Have you ever heard a piece of music so dope it actually made you mad that it was so good? A song so ill it made you scrunch up your face and loudly pronounce threats of physical violence to no one in particular? Perhaps this sort of visceral reaction to quality musicianship is just what you need to enliven your day? Well, get ready to put your screwface on son, ’cause I’ve got the prefect record for you!
Hopefully you remember the artist responsible for this maddeningly masterful work, a mysterious musician named Clutchy Hopkins, from a Blogarhythm about him last Spring. If so you should recall that Mr. Hopkins is allegedly a one-man-band who retired to a life of seclusion after his life’s work went unsung, but has returned to the music industry that neglected him after having his “lost tapes” rediscovered by groove-hungry youngsters. Thanks in large part to this fanciful yarn, not to mention the eccentric appearance of the man depicted in his promotional photos, the veracity of Clutchy’s back-story and the true nature of his identity have been the subject of rampant speculation. Bloggers across the internets have put forth theories identifying DJ Shadow, the Beastie Boys, Money Mark, Madlib, MF Doom and Cut Chemist as possible candidates for the “real” Clutchy. I’ve corresponded with someone identifying themselves as the genuine article myself and still have no idea who the guy really is. All I know is that he has some funky handwriting, and he’s one of the baddest motherfuckers making music right now!
Since my last write-up on the man he’s come out of “hiding” (there are ostensibly “new” photos of him on his MySpace page) and inked a deal (through his shadowy “representatives”) with Ubiquity Records to release an album’s worth of new tunes titled Walking Backwards. The disc, which drops February 5th, picks up where his debut, The Life of Clutchy Hopkins, left off; in a dark, smoke-filled locale where the hard-grooving, break-driven “fusion” sound of the ’60s and ’70s is living, and not as a curiosity relegated to dusty dollar bins. Almost entirely instrumental, the set features lusciously orchestrated strings, guitar, piano, organ, electric piano, synths, flutes, melodica, and percussion playing what sound like secret samples from never-before-released beats by the RZA, Madlib and Mobb Deep’s Havoc (”Song for Wolfie,” “3rd Element,” “Horny Tickle,” “Percy on the One”) over neck-snappingly raw drums. There is one vocal track though, a somewhat sinister-sounding ode to femininity called “Love of a Woman” featuring the talents of new labelmate Darondo, himself a forgotten master of “the Funk” who was recently “rediscovered.”
Clutchy Hopkins - “Love of a Woman” featuring Darondo
With the addition of a string-section, synthesizers, more exotic instrumentation, vocals, and experimentation with a more “proggy,” almost psychedelic Rock-influenced sound on cuts like “Rocktober,” “Alla Oscar” and “Last Time for Your Mind,” Walking Backwards doesn’t just retread territory covered on the first Clutchy LP. And while it certainly doesn’t answer any of the questions surrounding his identity it helps establish him (whoever he is) and his music as something more relevant than relic.
- El Keter