- HudMo makes an ecstatic soundtrack for the end of the world on this dazzling firework of a new LP.
- Back in 2013, Hudson Mohawke's career was at a crossroads. The rise of TNGHT—his explosive collaborative project with Lunice—coincided with production work for heavyweights like Drake, Kanye West and A$AP Rocky, who were unearthing him in the mainstream as the sound of hip-hop's future. With droves of imitators repackaging the brass-heavy electro-trap of TNGHT—for years, so many songs in advertisements sounded like "Higher Ground" knockoffs—the sudden limelight came with the risk of him being pigeonholed into a moment in time. Larger industry problems, including not getting paid for his beats, didn't help either, so much so that in an interview with Pitchfork before the release of 2015's Lantern LP, HudMo was hesitant to even mention the word rap. On Cry Sugar, his first LP in seven years, he finally comes into his own with a timeless, inimitable sound that subverts the idea of a trend in the first place.
In spite of his association with hip-hop, Mohawke has never kept his original love—happy hardcore—a secret. In a profile for DJ Mag he once proclaimed that "music like happy hardcore is very direct and pure, an expression of joy. Who the fuck is anyone to say that something that evokes the human emotion of joy is cheesy, or not cool?"
Euphoria has always been HudMo's trade, and the relentless hyper energy of Cry Sugar taps into that feeling more than ever before. The buzz on some of these tracks borders on insanity. "Nork 69" features luminous, rushing top lines and rattling trap drums, while the gleeful gem "Bicstan" whisks happy hardcore, acid house and an ethereal vocal sample into a concoction that could only be described as lightning in a bottle. Off-beat stabs and Mohawke's signature overdriven kicks are ever present, making tracks like "Intentions" shudder with distortion and enough propulsion to wreak havoc on any unsuspecting dance floor—with all the familiar HudMo tics to delight long-time fans.
Instead of a record full of festival jams, however, Cry Sugar is more fussy and introspective. According to the album rollout, Mohawke was influenced by "apocalyptic film scores and soundtracks" while making Cry Sugar, and the result is some of the most intimate and grandiose music he's ever produced. It's apocalyptic in a, "We've tried our best to stop it, but the asteroid is going to land anyway. Let's all hold hands and watch the impact" kind of way.
The dazzlingly epic opener "Ingle Nook" trembles with orchestral energy: piano keys twinkle away while a mushroom cloud of booming drums takes centre stage. This is goosebump-inducing stuff. The instantly memorable "Stump," with its overblown brass blasts and surging well of whirring synths, draws from the likes of Vangelis and the major chord spectacle of '90s John Williams. On the other end of the spectrum, "KPIPE" could double as the soundtrack to first contact with some alien lifeform. Groany synths chirp and erode against one another for the most tense and unnerving moment on the album.
On the other hand, Cry Sugar is full of soul samples that brim with passion and praise. Sometimes it feels like they're leaving the speakers to address you personally, adding a syrupy embellishment to the music. In these moments you can hear what hip-hop artists like Kanye West saw in Mohawke back then—the push-and-pull from chaos to serenity on tracks like "3 Sheets To The Wind" is Yeezus-like in its disregard for conventional structure. A crooning sample singing "cry, sugar" is subbed in and out between sections of booming trap until they finally decide to co-exist in the outro. "Bow" begins with more soul and then leaps into glitch-hop, jerking, squeaking and stuttering its way to an approving stankface.
Described as HudMo's "own demented OST to score the twilight of our cultural meltdown," Cry Sugar is aware that we’re living in an existential impasse. Global warming, political polarization and the newly present threat of nuclear war signal a civilisation at its wits end, while, at the same time, the attention economy and rise of direct-to-consumer brands makes for an endless supply of new pleasures and distractions. The shape of the music mirrors this resulting state: a hedonistic frenzy where explosive ideas come and go like old and new trends blasting off and fizzling out.
At the same time, moments like "KPIPE" reveal something darker lurking beneath all of this excess. HudMo's image of someone "crying sugar" embodies the contradictory nature of our current moment: pain and pleasure blending into something uncanny—suffering being commodified at the exact moment it's expressed. The unbridled joy and grimy undertones evoke the image of Rome while Nero was Caesar, who infamously "played a lyre while the city burned." HudMo's definitive solo effort sees him re-emerge not as a jack but a master of all trades, fusing soul, jazz, happy hardcore and dance into vibrant, technicolor explosions of sound that succinctly capture the mood of our time in all its fitful glory and pain.
Tracklist01. Ingle Nook
02. Intentions
03. Expo
04. Behold
05. Bicstan
06. Stump
07. Dance Forever
08. Bow
09. Is It Supposed
10. Lonely Days
11. Redeem
12. Rain Shadow
13. KPIPE
14. 3 Sheets To The Wind
15. Some Buzz
16. Tincture
17. Nork 69
18. Come A Little Closer
19. Ingle Nook Slumber