Death Grips is a bit of a turn for this site, but for those of you who know me, it's right in my wheel house of weird. I was turned on to this crew earlier this year through a review of a live show in which references to Dalek and Oxbow were thrown around. Color me intrigued. Add to that Hella's Zach Hill's involvment, yes please! The Money Store was my first listen and I was not disappointed. Glitchy, claustrophobic, incredibly raw, and beyond confrontational, Death Grips create not so much a piece of music as they do a manifesto at 120-160bpm. With Stefan "MC Ride" Burrnett's delivery, it's easy to see the comparisons to Oxbow's Eugene Robinson and hip hop luminary Saul Williams. Simply unhinged, unencumbered, and potentially dangerous.
So needless to say, I was more than stoked when the band themselves leaked their new album NO LOVE DEEP WEB. "Claiming" that their label, Epic..yeah they're signed to Epic Records, pushed back the release to an undisclosed date, the crew reacted. Blasting it all over the interwebs, posting full streams on youtube and multiple file sharing site, Death Grips made sure everyone knew that zero fucks are given! Whether you choose to believe that this was a defiant act or a well orchestrated campaign to build up their fan base, (Epic has made no statement regarding leak nor have they tried to take down any of their posts) it worked. Having listened to this album several times now, I can say with the utmost certainty, NO LOVE DEEP WEB is no easy listen. It is just as raw, abrasive, and challenging as their previous work. The "recorded in a bedroom" aesthetic makes this knife fight of an album sound almost intimate at the same time. I also love how this band, to me, are like the hip hop equivalent of a black metal band. No concern for the outside world or any particular trend, bucking conformity to capture the purest form of their very specific world view. They are wholly not concerned with what any one thinks.
While I encourage all to experience Death Grips, I don't expect everybody to like this immediately. Admittedly, with each of their releases, it's taken me a few spins to really get into. But once you find yourself in their head space, you'll find it difficult to leave.
No physical copies yet, but go here to buy other Death Grips stuff!
