Coffee cups, pizza boxes, everything’s an instrument: watch clipping. play

You know the game “I spy…”? Every object in the room becomes a musical instrument, activated by the robotic MIDI percussion of the dadamachines automat toolkit. Watch this brilliant performance by the ensemble clipping., led by producers Jonathan Snipes and William Hutson, plus turntablist Kid Koala, on NPR’s Tiny Desk Concerts.

ZULI, as Swag Lee, turns Egyptian MP3 fragments into dizzying hip hop

It’s long past time to start talking about scenes in Egypt, Palestine, and elsewhere not just like some exotic foreign treat, but dead-center in the history of hip hop experimentation. ZULI casually drops his second Habibi Loops for free, and it utterly slaps. To quote one clip, “that’s sick, man — that’s dope.”

Peter Kirn - October 24, 2025

Public Enemy returns with an album and message right when it’s needed

Cmon, get down: Chuck D and Flavor Flav have resurfaced to deliver an all-Public Enemy album again, following the all-star guest appearances of their last outings. And they deliver a fiery critique of society, racist government, Big Tech, AI and chatbot love affairs, ageism, and the (CBS-owned) 1973 Yankees. But hip hop, OG hip hop, is here to save us, just like it saved those damned Yankees and the Bronx. This summer needed this release, and it’s right now pay-what-you-will on Bandcamp.

Peter Kirn - June 30, 2025

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