Splendor & Misery
| Splendor & Misery | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Studio album by clipping. | ||||
 |
||||
|
Publication |
||||
| Label (s) | Sub Pop , Deathbomb Arc | |||
|
Format (s) |
||||
|
Title (number) |
15th |
|||
|
running time |
37:01 |
|||
| occupation |
|
|||
|
||||
Splendor & Misery ( German about “pomp and misery”) is the second studio album by the Californian experimental hip-hop trio clipping. It was released on Sub Pop on September 9, 2016 . The afrofuturistic - dystopian concept album received a nomination for the Hugo Award in the category "Best Dramatic Presentation (Short Form)" in 2017 .
Emergence
After releasing their label debut CLPPNG in 2014, Daveed Diggs , William Hutson and Jonathan Snipes focused on solo projects. While Diggs was enjoying success as a musical performer in Hamilton , Hutson earned a Ph.D. with a dissertation on experimental music. Meanwhile, Snipes worked as a film composer.
On Splendor & Misery , the three friends tried to combine these experiences with their mutual love for the science fiction genre. Avid reader since childhood, Hutson wrote a short story with the idea of an alternate Civil War ending , which he set in space. Diggs put the plot in rap lyrics and added a love story to it. The noise backdrop was largely created on the modular synthesizer in Snipe's studio basement . For three songs, Clipping got vocal support from the a cappella group Take 6 , on two other tracks the singer Paul Outlaw and the electronic musician Maxi Wild can be heard.
“All three of us have consumed science fiction for our whole lives. When I was a child, reading Tolkien and things like that were always important. My mom read a lot of science fiction, and she would just pile stuff up for me (...) I became really obsessed around college with all that late-'60s, early-'70s New Wave of science fiction stuff. So I started to connect my own personal politics to the types of fantasy I was reading, the sort of left politics made into science fiction. "
“All three of us have consumed science fiction our lives. As a child, it was always important to me to read Tolkien and the like. My mother read a lot of science fiction and got me reading material (...) In college I got crazy about all the 60s-70s New Wave stuff. So I began to combine my personal political attitudes with the kind of fantasy I was reading, the kind of left-wing politics that was turned into science fiction. "
action
The continuous plot accompanies the protagonist - and main narrator - Cargo # 2331 on an interstellar space freighter . In the intro ( Long Way Away ) he describes his fate in the seclusion of space.
|
I'll follow the stars when the sun goes to bed |
I follow the stars when the sun goes to bed |
Cargo # 2331 is one of numerous black slaves held in the ship's hold. When he tries to break out, the on-board computer detects him and triggers the alarm (Track 2 - The Breach ). All other slaves die in the following riots, only # 2331 survives and impresses the computer so much that it falls in love with it and defends it against attackers ( All Black ). While he takes control of the ship, the escaped man plays a freestyle rap . With no great hope of arriving anywhere, he falls into hypersleep ( Wake Up ) and dreams of Negro Spirituals ( Long Way Away , True Believer ). Woke up again, # 2331 increasingly suffers from loneliness and considers the possibility of his death ( Air 'Em Out ), because the on-board computer has also stopped communicating with him ( Break the Glass ). He slowly realizes that he is moving through nowhere and tries to avoid hypersleep as much as possible ( Baby Don't Sleep ). Finally, he gives the computer permission to launch into hyperspace to end his agony ( A Better Place ).
Track list
All tracks were composed by William Hutson and Jonathan Snipes and written by Daveed Diggs .
- Long Way Away (Intro) (feat.Paul Outlaw) - 1:05
- The Breach - 0:56
- All Black - 6:15
- Interlude 01 (Freestyle) - 1:35
- Wake Up - 2:05
- Long Way Away (Alvin Chea, Claude McKnight, David Thomas & Dorian Holley) - 1:30
- Interlude 02 (Numbers) (feat.Maxi Wild) - 1:04
- True Believer (feat.Alvin Chea, Claude McKnight, David Thomas, Dorian Holley & Paul Outlaw) - 3:44
- Long Way Away (Instrumental) - 0:51
- Air 'Em Out - 3:50
- Interlude 03 (Freestyle) - 1:09
- Break the Glass - 2:21
- Story 5 (feat.Alvin Chea, Claude McKnight, David Thomas & Dorian Holley) - 3:04
- Baby Don't Sleep - 3:07
- A Better Place - 4:25
Cover design
| Cover of the album |
|---|
|
Link to the picture |
The album cover was realized by the artist Jay Shaw and shows the silhouette of a barefoot slave - probably the protagonist Cargo # 2331 - in a space suit , which stands out in front of a silvery-gray triangular shape. According to William Hutson, it is an allusion to the depiction of runaway slaves in newspaper reports and paintings, such as those made by Jacob Lawrence in his Migration Series .
