Can anyone ever complain about free music? Experimental hip-hop act Death Grips have been kind enough to drop a complimentary full-length (again). Their last album, leaked by the group without label permission, might have found them forcefully booted from Epic Records, but now Death Grips have the commercial and artistic freedom to basically be music's most generous sonic-psychopaths.
Government Plates is a face-to-the-curb onslaught of splintered sounds, tic-like profanities, and exhilarating industrial momentum. As chaotic as the Sacramento trio are, there is a precise vision behind the noise that holds the music together. Call it calculated insanity, tight looseness, or whatever oxymoron you may, Death Grips make hip-hop sound fresh and transgressive. There is nothing bland, safe, or pandering about their work.
Death Grips have handed listeners a relentless swirling stream-of-consciousness barely contained by its running time. This is intense stuff, though not without a bizarro sense of humor (the first Dylan-referencing track is called "You might think he loves you for your money but I know what he really loves you for it's your brand new leopard skin pillbox hat"). Best of all, it's yours for the low-price of $0. One can only say, "Thank you, Death Grips!"
Grade: A-
