In recent months, being a Death Grips fan has been just as agonizing as it has been exciting. After releasing the first half of this double album last year, the group announced via Facebook that they would retire after releasing the second half of the album, which would come out later in the year. No one knew quite what to make of this, given Death Grips reputation for this kind of bull shit, but this seemed like more than another bit of their notorious antics. After this statement was released the anticipation for Jenny Death reached a boiling point. The Internet meme, "Jenny Death When" was all over social media, and it was almost as if Death Grips knew how much they were fucking with us. Then, in true Death Grips fashion ( I swear that pun wasn't intended when I wrote this up) out of absolutely nowhere, the group puts out an instrumental project on YouTube titled, Fashion Week. Each track consisted of the word "Runway" and a letter. When you put all of the letters together, guess what it spelled. That's right "Jenny Death When." The fashion week name was said to be an allusion to the eventual release of this fabled album. These guys really know how to build excitement for an album.
After some of the hype has died down, the group released the second single on the album, "On GP" once again out of butt fuck nowhere, and the world was talking again. After two videos were released for that particular song, and another single was released, Death Grips finally put the entire album out on YouTube I'm the middle of the day, because why the hell not. As a huge fan with an incredible bias toward the group, I honestly didn't even care what it sound like initially, I was just elated that they had actually done it (another very sincere contributing factor to the delay of this review. I had no idea if I liked it or I was just buying into the hype) and I'm sure I wasn't alone in thst regard. And after all of the twists and turns thst led to the eventual release of the album, Death Grips released a statement saying they would likely continue music. Why? Because Death Grips, that's why.
Despite this being the most fun and chaotic lead up to an album release I can remember, this is a blog about our opinions on the music we hear, so provided that, the time for story telling is over, and it is time to review Jenny Death now.
1. I Break Mirrors With My Face in the United States
Extremely comparable to the earlier tracks on Government Plates, this song is very electronic, and MC Ride is using his trademark aggressive approach to the song, and shouting an almost laughable hook repeatedly for a good portion of the song. There is no building action to the album going on here, as it immediately jumps into an extremely fast paced, loud tune that really gets the blood flowing. The title, and bulk of the songs lyrics can be interpreted as Ride embracing his off putting, or even ugly demeanor, while I personally enjoy to imagine a visual in which this was a completely literal statement. This song definitely gives a more Death Grips vibe than much of the first half of the Powers That B, and gets the show on the road I'm a hurry.
2. Inanimate Sensation
This was released as the first single a few months ago. and instantly sticks out as a weird song, in a catalog of weird songs. Immediately there's a building crescendo of what seems to be a guitar mixed with people's voices until it hits a squeaking noise, at which point it begins again. The hook on this song is very simple, but extremely effective and pretty awesome. Perhaps the really weird thing about this track is Ride's varied vocal approach across the song's three verses. The first of which he performs in a very traditional manner by his standards, yelling and barking lyrics. The second, however, was a much softer tone, as we have heard on songs like, Get Got, and Birds. On the third verse his voice is electronically altered to to much lower pitch, and it begins overlapping with his natural vocals until it's a clean mix of the two. This is a controlled frenzy of a song, and personifies Death Grips in a fantastic way, had you never been subject to their music before. The content is interesting as well, as Ride is talking about the sensations of objects and technology, being greater than an actual sensation. The song can simply be summed up by the line, "I like my Ipod more than fucking." Well said, Stefan.
3. Turned Off
Death Grips have always been punk in their image and essence (there was actually a time when they provoked people from their music alone), but this might be their first song that would fit on a Husker Du album. Zach brings pure intensity on the drums, and the aggression of the guitar riff almost matches that of MC Ride. And yeah, Stefan is mad. We find him smoking cigarettes in the shower, and he lists even more suicidal thoughts from there, which is incredibly disturbing, yet equally fascinating. His descent into madness, which started on the first half of the album, has seemingly reached its low point, and it's only the third track, so things aren't looking too good for Stefan. Seriously great song, though.
4. Why A Bitch Gotta Lie
With Ride taking a backseat (he's still here, but he efforts don't extend much farther than reciting the song's title), the rest of the group takes the opportunity to go absolutely bonkers. After a short electronic, almost Kraftwerkian, introduction, the group's guitar makes itself present again, absolutely shredding through the rest of the instrumentation. Most of the vocals come from an inaudible computerized voice, so there's no real possibility of delving into the lyrical content, but the voice does add a pretty cool effect, so I think I'm okay with it. But the appeal here lies with the intensity, as this song basically starts off at a next level that most bands couldn't dream of reaching. It doesn't even stay there, though, as Ride yells, "Flat!" and the band ratchets up to some next next level, and then they coast up to one exhilarating burst of energy and the band bursts through a ceiling higher that you could have imagined at the beginning of the track. It's the kind of glory that transcends genres and arts: the same feeling you get from watching a rapper at the absolute clear-eyed peak of his game, or even watching an athlete in perfect form. In other words, it's good.
