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Digi_Kraken
Sep 4, 2011
In this thread we talk about Death Grips. Death Grips is awesome, and one my favorite new musical acts since the release of their first mixtape "Exmilitary" in 2011. I hope you like Death Grips too.



Okay, no bullshit: What's Death Grips?

Death Grips is, in a nutshell, what your 85 year old grandmother from Arkansas hears whenever you put on your favorite rap album in the car. To her, it's loud, obnoxious, vulgar, and strange. That is what Death Grips is like, except Death Grips is also high on meth and attacking you with a box-cutter.

The main vocalist is MC Ride, who some speculate is in his late 30's, while I believe he's at least 5 thousand years old and has been wandering the far places of the earth.



The drummer is Zach Hill, who is probably the most well-known member of the group due to his previous work on Hella.



So what do they sound like?

Their first release, Exmilitary, was a free EP put up in 2011. It's sound is loud, jarring, and addictive. It's pure anger and unrivaled fury quickly earned the attention of music review sites, who lauded it as unlike anything they'd heard before.

My favorite track off Exmilitary is probably Takyon, but the whole album is fantastic.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=89F5fpvwPr0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uiMtCJw_RVc


Their first studio album, The Money Store, is more harmonic, if you can believe such a thing, while still having the surge of berserker anger which brought them attention in the first place.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dCgxi-h1PoI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HIrKSqb4H4A


I love this group. How about you?

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emdash
Oct 19, 2003

and?
Surprising everyone, they signed a major label deal with Epic (I think) in 2012. Surprising no one, they got kicked off the label by releasing No Love/Deep Web (successor to The Money Store) before even letting the label hear it--with the only album art being a picture of the album title inscribed in Sharpie on someone's dick, no less.

I really love this group. Zach Hill has come up with some of the best beats in the past couple years and Ride is just an unbelievable force of sheer willpower.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bmoo3CHzjyY

this one gets me hyped up every time. The "i am the god of hellfire" sample is placed so perfectly. Also one of the weirdest "music videos" ever made.

emdash fucked around with this message at 15:07 on Apr 22, 2013

Digi_Kraken
Sep 4, 2011

TheQat posted:

Surprising everyone, they signed a major label deal with Epic (I think) in 2012. Surprising no one, they got kicked off the label by releasing No Love/Deep Web (successor to The Money Store) before even letting the label hear it--with a picture of the album title inscribed in Sharpie on someone's dick as the only album art, no less.

I really love this group.

There are a lot of rap groups that have the "I don't give a gently caress" motif, but I think Death Grips really, for all intents and purposes, truly does not give a gently caress.

THNDRTHF
Apr 14, 2004

so much for
bein' optimistic
Posting in a Radical Griff thread. Ground floor.

Doorknob Slobber
Sep 10, 2006

by Fluffdaddy
Hey thanks for posting this. I had heard this guy a couple years ago and the sound stuck with me even though the name didn't.

The Gunge
Aug 20, 2011
Is Death Grips angry and testosteronic enough to work out to? I think I've exhausted Waka Flocka Flame's entire catalog so I need something new to squat to.

e: regardless, I'm grabbing Exmilitary right now

Slackerish
Jan 1, 2007

Hail Boognish

The Gunge posted:

Is Death Grips angry and testosteronic enough to work out to? I think I've exhausted Waka Flocka Flame's entire catalog so I need something new to squat to.

e: regardless, I'm grabbing Exmilitary right now

Death Grips is maybe the best workout music ever created.

The Gunge
Aug 20, 2011

Slackerish posted:

Death Grips is maybe the best workout music ever created.

Nice. Tomorrow is arms day, I will report back with a Sick Pump Brah.

Automata 10 Pack
Jun 21, 2007

Ten games published by Automata, on one cassette
No poo poo, The Money Store is the first time in a long time that an album was an immediate masterpiece for me. Every song is goddamn incredible and dense and perfect and uuggggghhh so good. How can every song have an incredible hook? It's insane!

Automata 10 Pack fucked around with this message at 20:15 on Apr 22, 2013

Quantum of Phallus
Dec 27, 2010

I used to be mad into the Money Store, like listen to it every day but I think NLDW does the same but better. The track No Love has some of the best drumming I've heard in years.

Digi_Kraken
Sep 4, 2011

The Gunge posted:

Nice. Tomorrow is arms day, I will report back with a Sick Pump Brah.

Be careful if you get too into it you could easily go into a berserker frenzy and begin trying to eat the other gym-goers alive.

