less appealing. I also had no idea how different these songs would be live. So overall, I was only like 20 percent interested. But due to some nice little serendipity, I found myself awake at 3:45am (UK time), when the performance began. So I thought to myself ‘hey, why not? This could be cool’. I was not at all prepared for what I was about to witness. 

An alarm clock, which has been the only thing on screen for about 14 minutes at this point, begins ringing. The performance begins with Get Up, a track from their debut. It's a compelling start, working perfectly both as a live show opener and a way to establish exactly the kind of project Clipping is trying to be. As I initially watched this live with zero expectations, the first transition blew my mind. Hearing the way Get Up suddenly transitioned into Nothing is Safe got me legitimately excited. These guys obviously have years of experimentation with song structure, as they can build up these impressively well flowing transitions between any two songs from any moment in their discography. Nothing is Safe is Clippings biggest song, and you can definitely tell why. Like with so many of their songs, they use the structure of a typical rap track and turn it on its head. Their production style makes the track sound so huge, it really has to be heard to be believed. 

Shooter, one of the performances first highlights (of many) is a super fun song from an early Clipping EP, Wriggle. The song is great enough on the EP, but this version easily surpasses it. It sounds so much deeper and more expertly produced. The reverb is massive and powerful, the noisy elements weave in and out of the mix perfectly, and the creatively integrated gunshot samples have so much bite. The verse instrumentals are so minimal yet complex. The chorus here is the first showcase of Clipping’s ability to devise these hooks that are comparable only to Death Grips in terms of a perfect marriage between experimentation and catchiness. With the addition of heavy bass, a noisy drone, and these really great vocal effects that chop, screw and repeat various parts of the chorus, it gives each word such crazy momentum. As that song ends, Daveed starts joking around with the crew and audience. It’s great to see how good Clipping are at creating these noisy experimental hip hop masterpieces while not taking themselves too seriously and can still have a good time after all these years and life experience. It definitely speaks to how well this group performs as a unit. And speaking of experience, his crazy amount of performance experience with big parts in Hamilton and Snowpiercer (and many more) have definitely given him an effortlessly controlled confidence on stage. I can imagine it being difficult to act naturally in an empty room with a couple of cameras as an audience, but Diggs never looks outwardly stressed or even tired. 

One of my favourite aspects of the entire performance is the crazy amount of insane, perfectly structured transitions. They often seem very IDM influenced, with bursts of noise very smoothly integrated into them. And if the idea of “bursts of harsh” noise being integrated “smoothly” into anything seems ridiculously, literally any track here will change your mind.

Track 5, Inside Out, is another hugely impressive performance. The verse instrumental is sparse yet maximal, with all these skittering beats and samples dancing around the mix. It would be great enough as an instrumental, but Daveed comes through with absolutely effortless flow and lyricism. It really showcases how exciting this project is, and how untouchable they are at storytelling. All over the verses Clipping continue to utilise those absolutely killer vocal effects, with the word “Caprice” repeating in a ridiculously reverb drenched and cool way. Clipping often manages to create texture within music so deep and powerful it renders a lot of their contemporaries simply flat and lifeless. The bridge then explodes with those trademark harsh noise flourishes. Clipping very often switch up the second bridge or chorus a bit, in order to give the song more complexity. I absolutely love this aspect of their music, it gives it so much replay value. In this instance, the bridge has Diggs’ vocals pitched down and heavily distorted to create a legitimately chilling sound. After the bridge, that great hook comes back around, this time with this strange high-pitched bass guitar - esque notes decorate the mix. As the track ends, and another killer transition begins, the camera person starts filming this dirty corner of the room where there's an apparent leak in the ceiling, and they’re having to use a bucket to catch the water. You can hear Daveed laughing off screen, and I find this super endearing. The pandemic has truly fucked over so much of the art world, so much so that live music has been almost completely annihilated. The fact that Clipping is able to have such an incredible and creative live set despite all that is truly inspiring.

