Album Review: Death Grips' NO LOVE DEEP WEB

First off, this is the fucking album cover I'm using because it's the "properest" of the lot. Secondly, I was explaining to one of my friends about how Death Grips released their own album early (this one) much to the dismay of their label, and having their website "shut down" in the process. I don't know if you have ever tried to describe what Death Grips sounds like, but it is extremely difficult to do without using the word "violent;" that's exactly the word I decided to go with. Even if the subject matter of the song is paranoia, the dangers of misrepresentation, or bouncing, everything feels like its being rocketed at your face. After I said, "Well, they're like, violent and angry," I went on to describe their genre as "militaristic-electro-hardcore-rap," which I think does a fair enough job of labeling an almost ineffable rap collective.

So as you all may know now, Death Grips decided to release NO LOVE DEEP WEB themselves. I saw flashed of when Radiohead released In Rainbows for a price you named; it's certainly something that will change how artists interact with labels from now on out, which brings me to an almost completely unrelated anecdote: I was randomly looking up Arcade Fire's Neon Bible - maybe I just felt like I didn't know enough about the album - and discovered how the band accidentally released the wrong song as a single, tried to remove it, and found out just how fast peer-to-peer sharing is. NO LOVE DEEP WEB was leaked, the website taken down, but after about six hours - about a weeks' time in Internet time - the album had gone viral. It would be nearly impossible to hunt down every copy and have it deleted. Death Grips had won: the record released on their own accord.

It would be unfair to be have this release's birth go unmentioned in this review, as it escalates the rating immensely. It's difficult to not overly romanticize and admire the album, due to its completely groundbreaking release. Yes, it's nowhere close to being as good as The Money Store, but I believe it to be a much more important record. If NO LOVE DEEP WEB had been released under the label's stipulations, it would be a solid B/B+ album, but because of its release, I am going to give it an A+ (something I vowed never to do; calling something an instant classic is extremely brash).

Every label that saw what happened with Death Grips and this record is scared shitless. This adds a whole other level to how a label will handle records from now on out. Obviously, albums leak -- I myself am part of two leak websites -- but never has a band so recklessly avoided a label's decisions than Death Grips, and then broadcasted it through twitter! And how perfect it is to have the first band to so dramatically leak their own record than Death Grips.

"I've got some shit to say, just for the fuck of it" MC Ride testifies on "Lock Your Doors". The band is known for its sporadic, cryptic operations, so when they signed to Epic I was baffled. How could a band so anti-establishment sign to a proper label? Well, I guess it didn't matter where they signed; they were going to continue to operate the same. The Money Store proved the collective could produce the same product under a label's supervision. It features the best work the band has ever done, a wide range of songwriting and anger. NO LOVE DEEP WEB prolongs the band's reputation as one of the most original acts to come out in years.

So, to finally touch upon the material featured on the album: it's excellent. MC Ride sounds as exhaustingly frustrated as all hell, the beats are minimal yet effective, and the songs feature a variety of styles within the band's own niche. Zach Hill played all the beats himself, there are no programmed drums, which would be impossible to recognize due to Hill's perfect drumming; I mean, the guy is a well-oiled robot. The beats are a little more dialed back here - you won't hear any random found sound in the beats, just a few samples sprinkled in. It parallels what FlyLo did with Until the Quiet Comes, letting the instruments breathe in the beats rather than cramming as much in as possible.

When I put my headphones on for the inaugural listen, my eardrums tingled from the bass, a little uncomfortably but just enough to keep my interest piqued; this is some deep bass music, not your shitty overly trebled "brostep." MC Ride comes through with a lot less effect-driven vocals, a lot cleaner - if he could ever be clean - on NLDW than The Money Store. It's easy to see the evolution from album to album here, so it makes sense why Death Grips cancelled the tour for The Money Store to record this album. Sometimes the creative process can consume.

