Sunday, February 15, 2015

"The Money Store", Death Grips album review

"The Money Store"
This Death Grips album was released in 2012, three years ago. At this point Death Grips already had many accolades and a cult following that would only continue to grow as their career moved onward. The Money Store is along the Sophmore years of the group, being the third release overall. The members of the group remain the same.

Graphics:
Death Grips tends to be a controversial group, and one facet of their is their strange album covers. When you buy this in the store, there's a sticker that's censoring a pair of female mammaries on the cover. When you unwrap it, you can see the tits. The cover is some weird sadomasochism art, an androgynous female on a leash being held by what I assume is a scantily-dressed female sadist smoking a cig. The back cover are someone's legs, with the track listing printed over one of them. The listing itself looks handwritten, and the album title is beneath.
The cover art is a booklet, most of which is occupied for lyrics of each song. The back of it is a picture, but it's hard to tell what's going on, and I guess that's the whole point. On the last page of the booklet there are production credits for the album and a picture of MC Ride's eye. The CD art is a close-up of the leash from the cover art, with the artist and CD title as well as licensing shit printed on it. Nothing in the CD rest.

Content:
This album is a garbled mess of horrid bass-heavy noise and inane growling, that goes on and on for the better part of an hour. As easily as I can say this music is horrid, I can also praise it musically for the same reasons I can denounce it. The production on this album is great, and is very much electronically produced with some live drum instrumentation. It's experimental rap with an inclination towards noise, and the vocalizing is mostly comprised of nonsensical yelling. It's not club shit, but a lot of it sounds like something you'd hear at some kind of hedonistic rave. Somewhere between the undulating bass and screeching mechanics that collectively are the production of the album, there is something to be appreciated and that is that this music doesn't claim to be anything. The music is what it is, and you either like it or you don't. Musically, I think it is an improvement over the group's previous release Exmilitary, which I've reviewed in the past, but I wouldn't say that The Money Store is a phenomenal album. But this album is an intense experience, and while I love that fact I also loathe it, for the band's strengths are once more its greatest flaws. I appreciate The Money Store, but as through the fine lens of the telescope, I remain distant from the true fanaticism this group has cultivated. While I can see myself coming back to this CD in the future, it would never be for more than a few minutes at a time. The Money Store is not a fantastic album, but if you're into the loud nothingness this music exudes, it might be worth your money.

"The Money Store" by Death Grips earns a: 2.7/5!

Strong points:
- Musically, The Money Store is a solid album
- There is something to be appreciated among the heavy bass and mechanical dins that comprise the production of this album

Weak points:
- The vocalizing is far from avant-garde, and is genuinely nothing short of nonsensical blather

The censored cover art. The Money Store censor is a sticker on the cover art so that it can be sold in stores, and the art becomes uncensored when you remove the plastic. I'm sure you can find the uncensored art somewhere, maybe on Death Grip's website, but I can't be bothered to find it.