Visions of Bodies Being Burned by clipping. is one of the darkest hip hop records I’ve heard in a while. It came out in 2020, but I didn’t give it a fair listen until mid 2021 and I sort of regret that. At the onset of the pandemic, I was specifically looking for fluff — things that were a distraction from the world around me, so if this was on my radar at that time, I wouldn’t have given it a fair shake. In fact, when I heard the first track in late 2020, I just added it to my wishlist on Bandcamp with plans to revisit later. Holy crap am I glad that I took the time to go back to this one.
Sometimes wishlists become “dead letter offices” where well intentioned music fans or shoppers put things to come back to, but never do. I’m as guilty of that as anyone else (I swear, I’ll go back and buy that HEAT MACHINE record!) Fortunately one Bandcamp Friday, I was looking at my recently added items to my wishlist and gave this another spin. I immediately added it to my cart, because it hit a little bit different this time. I wasn’t scared anymore — I graduated to angry, sad and disappointed. This album feels like it echoes many of these sentiments and really feels like an ally during these new dark ages.
I can’t quite tell you exactly what or who it reminds me of, but what I can do is tell you that it’s dark, tense and I suspect it’s coming from a similar place as Moore Mother or if we want to go back in time, Tricky or Portishead. Just to be clear though, it isn’t trip hop at all — I think similar influences are present though. It’s worth your time to explore this release. It also looks like LPs are back in stock too.
Give it a listen, if you like it, buy it.
Go Freaks Go! 