Splendor & Misery

Experimental hip-hop. Curioso. Un 4, venga.

I was just thinking about relistening to this some weeks ago. clipping. is a group that does deserve the shine, not just for the novelty of their style but also their creativity. Daveed Diggs isn’t just any rapper and Hutson & Snipes aren’t just average noise musicians. Long term I do think they’re style is kind of repetitive but they throw in enough curveballs each time to keep it unique. This particular album is also one of their (if not the?) shortest which helps to keep it digestible. Interesting premise to! Might return to this one quicker than last time

An afro-futuristic prog conscious hip-hop concept album - right up my street! Not a band I had heard of before, but certainly one I will be exploring further. Well worth a place in the book, if only to showcase the variety of sounds and styles that are being crafted in the 3rd millennium.

Wow, this is sick. Didn't expect the guy from Hamilton who also voices Sebastian the Crab in the live action Little Mermaid remake to be behind a project as genre-pushing and interesting as this.

An interesting mix of hip-hop / ambient / electronic. I don't think it always works but I appreciate the effort to try something new. My personal rating: 3/5 My rating relative to the list: 4/5 Should this have been included on the original list? No

Definitely a unique addition to this list… I appreciate it. The story was pretty interesting. The delivery entertaining. What more can I ask for?

Splendor & Misery is experimental hip hop album by clipping.. The music varies from electronic soundscapes to intense noise. The raps give it substance and bind the tracks on this dystopian sounding record. It is good most of the time (although sometimes really sparsely instrumented) and something else.

Certainly interesting, I felt on the fence throughout whether I'd actually call it music. I also don't think I could have actually extracted the narrative I read about in various analyses from just listening to it. Though on reading through the lyrics (and the fact that I bothered to do so does say something about the impression this made) I could see where these were coming from. While it may be more a piece of performance art than a hip hop album I'll bump it an extra point because the genre and themes are so much in my wheelhouse, and for a Samuel Delaney shout out.

clipping. is such a theatrical band. Dave should do theater. None of this was long or intelligible enough for me to get attached. It's a cool concept that, in my opinion, he takes too far and ends up alienating his listeners. Solid production, lyricism, rapping, and beats, though. Fine choice. 4/5

Splendor & Misery could easily fill pages of commentary on its own. It tells the story of Cargo № 2331, a slave held captive on a spaceship, breaking free after an uprising, only to end up the sole living soul left on the vessel. The ship is run by an intelligent onboard computer that gradually falls in love with him. It's a genuinely dystopian concept with real political weight, technology, power, social inequality, all of it carrying both outrage and a desperate urge to escape. In the end 2331 doesn't return to the rest of humanity. He flies the ship out into the vastness of space instead. Form and content are perfectly balanced here, thanks to Daveed Diggs and producers Jonathan Snipes and William Hutson. Diggs uses his delivery to tell you exactly who's speaking, the album's opening verses are the computer's emotionless, rapid-fire reaction to the uprising starting. The production throughout is harsh, noisy, mechanical, industrial, but fragments of melody keep breaking through, and a lot of that melodic material is clearly rooted in chain-gang music, not just in the a cappella passages on Long Way Away and Story. Future, present, and past all get woven together through Cargo № 2331's story in ways that feel genuinely intentional. The concept isn't just a convenient metaphor bolted onto political themes, or a vehicle for clipping.'s love of science fiction. It actually aligns with the group's musical style at a structural level. That said, does it actually sound good? I'm honestly still not entirely sure. It isn't the most comfortable listen, but those are often the albums that reward repeat listening the most. On concept and content alone, this is the most interesting hip hop album I've come across on this list so far.

Nice production. Sure does make use of the full 44.1khz. The flows get a bit tiring - it's competent and adept. but samey throughout the runtime. The music is more experimental than the vocals.

Not what I was expecting from the album cover. I was prepping myself for something in the prog/metal vein, but experimental hip-hop was a bit of a surprise. It's a cool album. It creates such a vibe and the flows are tight. It also doesn't outstay its welcome and leaves whilst it's all still fresh. Interesting album.

Super interesting and creative

A cool hip hop album, never heard any of their stuff before this

Var lite skeptisk till en början men musiken är ju fantastisk. Är ju väldigt svag för noise. Dock är ju sången inget vidare vilket givetvis drar ner betyget.