5. Pss Pss
The song may contain the Death Gripsiest lyrics is any Death Grips song. From Stefan basically shattering the fourth wall by yelling, "have a sad cum, baby" (the thought of Death Grips referencing their previous work is preposterous) to the hook saying, "I piss on your face like PSS PSS", its clear that Death Grips is the only group that could ever begin writing a song like this. Even more, the instrumentation can only be described as their interpretation of a song that people twerk to. I can't tell if it's serious or not. Regardless, everything I've typed this far could easily describe the best or worst Death Grips song ever. In reality, it's somewhere in the middle. It doesn't even try to match the euphoria of "Why a Bitch Gotta Lie", but its a quite unexpected alternative that I enjoy...I think. No, I definitely like it.
6. The Powers That B
The final single on this album, which was released only days before the album dropped brings the album to a zenith of sorts. The intensity builds, with an electronic rift playing over a bass line, as Stefan is questioning what he is about to do, and then everything fucking explodes. Electronic effects, guitars, drums, everything is going wild, and Stefan in yelling at the top of his lungs, and even exclaims that his favorite color is "oh my god bitch" which makes no sense except that it's in a Death Grips song. Across the verses the instrumentation calms back down to a more simplistic bass line, to add a contrast to the aggressive delivery, even by Death Grips standards. This song is anarchy compressed into sound as Stefan defiantly shouts that he won't comply with the Powers That B. This may be one of my favorite Death Grips songs ever, in the sense that it is loud and chaotic, but equally purposeful. Stefan yelling over minimal instrumentation over the last thirty seconds of the song is almost chilling in a way. Amazing song.
7. Beyond Alive
Lyrically, this album has set itself apart from others in the Death Grips catalog in the fact that there is a general theme that the album follows consistently, and is continued on this song. The more regular sounding guitar riffs and progressions make a return on this song, and once again somehow perfectly coexist with the rest of the traditional Death Grips bravado. If you really listen to the track, though, it isn't a happy one. Stefan discusses drug abuse being a remedy for fear, and the melancholy feeling that he is experiencing. The overall feeling of despair presents itself in a dark cloud over this track, as Ride sees the evils of the modern world, and the government's control, and criticizes people for being too afraid. To deal with this knowledge of "the truth" Ride buries himself in substances and goes "beyond alive" in a sense. Heavy stuff.
8. Centuries of a Damn
Immediately this track begins with Stefan saying, "Fuck the sun, fuck its kind daylight sucks, waste of time," so this is by no means a happier track than what Jenny Death has produced thus far. The song goes further into the abyss if you will, as Ride discusses the haze of his life and dealing with drugs, and more or less being done with the world. This song is lacking a certain luster that most of the album contains, though. It's not a terrible song at all, but it more or less just continues the narrative of Stefan.
9. On GP
Very few Death Grips song have quite the conventional sound that we hear on this track. The second single on the album contains a consistent guitar rift throughout, as well as verses and a hook, making it one of the more traditionally put together songs they have had in a long time. The usual noise is replaced by guitar and drums, and the killer rock music influence shines through well on this amazing track. This is one of my personal favorite Death Grips songs, as Stefan takes us through his internal conflicts with suicidal thoughts and tendencies. It really is a downer of a track up until the end in which Ride talks himself out of it and decides that he will continue to live. This is, like I said, a sad song that also produces a lot of finality in its tone. As rumors fly around about the continuation of Death Grips as a band, this would have served beautifully as a last track.
10. Death Grips 2.0
If you weren't already pretty sure Death Grips was going to live on, this song should tip the scales in that direction. After the powerful impact and conclusive feeling of the last track, this song plays to me like an evolution or transcending of some sort. It is a simple glitchy instrumental track that doesn't offer much on the surface level in regards to substance, but I get the feeling that it is in some way a transition into the next part of Death Grips legacy. Knowing the band they could damn well start playing swing music just to fuck with the fans. Whatever does happen, this song makes me think it isn't over.
Rating: 4.5/5
The above rating is for the entire two part Powers That B album, so if you are wondering what we thought of part one from a track by track point of view, feel free to do some surfing on this page and take a look. This is an amazing album that will in my opinion join the same echelon that contains Exmilitary and The Money Store. Part one had a more toned down feel and produced some really good tracks, but was worn down by the end of it with the incessant use of Bjork samples. This half of the album was much more aggressive, and hit harder for me personally, but did not come without a flaw or two as well. The two albums don't seem to be related in any way other than the fact that they were marketed as a double album. There is probably some connection that the members themselves made, but is far too obscure for the average person to comprehend. While I seriously doubt the group is done with music, I really enjoyed this album and their legacy would remain stellar overtime if this were the last album in their catalog.