“We’ve been and heard so much — what have we learned?
Not for one moment has the self been spurned;
Fools gather round and hinder our release.
When will their stale, insistent whining cease?
We have no freedom to achieve our goal
Until from Self and fools we free the soul.”
– فرید الدین عطار, The Conference of the Birds
I had to take my shirt off to preview this shit.
IS IT POSSIBLE TO TALK ABOUT DEATH GRIPS IN LOWERCASE?
I sat around thinking of early Hymie’s Basement, George Benson’s guitar tone, and that episode of Doctor Who with the Daleks’ asylum planet.
APPARENTLY NOT.
I remembered some girl at some punk show 10 years ago telling me my “skin smelled like Clearasil;” it still stung.
BUT WHO WOULD GIVE A FUCK ABOUT THAT?
I thought about the shards of Zach Hill’s dismembered drum kit still doing the rounds on Twitter and how, with anger at Death Grips’ apparently premeditated no-shows in Chicago and Boston still palpable (not to mention publicity-fueling), now does seem a good time to unexpectedly drop a new tune.
BUT THEY DON’T THINK LIKE THAT?
I remembered that DG have never been a band to build a fanbase through conciliation or positive vibes. The Fourth Wall is always too strong for that, and these guys break it without even being in the room. The birds in Farid ud-Din Attar’s Persian epic” may find themselves, a group on pilgrimage, reflected where they had once hoped to see God; but Death Grip’s fans are given an empty stage, no matter how hard they want them.
AND IT’S HARD.
Yeezus may have stolen, but Jesus has spoken:
“BEST DEATH GRIPS SONG SO FAR GOD DAMN I HAVENT BEEN THIS FUCKING NOIDED SINCE THE MONEY STORE RELEASE SHITT”
– “Birds” YouTube Comments, Thursday 22nd August 2013
• Death Grips: http://thirdworlds.net
[Photo: Libertinus]
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