Death Grips
Death Grips is an American experimental hip hop group formed in 2010 in Sacramento, California. The group consists of producers Zach Hill (drums) and Andy Morin (keyboards), and vocalist Stefan Burnett, also known as MC Ride.[1] Though he is not the group's frontman, Hill has been credited with being the driving creative force behind the project.[2] Drawing from punk rock, electronic, noise, and industrial styles, the band's innovative and often difficult-to-categorize sound has earned critical acclaim and a cult following, while their aggressive performance style and cryptic interactions with their fans and the media have gained widespread notoriety.
This article is about the band. For their eponymous EP, see Death Grips (EP). For other uses, see Death grip (disambiguation).
Death Grips
Sacramento, California, U.S.
- 2010–2014
- 2015–present
- Third Worlds
- Harvest
- Epic
- Deathbomb Arc
- Stefan Burnett
- Zach Hill
- Andy Morin
- Mexican Girl
- Info Warrior
The group released the mixtape Exmilitary in April 2011 and their debut studio album, The Money Store, a year later; both received critical praise.[3] Shortly after signing to Epic Records in 2012, the group leaked their second album, No Love Deep Web, for free download in breach of their contract and were dropped from the label. They released their third album, Government Plates, in 2013. Following several broken performance commitments, the group announced their disbanding in July 2014 along with the release of their fourth album, a double album titled The Powers That B.[4][5] The group leaked the first disc of this double album, Niggas on the Moon, in 2014. In early 2015, before releasing the second disc, Jenny Death, the group released an instrumental "soundtrack" album titled Fashion Week. The song titles follow as; "Runway J", "Runway E", and so on; acrostically spelling out the phrase "JENNY DEATH WHEN", which had become a popular phrase coined by fans of the band, who were eagerly anticipating the release of the second disc. The Powers That B was released in 2015, billed as their final album. However, in March 2015, the group revealed that they "might make some more" music,[6] and later announced a world tour.[7]
Later in 2015, Death Grips announced their fifth official studio album, Bottomless Pit, which was released in May 2016.[8] Their sixth studio album, Year of the Snitch, was released in June 2018. Their fourth EP, Gmail and the Restraining Orders, was released in June 2019 in celebration of Warp Records' 30th anniversary.
History[edit]
2010–2011: Formation and Exmilitary[edit]
Death Grips were formed in Sacramento, California, on December 21, 2010.[9] On the same day, they recorded their first song, "Full Moon (Death Classic)".[10] It was released on March 8, 2011, with a video and a free self-titled EP which featured the song alongside five other songs.[11] On April 25, 2011, Death Grips released a free mixtape entitled Exmilitary, containing three tracks from the EP along with new songs.[12][13] Throughout the spring and early summer in 2011, they played small shows while Exmilitary was spreading steadily throughout the Internet and receiving favorable reviews from music critics.[14][12] The band was originally composed of Hill, Burnett, Morin (then referred to as Flatlander), Mexican Girl and Info Warrior,[15] before stripping back to Hill, Burnett and Morin only, with Mexican Girl credited solely as a feature on "Lord of The Game", off of Exmilitary.
In popular culture[edit]
The band remixed two of Björk's tracks for her remix album Bastards, released in 2012.[99] She then recorded original vocal samples for the band, which they used on every track of Niggas on the Moon. Her contribution is credited as "found object".[100][101] The actor Robert Pattinson is a fan, friend, and collaborator of the band; he played guitar on the song "Birds" from Government Plates,[102] which Hill recorded on an iPhone during a jam session and later sampled into the song.[102] Pattinson also appeared in a 2013 photo with the group and Beyoncé backstage at the latter's concert, which went viral.[103] Guitarist Sergio Pizzorno of Kasabian cited them as an influence the band's album 48:13.[104] According to David Bowie collaborator Donny McCaslin, Bowie was inspired by Death Grips while working on his final album Blackstar.[105]
Mixtapes
Studio albums