![]() Everything fit in its right place in the context of the album, and suddenly, nothing felt unfinished or overlooked but complete, complex, and provoking, urging me to listen over and over again. These songs were no longer stand-alone pieces to be embraced individually, but were now a part of something larger that was beginning to make sense. But those feelings changed as I began to listen to the album. Maybe this was the end of Death Grips pushing the boundaries of experimental hip-hop and twenty-first century music as a whole. Maybe I just didn't get it at the time––something many listeners suffer from. ![]() Maybe the least strong songs were leaked on purpose. They seemed hollow and anachronistic for where I thought Death Grips should be creatively at this point in their career. None of the songs really excited me all that much by themselves. As each new single was released before the album dropped, I found myself a little disappointed by each. The first video and single for the album, "Streaky" was released in May, followed by five other tracks in the weeks before the release, consisting of nearly half of the thirteen track, thirty-seven-minute album. At that point, the singles and their videos started hitting YouTube. Aside from the sparse social media updates and the social-feed-innundating excitement of "Death Grips is online" from fans, Death Grips remained relatively low-key in social-media feeds until a few weeks before the release. Heralded to the group’s followers through a feed of mysterious social media posts throughout the year that would span between the Steroids' release and YOTS, Death Grips revealed collaborations were ongoing with Shrek director Andrew Adamson (heard in the intro of "Dilemma"), Tool bassist Justin Chancellor (whose credits on the album still remain unclear), and turntablist DJ Swamp (who can be heard throughout the album scratching and cutting samples of previous Death Grips' releases). ![]() Production on YOTS was announced in a comment attached to the digital release of 2017's Steroids (Crouching Tiger Hidden Gabber Megamix) EP. With each new release, the Death Grips discography grew more and more complex with full instrumental albums, albums completely performed on Roland V-drums triggering Björk samples, and torrent leaked albums with cover art of an erect band member––not to mention the three full-lengths from Hill and Morin's side project, The I.L.Y's, in addition to the group's output. In the following years, Deaths Grips would break with both Epic and Warp Records, leak music for free despite contracts, release five more albums, produce endless amounts of videos, cancel tours, abandon shows, break up, reunite, and readjust their grip over their creative output. Smashing the mixtape scene with their self-released Ex-Military in 2011, Death Grips came to the attention of Epic Records, who would release their first major LP, The Money Store, in 2012. YOTS is riding the seven-year crest of Death Grips' confounding output. The flippant-nihilistic mentality and pummeling production techniques deployed by Death Grips on previous albums are still apparent, but they have been transformed into a more idiosyncratic yet refined incarnation that is instilled with Morin's production nuances, Burnett's maniacally syncopated lyricism, and profound performances and creative direction by Hill. An auditory flow runs through the album that creates a sense of unquestioned cohesion, each song somehow enmeshed with the next with no apparent segue. ![]() The album as a whole is filled with subtleties of self-sampling and mysterious collaborations. It sounds like Death Grips, obviously, but at the same time doesn't sound like what you'd expect, obviously. It is everything a Death Grips fan would expect, which is music that dodges categorization and presupposition. But despite the rumors, YOTS is able to meet, exceed, and break all of the skeins of hype fans swaddled the release in. By Ian Feigle ( Grips, the Sacramento-based experimental conglomeration of noise-rock drummer Zach Hill, producer Andy Morin (Flatlander), and artist Stefan Burnett (MC Ride), has released their sixth full length, Year of the Snitch ( YOTS), after two years of unchecked anticipation and message-board rumors.
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