Last updated: 8 hours ago

Clipping (Daveed Diggs, William Hutson, and Jonathan Snipes) are very story-oriented. Across six albums, along with countless singles, remixes, and collaborations, Clipping has been approaching making music like writing science fiction since the band’s conception.

While their last few projects have been record-long concepts like the classic prog rock of old, new album Dead Channel Sky is mixtape-like, a carefully curated collection of songs in which every track is a love letter to a possible present. Like a mashup of distinct elements, the overall concept is there, but the result is brief glimpses into a world rather than an overview of it. It sounds crisp and classic at the same time.

On Dead Channel Sky, Clipping texture-map the twin histories of hip-hop and cyberpunk onto an alternate present where Rammellzee and Bambaataa are the superheroes of old; where Cybotron and Mantronix are the reigning legends; where Egyptian Lover and Freestyle, are debated endlessly, and Ultramag and Public Enemy are the undeniable forefathers; where the lost movements of 1980s and the 1990s are still happening: rave, trip-hop, hip-house, acid house, drum & bass, big beat—the detritus of a different timeline, the survivors of armed audio warfare. That war at thirty-three and a third, its atrocities imprinted upon yet another generation, what someone once called, “the presence of the significance of things” without a hint of ambiguity.

Monthly Listeners

192,896

Followers

296,863

Total Streams

146.0 million

Top Cities

3,482 listeners
3,113 listeners
3,096 listeners
2,852 listeners
2,567 listeners

Popular Tracks

168 tracks
1
Nothing is Safe

Nothing is Safe

Oct 18, 2019

11.0 million

streams

2
Work Work

Work Work

Jun 10, 2014

8.7 million

streams

3
Say the Name

Say the Name

Oct 23, 2020

8.0 million

streams

4
Story 2

Story 2

Jun 10, 2014

7.5 million

streams

5
Check the Lock

Check the Lock

Oct 23, 2020

6.4 million

streams

6
Body & Blood

Body & Blood

Jun 10, 2014

5.3 million

streams

7
Wriggle

Wriggle

May 12, 2021

4.5 million

streams

8
Shooter

Shooter

May 12, 2021

4.3 million

streams

9
Summertime

Summertime

Jun 10, 2014

3.5 million

streams

10
Blood of the Fang

Blood of the Fang

Oct 18, 2019

3.5 million

streams