Dead Channel Sky

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Despite hopping on the clipping. train early with their first mixtape and Sub Pop debut CLPPNG, for some unknown reason, I never really stayed on top of their output. This is a shame considering that their last three albums, from what I gathered, have demonstrated that the experimental noise rap trio puts a lot of effort into creating hyper focused and conceptual albums. In addition, Daveed Diggs is no slouch on the mic either. He has a fantastic, articulate voice, he can run a clinic on rap flow, and his story telling is also pretty impressive. Not giving these records a chance when they first came out was honestly an injustice, one that I tried to atone for by prioritizing this new record Dead Channel Sky.

Like their previous records, Dead Channel Sky is just as conceptual. This particular album plunges you into a cyberpunk world soundtracked by gurgling acid synths, pressurized steam percussion, and computerized, glitchy edits. Playing this album immediately brought me back to my teens playing some long forgotten AA video game that probably involved a hoverboard. This is by design as the origins of this concept stem back to a video game song commission that never saw the light of day. Even though their contribution was passed up, the trio saw more potential in this sound, and began amassing a significant amount of material. Hence why Dead Channel Sky is an ambitious twenty-track album that clocks in at fifty-four minutes.

Unfortunately, a majority of the tracks are shorter, often instrumental, interludes that are more successful in breaking up the album's flow instead of expanding the album's lore. But with my biggest gripe out of the way, Dead Channel Sky does have quite a few hits, especially in the first half. Dominator is nothing short of incredible. Diggs constantly switches up his flow, yet always stays locked in to the staccato synth line. The modulated vocal sample is also insanely catchy, especially when it's pitched up, down, or cut up to match a stuttering drum fill. Change the Channel is hyper accelerated and packs tons of paranoid energy thanks to the noise explosions that happen on the downbeats and Diggs' intense delivery. Going back to the video game comparisons, it makes me feel like I'm in a high-speed chase where successfully escaping my pursuers means I get to live another day. Run It brings the heartbeat down with its minimal, cavernous production, but no less is it engaging. Diggs spins a grimy tale of sex and drugs all while maintaining a cold confidence in his delivery. The breaks between verses showcase Jonathan Snipes and William Hutson's brilliant sound design as we get murky, underground rave synths, and shots of noise that sound like a dot matrix printer.

Continuing with the highlights, I also loved Dodger for its rapid pace and muted bassline. The chorus once again incorporates some really cool (what I could only describe as) Transformers sounds. Towards the end of the track, we are introduced to some dramatic string synth pads, taking this track to a fairly cinematic finish. Beyond this point, I feel like the album loses some steam. Generally the songs are fine, but the trio does sink to a disappointing low on Mirrorshades. Everything from the channel surfing instrumental, the lifeless percussion, and the robotic spoken word deliveries from both Diggs and Cartel Madras is painfully bad. It also has this campy, vogue aesthetic that comes across as being painfully corny instead of being (one could say) fierce. Despite the lengthy lull, I do think Dead Channel Sky comes to a great close with Ask What Happened. The first leg sees Diggs rapidly rhyming through a radio band filter over ambient, icy synths. The song builds towards an epic IDM climax complete with busy percussion and Aphex Twin-inspired orchestration.

Dead Channel Sky has a lot going for it; great concept, really good production, and Diggs is as sharp as ever on the mic. On the other hand, it doesn't come without caveats. The album is front-loaded, a lot of the connecting interludes only serve as album filler, and there is one absolutely catastrophic cut in the tracklist. While the album as a whole fell short, it did deliver a handful of fantastic tracks that will fight over a spot on my end of year list.