The next track I want to mention is Enlacing. This is another ridiculously well done highlight. This is where they utilise the concept of a remote performance perfectly. The previous track ends, Daveed puts on his hood, and the camera person follows him outside, where he walks down a road out of frame. Now, as they were seven songs deep, and I was watching this live, I assumed this was the end of the show. And I was okay with that! That would still be seven amazing meticulously crafted and performed pieces of noise hop hop. But little did I know what was about to transpire. The idea of sampling the sound of a busy road at night isn’t particularly foreign to Clipping, they do it all over their discography. So when Daveed saunters back into the frame, crouches down, and begins softly rapping the intro to Enlacing, I am once again floored. And here is where I want to talk about the cinematography and visual direction. For such a seemingly low budget, the camera person utilities what they have perfectly. The camera quality might not be the highest, but every shot is so well framed so well that it doesn't matter one bit. On this track specifically, when Daveed walks back into frame, he is perfectly centered in this dingy very wet alleyway. It is a very symmetrical shot, which is something I always love in visual art. As Daveed squats down to begin rapping, the camera slowly lowers, to emphasize the reflections of the various cars and walls in puddles of rain. It’s so simple yet so effective. As for the actual track? Mind blowing and massive, literally a perfect song.

Another track that begins with perfectly utilised budget-less cinematography is Blood of the Fang. Aurally, this is another favourite, and I’ll get to that in a second. After the last track ends, the camera again moves away from the performers, and focuses on these TV screens. These screens are all playing this unnamed slasher-horror film in sync, with various visuals of people screaming, covered in blood, and committing human sacrifice. It fits in so perfectly with the lyrical and aural vibe Clipping has cultivated throughout these tracks, and adds so much to the video's atmosphere. And the coolest part? As the sample ends and the track is about to begin, the camera person does a close up of one of the screens. At first you just think this is another cool visual, but then the camera focuses on Clipping themselves in the reflection of the screen, which is then turned around as Diggs starts rapping. It is absolutely astounding visual direction. And that’s how this whole performance is. Perfectly directed. And the song itself? Fantastic. It has such an intense and fast flow, perfectly incorporated sound effects, and builds up with a faster and faster pace every verse. Clipping are so good at crafting these songs that never gets repetitive for a single second. Overall, it’s easily one of my favourite Clipping songs.

I could easily write multiple paragraphs about every song here, and it is so hard not to, but as I don't want this review to become a novella I will mention one more track. Pain Everyday is definitely in conversation for best Clipping song, and it is what I believe to be one of the coolest hip hop songs ever conceived. It begins with these very loud quick metallic bursts of noise intercut with loud ambience and rain. Diggs instantly begins to set the scene with lyrics on pain, death and a general lexical field of violence. This is all in the first 10 seconds, and is definitely one of the most imposing intros i’ve heard on any song. Skittering beats start peppering the mix, a la Inside Out. As the song progresses, the beats, samples, and rapping keep speeding up, to a mind blowing level. And as the chorus begins, and strings begin to work their way into the mix, this song begins to transcend Clipping and the genre of hip hop itself. At the end of each hook Diggs spits “Fuck it come on, they gotta pay” with such an intimidating tone that it somehow matches the intensity of the instrumental. I can’t think of many artists that are this insanely versatile. I feel like this track is almost a culmination of Clippings entire career as a group. Every reason they continue to be so exciting and relevant almost a decade into their career is showcased here. Even “Wriggle”, a Clipping track from 2016, seems to be sampled at around 75 seconds into the song. After the final chorus, a beautiful and crazy-impressive instrumental climax is achieved. How this is being performed live I have no idea. It’s so pretty and so intense at the same time. 

So overall, this is easily one of the most impressive hip hop performances I have ever seen, and this was just on a Youtube video! Clipping somehow make harsh noise into something beautifully catchy, and I applaud them for it. As live music, this is easily a 10/10. It came out very recently, and has made Clipping into one of my favourite bands. My final point is this. Fuck COVID, and I cannot wait until live shows are back up and running!