Death Grips grabs attention again

Death Grips isn’t exactly a group that is set to please anyone.

If anything, it honestly doesn’t seem to care how many people it can aggravate or offend. Despite providing two of their three releases for free on the Internet (“Exmilitary” was a mixtape; “No Love Deep Web” was leaked last year), they also have become notorious for not only causing drama with labels by leaking material illegally (their previous scuffle and drop from Epic last year is a whole story in itself), but for cancelling performances and pulling no-shows. During their tour this year, Death Grips decided to not show up during the summer shows, instead putting up a “performance art display.” This “performance” consisted of decoy gear set up with their music being played over the house speakers and a projector displaying an e-mailed copy of some Death Grips fan’s suicide note. When this happened at their performance at Lollapalooza, it, naturally, infuriated many people. Death Grips then cancelled almost every performance date of their tour, revealing that they had planned not to even show up to any of those dates.

So with that in mind, it came somewhat out of nowhere when Death just leaked the LP “Government Plates” on their Facebook page last Wednesday, Nov. 13. It wasn’t surprising that they released another album for free online; that isn’t new territory for them. What was surprising was that they didn’t have a label to vex. Back in May 2013, Death Grips announced the launch of their own label, Thirdworlds. It would be an imprint within Harvest/Capitol records and find distribution through Caroline Records. They also announced that a new album was in the works, with a tentative 2014 release date.

There is no word yet whether “Plates” is that new album that was to be released next year, or if it was the soundtrack for the movie drummer Zach Hill was writing and directing over the summer. Whatever the case, until they release another album, plan a tour and then subsequently cancel or hear an announcement from Capitol about Death Grips violating their contract in some manner, we have “Plates” to enjoy for now.

Considering their discography, Death Grips doesn’t cover new ground, so if you didn’t get into them before, “Plates” won’t help. While it doesn’t have all of the emotional rawness of “Exmilitary,” the catchiness of “The Money Store” or the intense anger of “No Love Deep Web,” “Plates” finds a successful balance between the three. The lyrics and rapping concerning the chaos and anger present within the civilized, yet savage, society of the twenty-first century, are as present as ever. The production is superb and very diverse, creating rhythms and melodies that perfectly match the paranoid message of the lyrics. The drums this time, though, sound like they were recorded entirely on a real drum set, instead of the electronic drum sound they used for previous releases. This definitely adds a more primitive feel to the already “untamed” music.

Despite the uncomfortable vibes, the beats have quite a drive to them, that either give it a dance-inducing groove (“Feels Like a Wheel,” “Government Plates”), or a dynamic progression of energy that helps propel the song forward in an invigorating way (“Two Heavens,” “This is Violence Now (Don’t Get Me Wrong)”). Death Grips starts the album off with a really aggressive metal-rap song (“You Might Think He Loves You for Your Money ... ”), but then interestingly ends with a song that frenetically switches between a cacophony of arpeggiated notes, synth pads, vocals, bass and drums to industrial-influenced ambient synth lines with passive drum patterns. It is as Death Grips flip-flops between flashes of anger and weary insanity, having gone through an album already expressing so much emotion.

This change across the album can be heard as the tracks go from intensely angry to relatively crazy. The track “Birds” is what marks the transition from frustration to craziness, truly highlighting the confusion brought about by their perceptions of society; this is probably one of their stranger songs I’ve ever heard, consisting of bizarre vocal and instrument samples over very offbeat and unsteady drumming. The change throughout the album seems to portray the sense of paranoia that creeps up over time with extreme exasperation.

Even though this album shows the Death Grips that we already know and “love” (used in the loosest terms) and doesn’t show them venturing far (even though this material is still considered to be pretty “out there”), this is still a quality release on their part. Additionally, this is probably one of the better hip-hop albums to come out since Danny Brown’s “OLD.” So enjoy Government Plates before Death Grips inevitably offends you in some manner.