3 out of 5

Produced by: Death Grips

Label: Epic

I like Death Grips.  But I like them now, when I have several albums of material from which to select, as the full album experience – to my ears – is rather hit or miss, though, it should be said of The Money Store, never uninteresting.

I state, as usual, my ears, but I’d like to underline that this time; in the wake of scene bluster and label-baiting controversy (as in: baiting their label, Epic, with controversy) and then reading the Allmusic review, I put on the disc and have to ask: Really?  There’s a lot going on here, to he sure, but maybe there’s not all that much going on.  Stefan Burnett’s foul-mouthed dense stutter certainly carries an inherent threat, and producer Andy Morin and Hella-madman Zach Hill know how to whip blast beats and electronics into some edge between crackling boombox-bass streetside jams and industrial menace.  As relatively groovy Get Got leads into the eye-gouging single The Fever, you’re absolutely sitting up to attention, something the group maintains through several equally fist-pumping tracks.  But maybe when Push It redo I’ve Seen Footage lands, it gives pause: What’s the intention here?  The nabbed beat makes the track feel tongue in cheek, and then the sort of generic rave-up lingo (System Blower) and shrug-worthy crassness (Fuck That) stand out not for being particularly notable, but for how they might just be fronting attitude.  Burnett’s drawl can be difficult to sift through, but when I do, the majority of it doesn’t amount to much.

So take a step back: What is Death Grips?  And at the point of The Money Store, I’m inclined to call it a performance.  It’s an impressive one, no doubt, and appearing under its guise of hostility, perhaps a transgressive one.  But the beat comes first.  Strip away the attitude and you’ve got some smartly catchy singles here, and on that the allmusic review and I agree.  However, I think there’s a smarter use of all this talent, one that’s a bit more forefront with its intentions, I suppose, and I do think that’s something the group fiddled with tapping into on subsequent releases.

So I imagine a world where I only had these 13 Death Grips tracks to judge (not knowing of their two prior releases, of course), and I’m not sure I would’ve known how to appreciate them.  While my resultant opinion is still to consider the album average, I’m glad I’ve got married re reflect on to appreciate the kind of subversive party jamz the group executed here.