4.3 Most refreshing bit of rap I've heard, possibly ever? Certainly since discovering Kendrick on the main list a few years ago. But wow, I'm not normally a rap fan but this hits on a other level. Sci-fi, most, atmospheric, noise-infused yet with a smattering of other genres used well in combination. This works perfectly as an album, individual tracks don't work by themselves. Doesn't hold it back too much though. Great find.

Experimental Sci-fi hip hop is such a specific genre with such a good hit rate on here

Truly unique I actually think it has that must listen quality 4/5

Deeply, DEEPLY nerdy rap hidden under a thin sheen of experimental avant garde coolness

Experimental hip-hop. Curioso. Un 4, venga.

They combine styles that I don't like very much, hip hop and minimalist ambient noise, into something fascinating.

this will need a revisit

Hip hop held together with blips and sticky tape.

Actually saw Clipping. open for the Flaming Lips back to back nights at 930 club years ago. I didn't know anything about them and they kinda blew me away. Very loud and scratchy but in a cool way. I now know that the frontman Daveed Diggs is in Hamilton. Honestly not really digging this a whole lot. It has its moments but then has dumb songs like Story 5. Definitely experimental and I'll give it that.

Since *Splendor & Misery* came out, clipping. have explored legends of "The Deep" in a pivotal EP that coped with the trauma of the slave trade by harnessing that Drexciya-inspired tale imagining all those slaves going overboard to escape bondage, later founding an Atlantis-like kingdom in the abyss... And not so long after this EP, the Californian hip hop trio took the horror-rap route with *There Existed An Addiction To Blood* and *Visions Of Bodies Being Burned*... Yet before all that, among other projects, Diggs, Hutson and Snipes took some time to record this afrofuturist rap opera whose sources of inspiration already tapped into very similar veins. That spaceship against which the story's main protagonist "2331" mutinies -- before developing a complex relationship with its AI -- indeed recalls other traumatic "ships" of the African American past. A nomination for a category of the Hugo Awards was given to this album. Surely a sign that the ambitions of this record drawing from all sorts of terrific literary sci-fI influences in the genre (Le Guin, Delany, Butler...) deserved some notice. You can however spot two flaws in this project. First, it's still a little hard to follow the story without a summary of its events on the side. If you take the full-blown "narrative" route, you got to make some of the events at least relatively clear, even when they're only suggested. People complaining that the plot points of the rock operas of day yonder (example: the ones of The Who) were not explicit enough might find this thing even more confusing and obfuscated. Secondly, the impetus of Hutson and Snipes to go fully experimental, with all those illustrative, static-filled soundscapes (not to mention the slave songs-inspired interludes) takes precedence over yielding truly striking moments on a purely musical level -- just as the need to tell the story takes precedence over displaying memorable songs. And given that the story is not exactly told the way it should be, what we have here is sort of a lose - lose situation in my book. So yeah, to put it in a nutshell, there are not enough memorable, catchy rap tracks in here. Three (fantastic) exceptions, though: "True Believer", "Air' Em Out" and closer "A Better Place". Great cuts from start to finish. But there should be more of them. *Far* more. Textbook mistake of so many narrative-driven musical works. Clipping has since done a far better job balancing out all the elements of their artistry and so have provided way more inspiring music in the releases I mentioned at the start of my reviews. Those releases have remained very experimental, and yet have also upped the ante on the intensity and musicality of their work And Daveed Diggs became an even more impressive rapper for those later outings, with a very impactful delivery for each track on those later LPs. It's the sort of win - win situation I want to see in this list. That said, more power to the user who suggested this record. Not my fave from this project, but still a cool choice. I once saw clipping perform on stage in a summer festival. It was a warm night, but the rain suddenly fell on the audience just as Diggs started to rap his horror songs. This was just so damn perfect. You don't necessarily need to be stranded in a spaceship to see the stars align. 3/5 for the purposes of this list dedicated to essential albums. 8/10 for more general purposes (5 for the musicianship and production values + 3 for the artistry) ---- Number of albums from the original list I find relevant enough to be mandatory listens: 465 Albums from the original list I *might* include in mine later on: 288 Albums from the original list I won't include in mine: 336 ---- Number of albums from the users list I find relevant enough to be mandatory listens: 122 Albums from the users list I *might* select for mine later on: 140 Albums from the users list I won't select for mine: 311 (including this one) ---- Salut Émile, Tu pourras lire ma dernière réponse sous le *Little Criminals* de Randy Newman. A+.

less a rap album and more a short story. its a cool horror story, but i dont see my self coming back to this

Interesting experience. Doubt I'll come back to this, but it wasn't a bad listen. YOLO.