At the end of the day, Death Grips have released what could easily have served as the second LP in a double release with The Money Store, but it's the fashion in which it was released that holds the most bearing over how I listened to NO LOVE DEEP WEB. If you see this as just another release from a band that's having one hell of a year, you lack scope and imagination: The record industry will never be the same.

Final Grade: A+

NO LOVE DEEP WEB and What That Means for Trent Reznor

By now, everyone has probably heard that Death Grips leaked their second record of the year themselves after their major label Epic fucked around with the release date. Death Grips had recently cancelled a string of major tour dates to go back in the studio and work on NO LOVE DEEP WEB, their immediate follow up to the insanely stellar The Money Store, released in April. It was clear that they wanted to get their new album out by October or November and they were set on it. In announcing they signed with Epic, they also promised two albums in 2012. This has been known for the majority of the year. Death Grips, in their announcement of the deal, seemed quite confident in their partnership with not only the label but L.A. Reid, the head of Epic.

About two weeks ago, Trent Reznor announced that his project How To Destroy Angels had signed a major label deal with Columbia. I was particularly surprised by this move, as Reznor was probably the most outspoken dissenter of labels at the time he left Interscope in 2007. Along with Radiohead, but arguably more successfully, Reznor released an incredible online model so that, as an artist, he could be self-sufficient. So, after that success, why was he back on a major? For the buzz? Even if you weren’t Trent Reznor, you could do well on a large independent, and I think a large indie like XL would have made the most sense. Is it for the money? Ostensibly, Trent Reznor has no need for extra cash. He’s an Oscar winner, a major recording artist who had a major hand in greatly revolutionizing the music industry. It’s not like he needs the label to pay for studio time; he already owns a studio. So what’s the reasoning then? He’s yet to divulge many details, but he’s mentioned that he’s excited to work with his close friend Mark Williams. That detail, I believe is crucial to why I think this was a short-sighted move.

It’s a tale as old as the industry. Band signs to label to work with friend/relative/someone who believes in them. They release an album. It charts or it doesn’t. That doesn’t really matter. After a year or so, the ownership/creative director/whatever changes and then the bands are jettisoned from the label or put in purgatory to rot while the next glitter vomit project reproduces asexually. Ownership changes very often at record labels. In September, for instance, Universal took over EMI in an effort to control what consumers are buying.  Control changes constantly and should be regarded as such.

I bet this is what happened to Death Grips. L.A. Reid is still heavily involved with Epic sure, but his focus has probably changed. After all, Death Grips’ The Money Store only spent a week on the charts at the 130 spot. I doubt that’s considered satisfactory, despite the fact that the album, and very possibly NO LOVE DEEP WEB, will top year-end lists. I applaud L.A. Reid and Epic for taking a chance with the infinitely fucked-up M.C. Ride and co., but both the artists and the management lacked the foresight to prepare for what would happen. Of course The Money Store wouldn’t chart. Why would an electronic rap group with roots in hardcore and a front man with crippling paranoia do anything but alienate the masses with their abrasive and confrontational music? I applaud even louder for Death Grips leaking their album to piss off Epic. Death Grips aren’t ones to fuck with and they made the right move in this case. They made the wrong move in signing to a major though. I can’t imagine NO LOVE DEEP WEB will ever see the physical light of day, except perhaps for a bootleg cassette or something. Epic will retaliate with legal fury, and this very well may be the last thing that Death Grips ever releases. At the time of writing this article, Epic has already taken down Death Grips' website.

For Reznor though, this tale has yet to be retold. How To Destroy Angels is hardly music for the masses; the label certainly signed him for the weight his name brings. So when their initial EP fails to chart and then their LP fails to chart, we will once again be reading a long-winded rant directed at Columbia, as Reznor attempts to buy his way out of the deal. Reznor is one of the most powerful artists in the field right now. He may not have released a hard-hitting album since With Teeth, but he won a fucking Oscar in the interim. He knows what he’s doing, I’m sure, but I just can’t imagine that the Columbia deal with result in anything different than what has happened before.

And so, history repeats.