Death Grips: The Internet band of the 21st century

Imagine you merged the abnormal and crass parts of the Internet together with the high-level intellect that it also has to offer. With that in mind, you get Death Grips, a new experimental/industrial rap group from Sacramento, California, combining elements of punk, noise, hip-hop and rave. It consists of vocalist Stefan Burnett (a.k.a. MC Ride) and the production team of Zach Hill and Andy Morin. Their latest album, The Money Store, was released on April 24 through the major label, Epic. This followed their critically acclaimed debut mix tape Exmilitary, which was released for free on the band’s web site exactly a year earlier. Their next album, No Love, is set to be released this fall.

Zach Hill, who is most well-known for his work with the noise math rock band Hella, is a fairly successful self-taught drummer. Although mostly recognized for his advanced technical playing, Hill strips away most of his sound, creating a lo-fi sound. Andy Morin, who is responsible for the keyboards, synths and other effects, creates beats that definitely add to the lo-fi sound, but further develops a frenzied yet invigorating atmosphere. The low quality of such effects and samples give the feeling that they were ripped from a Youtube video.

There is an inherent crunchiness, distortion and glitchiness that pulsates through every song. The song “Punk Weight” from The Money Store starts with a Bollywood vocal sample that then gets manipulated and eventually turns into a cacophony of noise and obnoxiousness. “Culture Shock” from “Exmilitary” transports you to what feels like the underworld of the Internet, with a mechanical vocal sample constantly reminding you to “vibrate higher.” Another one from The Money Store, “I’ve Seen Footage,” starts with a deranged and sickly synth (or guitar?) sound that drives the song as MC Ride raps about the pandemonium of life.

This leads us to the rapping, if we can even call it that. While at times tame, fitting a more traditional rapping style, Mr. Burnett usually goes on what is better described as outrageous rants concerning pop culture and just the sheer randomness of society. Just reading and/or hearing the lyrics, you feel like you are traversing through a sea of vocal garbage (i.e. I got this pregnant snake/ stay surrounded by long hairs/ a plethora of maniacs/ and spiral stairs/ make your water break/ in the apple store). The chorus from that very song, “Hacker,” is the loud repetitive chanting “I’M IN YOUR AREA.” Being the last song on “The Money Store,” it is the culmination of the fact that this album is literally all up in your space, both aurally and mentally.

From the beats to the lyrics, it will probably in some way offend you just due to the unstable nature of this material. Just look at their album artwork, especially for The Money Store (very NSFW material). At the same time, there is an inherent catchiness to these songs; it feeds to your basic primitive feelings. In the end, it isn’t all juvenile. It is a “friendly” reminder to you that our seemingly civil society has its small outbursts of “savageness.” Death Grips are just present to highlight said outbursts.