A bit wacky, this one. I was pleased to see Daveed Diggs turn up on this list in any form, but I would have hoped it was alongside Lin-Manuel Miranda.

Cool album

Splendor & Misery is interesting if nothing else; it definitely hits the self-styled experimental mark and it manages to command my attention even when it shouldn't at times, the change of pace and intensity within songs jolts you into focusing if your attention wanders. It's dark and heavy and a bit spacey, the production of the vocals put them very in your face and it works. It's not remarkable and it's not always good but it is interesting, I think it gets a 3 because I liked more of it than not.

That was interesting. Probably not something I'll listen to again, but glad to have heard it once. 3 stars.

Rating: 6/10

This was interesting. Experimental hiphop is not something I have ever heard of. It was kinda enjoyable

Would consider myself a casual clipping. fan, I enjoy their work but hadn't listened to this LP before. As expected, the wordplay on this album is insane, Daveed Diggs stringing top-quality bars almost faster than one can comprehend them. Felt the production element was lacking though, the typical electronic insanity that characterizes the band's later work distinctly absent from this release. Bodies or Addiction to Blood would have been the superior clipping. add given how focused yet instrumentally abstract the band sounds on those albums, but this is still solid recognition for a worthy musical project that doesn't get near enough recognition.

Yep the modern hip hop I can get on board with.

Eh, I was kinda hoping for more from this. Parts of it are interesting, but overall I felt like there was very little for me to latch onto. It's experimental hip-hop, but I don't feel like the experiments are taking me anywhere. 3/5

ihan jees räbää

I recognised a voice! I felt smug for a bit I can see why Daveed Diggs was selected for Hamilton. Interesting album, pushing the boundaries but in an accessible way.

3.5

It's hip hop and or rap !

They’re better at horrorcore

Not bad

Ah clipping. I remember around the pandemic they dropped a few really dark albums and at that point in my life I was able to get into their stuff. But that seems to have been a momentary compatibility as both of their albums that I've listened to in the last couple of months (this being one -- the other being Visions of Bodies Being Burned) have been a challenge to get through. I feel like in both cases, they show an ability to occasionally connect with their experimentation (Air 'Em Out, All Black); however, more often their stuff just misses extremely wide. I absolutely abhor the ultra-sped-up rapping that they do on The Breach and elsewhere -- and just in general the delivery is not great. The beat production is frantic, and usually more grating than enjoyable. IDK I come away on the low side of this one with no desire to go back.

Okay, sorta interesting/different, but not that great (or maybe just doesn't like hip-hop enough anymore). Like Outkast if Outkast weren’t cool or funny. Urquell would be a fan, one’s sure, but one is decidedly not a fan.

LOVE to see clipping here - but this is their worst work by far. Should've been Dead Channel Sky 2

Cool story driven stuff but the music itself is too weird 4 this little soy boy

If this is what passes for music on snowpiercer I'll take my chances off the train.

Dude is trying to convey the fact that the album was released or takes place in deep space, so he keeps pulling sound and lyrics into and out of focus, replacing music with fuzz, so it's kinda like a radio station that isn't quite on the right frequency.... You know..... To piss everyone off. Fuck this guy. When he fucks off and raps, it's not bad, but most of it is just experimental garbage. Favourite songs: Air 'Em Out, Story 5, Wake Up, All Black Least favourite songs: Long Way Away (Intro), Interlude 01 (Freestyle), Interlude 02 (Numbers), Interlude 03 (Freestyle), Long Way Away (Instrumental)..... fuck skits 1/5

Oh dear, this is embarrassing. Great idea but poorly executed. Feels amateurish and badly produced.

Might hold the record for most times I’ve said “this sucks” while listening to an album

This didn't seem like music.

This was not music