''Cry Sugar'' is the third studio album by

Hudson Mohawke Ross Matthew Birchard (born 11 February 1986), better known by the stage name Hudson Mohawke, is a Scottish-American producer, composer, and DJ from Glasgow. He is known for his influential work in 21st century hip-hop and electronic music. A ...

, the alias of Scottish musician Ross Birchard. It was released on 12 August 2022 on

Warp Records Warp Records (or simply Warp) is a British independent record label founded in Sheffield in 1989 by record store employees Steve Beckett and Rob Mitchell and record producer Robert Gordon.Southern, Richard (2003) "Label of Love: WARP", X-RAY, A ...

. It has received generally favorable critical reviews.

Background

''Cry Sugar'' is Birchard's first album of new material since his 2016 soundtrack for the video game ''

Watch Dogs 2 ''Watch Dogs 2'' (stylized as ''WATCH_DOGS 2'') is a 2016 action-adventure game developed by Ubisoft Montreal and published by Ubisoft. It is the sequel to 2014's ''Watch Dogs'' and the second installment in the ''Watch Dogs'' series. It was ...

''. In a press release, Birchard described the album as influenced by "American decadence" and the "apocalyptic film scores" of artists such as

Vangelis Evangelos Odysseas Papathanassiou ( el, Ευάγγελος Οδυσσέας Παπαθανασίου ; 29 March 1943 – 17 May 2022), known professionally as Vangelis ( ; el, Βαγγέλης, links=no ), was a Greek composer and arranger of ...

and

John Williams John Towner Williams (born February 8, 1932)Nylund, Rob (15 November 2022)Classic Connection review ''WBOI'' ("For the second time this year, the Fort Wayne Philharmonic honored American composer, conductor, and arranger John Williams, who wa ...

Gospel Gospel originally meant the Christian message ("the gospel"), but in the 2nd century it came to be used also for the books in which the message was set out. In this sense a gospel can be defined as a loose-knit, episodic narrative of the words an ...

and

soul In many religious and philosophical traditions, there is a belief that a soul is "the immaterial aspect or essence of a human being". Etymology The Modern English noun ''soul'' is derived from Old English ''sāwol, sāwel''. The earliest attes ...

samples feature on much of the album, a quality rooted in Birchard's admiration for the tradition of hip-hop producers including

DJ Premier Christopher Edward Martin (born March 21, 1966), known professionally as DJ Premier (also known as Preemo), is an American record producer and DJ. He is considered one of the greatest hip hop producers of all time. He was half of the hip hop duo ...

Pete Rock Peter O. Phillips (born June 21, 1970), better known by his stage name Pete Rock, is an American record producer, DJ and rapping, rapper. He is widely recognized as one of the greatest hip hop producers of all time, and is often mentioned alongs ...

, and

Just Blaze Justin Gregory Smith (born January 8, 1978), known professionally as Just Blaze, is an American hip hop record producer and DJ. Born in Paterson, New Jersey, Blaze attended Rutgers University for three years before dropping out to pursue his m ...

Chad Hugo Charles Edward Hugo (born February 24, 1974) is an American record producer, multi-instrumentalist, singer and songwriter. With close friend Pharrell Williams, he formed the production duo the Neptunes in the early 1990s, with whom he has prod ...

the Neptunes The Neptunes are an American songwriting and production duo composed of Pharrell Williams and Chad Hugo, formed in Virginia Beach, Virginia, in 1992. Williams often provides additional vocals on records and appears in the duo's music videos, ...

contributed to the track "Redeem." The track "Stump" was inspired by

Max Richter Max Richter (; ; born 22 March 1966) is a German-born British composer and pianist. He works within postminimalist and contemporary classical styles. Richter is classically trained, having graduated in composition from the University of Edinbur ...

's "On the Nature of Daylight," heard in the soundtrack of ''

Shutter Island ''Shutter Island'' is a novel by American writer Dennis Lehane, published by HarperCollins in April 2003. It is about a U.S. Marshal who goes to an isolated hospital for the criminally insane to investigate the disappearance of a patient who is ...

'' (2010). The cover artwork by Willehad Eilers depicts a debauched scene featuring the

Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man The Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man, also known as Mr. Stay-Puft, is a fictional character from the Ghostbusters (franchise), ''Ghostbusters'' franchise, who sometimes appears as a giant, lumbering and paranormal monster. He first appears in the 1984 '' ...

in a thong. A

music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a m ...

for the single "Bicstan" was directed by

Patti Harrison Patti Harrison (born October 31, 1990) is an American actress and comedian. She is best known for her roles in comedy series such as '' Shrill'' (2019–2021) and ''I Think You Should Leave with Tim Robinson'' (2019–present), as well as the c ...

and Alan Resnick. Visuals for the "Megamix" and "Stump" releases were made by an artist named kingcon2k11.

Critical reception

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

, which assigns a weighted average score out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, ''Cry Sugar'' received an average score of 79, based on 7 reviews, indicating "generally favourable reviews." Louis Torracinta of '' Clash'' suggested the album "may take the cake for

dance Dance is a performing art form consisting of sequences of movement, either improvised or purposefully selected. This movement has aesthetic and often symbolic value. Dance can be categorized and described by its choreography, by its repertoir ...

record of the year," adding that it "pulls from everywhere, all at once, swimming in the old and celebrating ecstatically the new." David Renshaw of ''

The Fader ''The Fader'' (stylized as ''FADER'') is a magazine based in New York City that was launched in 1999 by Rob Stone and Jon Cohen. The magazine covers music, style and culture. It was the first print publication to be released on iTunes. It is o ...