Automata 10 Pack
Jun 21, 2007

Ten games published by Automata, on one cassette

The Gunge posted:

Nice. Tomorrow is arms day, I will report back with a Sick Pump Brah.
The footage of the result (:nms:?):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aX_duVMQ-T8

Automata 10 Pack fucked around with this message at 22:47 on Apr 22, 2013

Optimum Gulps
Oct 6, 2003

You wanna save this place, right? And I want to destroy it. Brick by hypocritical brick.
That picture at the end of the OP contains probably my favorite lines in any hip-hop song ever (plus, the beat on that song is really interesting and minimal). So off the wall. I love me some Death Grips!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DCaUecZlnUQ

cheapandugly
Jul 6, 2007
I fell in love after hearing Guillotine. Several Death Grips tracks ended up on my workout playlist.

Get Innocuous!
Dec 6, 2011

come together

Radical Griff posted:

There are a lot of rap groups that have the "I don't give a gently caress" motif, but I think Death Grips really, for all intents and purposes, truly does not give a gently caress.

They also hyped No Love Deep Web by posting an alternate reality game on 4chan of all places. They take not giving a gently caress to an entirely new level.

Did That on Television
Nov 8, 2004
lemonparties with wippersnapper
I think black husserl nailed it in the hip-hop thread when he said death grips sound like saul williams' niggy tardust from 2007, which is what i thought too when i first heard them a couple weeks ago. i like them though, and don't get how people don't consider it hip-hop.

Digi_Kraken
Sep 4, 2011

Did That on Television posted:

I think black husserl nailed it in the hip-hop thread when he said death grips sound like saul williams' niggy tardust from 2007, which is what i thought too when i first heard them a couple weeks ago. i like them though, and don't get how people don't consider it hip-hop.

I admittedly have trouble categorizing them accurately, as do a lot of people. Clearly the closest relative of Death Grips is Hip-Hop, but especially on tracks like "Guillotine", there's something else to it. It's not quite metal, it's... I think it's just anger. Pure anger.

It really is honest to god one of those things you have to experience, you're unable to describe it. I had never heard any A$AP Rocky stuff before, but listening to Long. Live. A$AP., I knew exactly what I was getting into. It was great, sure, but nothing on it really shocked me. Death Grips always surprises me, even on my 100th listen.

Hidden Mother
Nov 12, 2012
Kind of mixed feelings on this band. After not being blown away by Exmilitary, The Money Store turned out to be my album of the year. Then NLDW dropped and really didn't do anything for me. Kind of underwhelmed by their live show as well, the sound lacked power for some reason and there was an oddly unpleasant overly testosterone-y vibe (This was the show where MC Ride pushed Miss Red from The Bug off stage, which didn't help).

Stupid Dick
May 25, 2004

I listened to The Money Store for the first time a few months ago and it's been on heavy rotation ever since. That album is amazing and easily one of my favorites in recent memory. Exmilitary is pretty good too, though I can't say I care very much for NLDW. I've only listened to the latter a couple of times though, so maybe it will grow on me.

Quantum of Phallus
Dec 27, 2010

I was the same with NLDW, I didn't like it that much on first listen and went back to TMS. But I've found that NLDW is like an evolution and stuff that sounded good on TMS is just improved somehow. It's weird. Both are great albums though.

Dangerous Person
Apr 4, 2011

Not dead yet
Death Grips was one of those concert experiences where I actually thought I was going to die at one point. I was front and center, getting rammed into the stage. For a good ten minutes I wound up laying in front of Zack's drums shirtless while MC Ride spazzed around a foot away from me.

Go see them if you have the chance.

Digi_Kraken
Sep 4, 2011

Dangerous Person posted:

Death Grips was one of those concert experiences where I actually thought I was going to die at one point. I was front and center, getting rammed into the stage. For a good ten minutes I wound up laying in front of Zack's drums shirtless while MC Ride spazzed around a foot away from me.

Go see them if you have the chance.

Moving to LA in Autumn I think, at the top of my to-do list.

nasboat
Sep 9, 2004

'Hacker' was one of the most hilariously quotable songs of 2012.

soon your crew will be serving sandwiches named after me

Digi_Kraken
Sep 4, 2011
Someone asked me why I liked Death Grips because "it sounds like someone gave a schizophrenic homeless man a microphone and played it over dialup tones" and I told them they answered their own question.

Drake Bate
Nov 2, 2011

Radical Griff posted:

Someone asked me why I liked Death Grips because "it sounds like someone gave a schizophrenic homeless man a microphone and played it over dialup tones" and I told them they answered their own question.

