I love auto-tune, it gets a hard rap and it’s still perceived by many as a novelty or a fad but honestly, has any musical technique gained as much attention in the last ten years? Everyone from James Blake to T-Pain is in its thrall. While not going the whole hog a la Messrs Blake or Pain, Death Grips take a loop of pitch-corrected vocals, beef it up with the skittery arpeggios and use it as a backdrop for what is their most relaxed offering yet. I’ve said before that Death Grips are at their best when they’re right up in your face, hitting the listener where it hurts and that intensity doesn’t waver just because the volume’s down. Here it’s almost intimate, with MC Ride adopting the laconic flow he used on Exmilitary highlight Culture Shock to wonderfully unsettling effect. So have Death Grips jumped the shark? What with their signing to Sony offshoot Epic, it’s tempting to ponder whether Death Grips have or not, but considering that everything they’ve realised in their career thus far has straddled numerous genres and styles you must also consider whether there is a shark to jump in the first place.
Ned Powley
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