'' stated that Birchard's "love of the wildly high BPM club sound of

hardcore Hardcore, hard core or hard-core may refer to: Arts and media Film * ''Hardcore'' (1977 film), a British comedy film * ''Hardcore'' (1979 film), an American crime drama film starring George C Scott * ''Hardcore'' (2001 film), a British documen ...

is blended with soulful gospel samples and epic movie-score landscapes to create a project that's irreverent, yet moving and hypnotic as well." Alexis Petridis of ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' stated that "there’s an edge-of-chaos tone to ''Cry Sugar'', an album on which almost every sound fizzes with distortion and the music occasionally sounds on the verge of collapse." Gaby Wood of ''

Resident Advisor ''Resident Advisor'' (also known as ''RA'') is an online music magazine and community platform dedicated to showcasing electronic music, artists and events across the globe. It was established in 2001. ''RA''s editorial team provides news, musi ...

'' called the album Birchard's "definitive solo effort" which "sees him re-emerge not as a jack but a master of all trades, fusing soul, jazz,

happy hardcore Happy hardcore, also known as 4-beat or happycore, is a subgenre of hardcore dance music or "hard dance". It emerged both from the UK breakbeat hardcore rave scene, and Belgian, German and Dutch hardcore techno scenes in the early 1990s. H ...

and dance into vibrant, technicolor explosions of sound that succinctly capture the mood of our time in all its fitful glory and pain."

Track listing

All tracks produced by

, except "Redeem", co-produced with

, and "Kpipe", co-produced with Káryyn. Notes * "Kpipe" is stylised in all caps. Sample credits * "Intentions" contains a sample of "I Pray", performed by Copyright, featuring

Imaani Imaani Saleem (born Melonie Crosdale on 1 January 1972) is an English singer, best known for representing the United Kingdom at the Eurovision Song Contest 1998 in Birmingham with the song "Where Are You". The song placed second in the contest, ...

. * "Behold" contains a sample of "For Your Glory", performed by

Tasha Cobbs Natasha Tameika Cobbs Leonard (born July 7, 1981) is an American gospel musician and songwriter. She released the extended play ''Grace'' in 2013 with the hit lead single "Break Every Chain". The EP reached No. 61 on the ''Billboard'' charts. ...

. * "Redeem" contains a sample of "Redeemed", performed by Rev. Gerald Thompson. * "3 Sheets to the Wind" contains a sample of "Cry Sugar", performed by Dyson's Faces. * "Some Buzz" contains samples of "God Has Smiled On Me", performed by Rev. James Cleveland, and "I Think I Am In Love With You", performed by Wee.

Personnel

Credits adapted from official liner notes.

Musicians

* Ross Birchard – instruments , production , additional keys * Cid Rim – additional drums * Yasmeen Al-Mazeedi – strings , additional strings *

Kwes Kwes (; sometimes stylised as ''kwes'', ''kwes.'', ''Kwes.'' or '' =o'' ) is a British music producer and artist from London, England. Kwes is also currently signed to Warp as a solo artist and released his debut album, ''ilp'' in October 2013. ...

– piano * Rett Smith – guitar *

Johan Lenox Stephen Michael Feigenbaum, known professionally as Johan Lenox, is an American singer, rapper, composer and producer. His musical style is derived from trap music, combining elements of hip hop, pop and classical music. He began gaining attentio ...

– string arrangement * Rag n Bone Broth Man – accordion * L. Ron Weasley – additional triangle * Jamaica Elrahar – vocals * Girth, Wind & Fire – percussion *

Mette Towley Mette Towley is an American dancer and actress. Early life and education Towley was born in Owatonna, Minnesota, and raised in Severn, Maryland and Alexandria, Minnesota.

– vocals * Clarence Coffee Jr – vocals * Dj JeffMillsShoes – scratches *

Tayla Parx Taylor is a unisex given name mainly in use in English-speaking countries, including England and Wales, Scotland, Ireland, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. The name Taylor also has been well used for characters on American and now some Australi ...

– additional vocal FX , vocals * Eli Teplin – additional keys *

Tkay Maidza Takudzwa Victoria Rosa "Tkay" Maidza ( ; born 17 December 1995) is a Zimbabwean-born Australian singer-songwriter and rapper. Biography Maidza was born in Harare, Zimbabwe. Her parents are metallurgists. In 2001, her family moved to Australia ...

– vocals *

– production , additional keys * Ayatollah Hogmanay – flexatone * Káryyn – production , vocals * Jonty Chapeau – guiro *

Sasha Alex Sloan Alexandra Artourovna Yatchenko (russian: Александра Артуровна Ятченко; born March 11, 1995), known professionally as Sasha Alex Sloan (previously Sasha Sloan), is an American singer-songwriter. Her debut album, ''Only ...

– vocals

Technical

* Ross Birchard – mixing * Austin Seltzer – mixing * Joker – mixing , mastering

Charts

References

External links

* {{Authority control 2022 albums Warp (record label) albums Hudson Mohawke albums Albums produced by Hudson Mohawke