clipping. are an absolutely singular entity -- a visceral, experimental Bay Area noise-rop group led by a star actor who's really, really good at rapping. You can hear clipping.'s many influences at work in their music, but they don't exactly have peers. Over their catalog, clipping. have released a few collaborations with other rappers -- Benny The Butcher, King T, the late Gangsta Boo -- and it's always fascinating to hear familiar voices adapt to clipping.'s style. Today, the group shares a new collaboration with Aesop Rock, another singular rap presence who works on a similar deep-immersion level.
Next month, clipping. will release their cyberpunk-inspired concept album Dead Channel Sky, and I can't wait. We've already posted early singles "Run It," "Keep Pushing," and "Change The Channel." Today, clipping. follow those tracks with the Aesop Rock collab "Welcome Home Warrior." It's a densely written meditation on the reality-deadening appeal of video-game fantasy, recorded over the kind of warped, heaving electro that reminds me of the records that Aesop Rock made back in the Def Jux days. Both Aesop and Daveed Diggs contribute intricately allusive verses, delivered with straight-faced intensity.
In the Dimuccio & Miller-directed video, Diggs plays a computer hacker straight out of an '80s B-movie. I would like to see that movie. That video is below, and so are clipping.'s tour dates, which now extend to the East Coast.
TOUR DATES:
3/14 – Los Angeles, CA @ The Echoplex
3/15 – San Francisco, CA @ The Independent
3/29 – Knoxville, TN @ Big Ears Festival
4/24 – Phoenix, AZ @ Rebel Lounge
4/26 – Salt Lake City, UT @ Metro Music Hall
4/27 – Denver, CO @ Larimer Lounge
4/29 – Portland, OR @ Holocene
4/30 – Seattle, WA @ Neumos
5/01 – Vancouver, BC @ Rickshaw
5/03 – Sacramento, CA @ Goldfield
8/07 - St. Paul, MN @ Turf Club
8/08 - Madison, WI @ Majestic Theatre
8/09 - Detroit, MI @ El Club
8/11 - Toronto, ON @ The Great Hall
8/12 - Montreal, QC @ Theatre Fairmount
8/13 - Cambridge, MA @ The Sinclair
8/14 - Brooklyn, NY @ Elsewhere
8/15 - Philadelphia, PA @ Ukie Club
8/16 - Washington, DC @ 9:30 Club
Dead Channel Sky is out 3/14 on Sub Pop.