reception
| Professional reviews | |
|---|---|
| source | rating |
| Average rating | |
| Metacritic | 76% |
| Reviews | |
| Allmusic |
 
|
| Clash | 8/10 |
| Drowned in sound | 4/10 |
| Music Express |
|
| Pitchfork | 5.3 / 10 |
| PopMatters |
 
|
Splendor & Misery reached number 46 on the Top R & B / Hip-Hop Albums , and music videos were released on the Sub Pop YouTube channel for Baby Don't Sleep , Air 'Em Out and True Believer .
The album received mostly positive reviews. Allmusic's Paul Simpson gave 4.5 out of 5 stars and named Splendor & Misery one of the most impressive albums of the year and a big step forward for the band. He found the album overall to be more ambitious than the debut album CLPPNG and praised the more experimental sound design and the less rhythmic beats above all the complex literary raps. He also drew comparisons with the work of Drexciya and Octavia E. Butler . Despite all the dystopia, there is an undeniable hope in the story. The German Musikexpress judged similarly . The album has become a " suite in which sound elements from the present (machine beats with spacey noise elements) and the past ( gospel ) find a common form". Anthony Fantano called the LP a "tight, well-written and detailed concept album" and gave it 8 out of 10 points.
Mehan Jayasuriya of Pitchfork recorded the album with mixed feelings. While he praised the different influences from Progressive Rock and P-Funk and compared Digg's fast rap style with Busdriver and André 3000 , he missed personality and looseness on a large part of the album. Many songs lack a clearly recognizable rhythm section , which makes them seem more like spoken word . Well-placed sound effects would be placed above the compositions. He cited All Black and Air 'Em Out as positive exceptions, but most songs would rely on the narrative instead of moving it forward. "In his pursuit of conceptual rigor" album was the conclusion of the critic of the fabric better than neglecting the listener musical, Broadway - Musical could imagine.
In April 2017 the album was nominated for a Hugo Award in the category "Best Dramatic Presentation (Short Form)". It was the first musical work in 46 years to be considered for one of the prestigious science fiction prizes. In 1971 Paul Kantner last achieved this feat with Blows Against the Empire .
Web links
- Splendor & Misery at Allmusic (English)
- Album lyrics at genius.com
Individual evidence
- ↑ clipping. Sub Pop , accessed September 16, 2018 .
- ^ A b c Jason Heller: Why clipping.'s Hugo Nomination Matters for Music in Science Fiction. Pitchfork , April 7, 2017, accessed September 25, 2018 .
- ^ Splendor & Misery (clipping.). genius.com, accessed October 4, 2018 .
- ↑ Powerful posters and covers by Jay Shaw. Designer Daily, November 16, 2017, accessed October 4, 2018 .
- ^ Splendor & Misery by Clipping. Metacritic , accessed September 25, 2018 .
- ^ A b Paul Simpson: clipping. - Splendor & Misery. Allmusic , accessed on September 25, 2018 .
- ^ Will Butler: Clipping - Splendor & Misery. Clash, September 7, 2016, accessed September 25, 2018 .
- ↑ Ed Ledsham: clipping. - Splendor & Misery. Drowned in Sound, September 9, 2016, accessed September 25, 2018 .
- ↑ a b Frank Sawatzki: Clipping. - Splendor & Misery. Musikexpress , September 9, 2016, accessed September 25, 2018 .
- ↑ a b Mehan Jayasuriya: clipping. - Splendor & Misery. Pitchfork , September 6, 2016, accessed September 25, 2018 .
- ^ Noah Harrison: Clipping .: Splendor & Misery. PopMatters, September 20, 2016, accessed September 25, 2018 .
- ↑ clipping. - Chart history. Billboard , accessed October 5, 2018 .
- ↑ clipping. - Splendor & Misery ALBUM REVIEW. The Needle Drop / YouTube , September 14, 2016, accessed October 5, 2018 .
- ^ Jason Heller: Why clipping.'s Hugo Nomination Matters for Music in Science Fiction. Pitchfork , April 7, 2017, accessed October 4, 2018 .