Album Review - Death Grips: The Money Store

Death Grips
The Money Store
Rating: Woof Daddy

Sacramento, California rap/punk/noise trio Death Grips burst out of thin air last year with the excellent mixtape Exmilitary, which found its way onto many best of lists. I enjoyed it and appreciated it, but the sheer aggression and brutality of it all left me a little cold and unwilling to fully embrace it. Since its release, the trio, made up of Stefan Burnett aka MC Ride (vocals), Zach Hill (production / drums), and Andy Morin aka Flatlander (production), has signed a major label deal with Epic records, gone on tour (with celebrated sets at Coachella), and have now released the first of two planned albums, The Money Store. Moving to a major label has not effected Death Grips' vision and sound much, if at all. There are no high stakes producers, pop sheen, or collaborations with Nicki Minaj or some other singer/rapper. Basically it is a logical progression from Exmilitary, retaining the bleak world view and intense sonic production, but sounding more expansive, and hookier/catchier. Not that these are mainstream/pop tracks; they just have more to them that brings you back again and again.

Single "I've Seen Footage" references Salt N' Pepa's "Push It" via a head-bobbing drum loop, and breathless voice samples. The song is driven by what appears to be a droning guitar line, which turns out to be a keyboard. MC Ride ruthlessly chants the lyrics about the over-saturation of media images and its ultimate desensitization of society.



"Get Got" ping pongs the title words over and over into a mantra, over a classically dense Bomb Squad-esque production of clattering percussion and loops and a dizzying whirl of strobe light synth effects.



"The Fever (Aye Aye)" builds off a brutally aggressive bed of pounding drums and air rain siren synths, leveling off with catchy synth lines.



"Hacker" sounds like Nitzer Ebb overtaken by a band of martial drummers.



"Punk Weight" adds a Bollywood sample to the dense sonic collage, making almost a punk M.I.A. track.



The production of the record is what ultimately sells it for me. The tracks are usually built on a few drum loops and live percussion, adding sometimes minimal keyboard lines or guitar here or there, sometimes layering more and more sounds until it feels like the tracks are going to explode. It is a testament to the production team that, while sometimes things appear ready to spill over, it generally stays on track. Each track feels thick and tangible. The drums especially make each track, dragging the listener kicking and screaming deep inside the maelstrom. From a lyrical/rap standpoint, it is very similar to their work on Exmilitary, the tracks very paranoid and distrustful, violent and brutal, and overall bleak and nihilistic. MC Ride is obviously portraying a character whose world sees no light; there is always something to distrust coming around the corner. This bleakness, which so overwhelmed Exmilitary, is tempered on The Money Store by a much broader sonic palate and diversity of sound.

Truly the only missteps on the record are where the tracks ditch any attempt at a hook and merely become a screed. "Fuck That"'s off-kilter percussive bed, chanted voice samples, and atonal delivery never achieves the lift off a track with that name needs.



Likewise, "System Blower" has all the right elements, harsh drum patterns, abrasive synth tones, and a brutally over the top vocal delivery, but there is just a slight lack of a hook to lock you into the fray.



But out of 13 tracks, it is fairly impressive that only two were merely interesting and not knockouts, and with most of the tracks hovering around the 3 minute mark, you are off to the next track pretty quickly. It is hard to say that The Money Store is an era defining hip-hop record as some are calling it because the record doesn't fit itself neatly into any category. Experimental hip-hop/punk/noise is about as close a definition to get, but it still leaves out so many other influences and references. The Money Store is an aggressive, take-it-or-leave-it record that will either give you an intense high or will bitch slap you to the curb, all the while making no apologies.

Rating Scale:

Chilfos: masterpiece; coolest thing I've heard in ages.

Woof Daddy: excellent; just a hair away from being a masterpiece.

Grrrr: very good; will definitely be considered for my top releases of the year.

Yeah Daddy Make Me Want It: good; definitely invites further listens and piques one's interest for more material.

Meh: not horrible, but certainly not great; could have either been polished, trimmed, or re-thought.

Jeez Lady: what the hell happened? Just plain bad. They should hang their heads in shame and be forced to listen to Lady Gaga ad nauseam as penance.

Tragicistani: so bad, armed villagers with pitchforks and torches should run the artist out of the country for inflicting this abomination on the human race.