Someone - maybe it was Anthony Fantano, or maybe someone else - compared listening to Death Grips to joining a gang: you get beat up for the first few days, but once you're in, everything falls into place and becomes fine.

sellouts
Apr 23, 2003

Love this band recorded -- was not impressed live.

Their energy and anger were impressive, sure, but the performance as a whole was missing a lot of the nuances that kept me coming back to Money Store and NLDW.

Also if you're a fan of Money Store they played like 2 songs from it total. I'm not sure if this is representative of their live show as a whole or just the individual show I went to.

Digi_Kraken
Sep 4, 2011
I'd be satisfied if they just played Takyon on repeat for like 2 hours to be honest.

Hoisin Crispy Owl
Jan 1, 2010
Death Grips are on a tour right now in the UK, and I just got back from seeing them in Glasgow. It was just MC Ride and Flatlander - Zach Hill isn't there. Don't know why not, he hasn't quit the band or anything, but it was just as good. Very loud, very intense, and they played a little bit of everything. I wish they would release more music soon, I don't think their three records are enough for me right now!

Overbite
Jan 24, 2004


I'm a vtuber expert
I like Death Grips but from what I've seen of their live shows it doesn't do it for me. Not a fan of them just rapping and drumming over the album. I'd rather they do the entire song live.

I could rap over the album right here at the computer but I'm not gonna.

Drake Bate
Nov 2, 2011

Hoisin Crispy Owl posted:

Death Grips are on a tour right now in the UK, and I just got back from seeing them in Glasgow. It was just MC Ride and Flatlander - Zach Hill isn't there. Don't know why not, he hasn't quit the band or anything, but it was just as good. Very loud, very intense, and they played a little bit of everything. I wish they would release more music soon, I don't think their three records are enough for me right now!

Zach and Flatty have been alternating on their live shows over the past 6 months. The rumor is that the three members aren't allowed to all be on stage at the same time, or Epic records will sue the hell out of them, and I guess they can't really sub out MC Ride.

the black husserl
Feb 25, 2005

Drake Bate posted:

Someone - maybe it was Anthony Fantano, or maybe someone else - compared listening to Death Grips to joining a gang: you get beat up for the first few days, but once you're in, everything falls into place and becomes fine.

I dunno, I don't think rap rock is really that inaccessible of a sound. Maybe if you're never listened to harsh music at all before.

Hoisin Crispy Owl
Jan 1, 2010

Drake Bate posted:

Zach and Flatty have been alternating on their live shows over the past 6 months. The rumor is that the three members aren't allowed to all be on stage at the same time, or Epic records will sue the hell out of them, and I guess they can't really sub out MC Ride.

Ah, I had heard an alternate rumour that Zach wasn't allowed to leave the US for legal reasons. The record label poo poo makes much more sense, however. What is the situation there? They were dropped by the label but they're still being sued for leaking their own album right?

Whorelord
May 1, 2013

Jump into the well...

nasboat posted:

'Hacker' was one of the most hilariously quotable songs of 2012.

soon your crew will be serving sandwiches named after me

teaching bitches how to swim.

I've been on a Death Grips binge for about a month or so now, but I can't get into No Love/Deep Web aside from Hunger Games and Come Up and Get Me. It's like Ex-Military but without the interesting samples. Pleh.

WASDF
Jul 29, 2011

I like to call 'em Punk-Rap or something. I'm working on it.

Whorelord
May 1, 2013

Jump into the well...

I listen to Ex-Military in the same way I would a noise-rock album rather than I would a rap album, personally.

apophenium
Apr 14, 2009
I'm glad I got in on the ground floor with Death Grips. It was really exciting hearing Ex-Military and then finding out they had two albums in the pipeline for 2012. And then those two albums ended up being some of my favorites of that year. I'm guessing they've been blacklisted by pretty much every label, but they probably wouldn't want to gently caress with a label again. I do hope they'll continue to put out stuff though. Ex-Military, The Money Store, and No Love Deep Web kind of feels like a complete arc so it'll be interesting to see where they go from there. Honestly I wouldn't be too surprised if they split up.

emdash
Oct 19, 2003

and?
Zach Hill, at least, seems committed to the band or the type of music. In interviews he seems more interested in staying in this field than going back to something like Hella. Even if DG did split I bet we'd get some similar project as a result.

Smucked
Oct 11, 2012
So happy you made this thread! Personally no love is my favorite album by them.

COME UP AND GET MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEe

Quantum of Phallus
Dec 27, 2010

Kinda glad I didn't see them live if Hill wasn't there, his drumming is a highlight for me.

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Whorelord
May 1, 2013

Jump into the well...

Don't they do some weird Skype thing? Or was that just at SXSW?

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