Jobie's Bite-Sized Music Reviews #21: The Powers That B (album) - Death Grips
- arrangednoisefan
- Jun 2, 2022
- 2 min read
This review covers both Disc 1 and Disc 2.
Recommended
The Powers That B is an experimental hip hop, glitch hop, and rap rock album by the experimental hip hop group Death Grips. It is their fourth studio album, and their first double album. The album is thus divided into two discs: NotM (you can look the actual name up for yourself), and Jenny Death, previously teased on the album Fashion Week with the spelled out phrase “JENNY DEATH WHEN”. Disc 1 starts off with “Up My Sleeves”, giving listeners a taste of what's to come in the next 1 hour and 15 minutes. A frantic instrumental compliments this track, with Zach Hill contributing most of the chaotic components to this track and a good amount of the other 17 songs on this double album. It sets up the remainder of the double album quite well! Disc 1 is distinguished by the chopped-up vocals (performed by Bjork) that are sprinkled throughout each of its 8 tracks, complimenting the main vocals done by MC Ride. These only add to the chaotic quality of the album's instrumentals, adding another layer to the already layered instrumentals. While Disc 1 has many good tracks, perhaps the best tracks on it are “Fuck Me Out”, “Voila”, and “Big Dipper”. These three tracks are very well executed, striking a perfect mix between insane, bass-y instrumentals, and MC Ride's excellent vocal delivery. Disc 2's sound is very similar to the end of Disc 1 (“Big Dipper”), this time with instrumentals and vocals that bang. It very easily tops Disc 1, and features the best track on the entire double album - “Inanimate Sensation”,. A strange, highly frantic track, it hits all the right notes. With this in mind, it makes sense that this was the only single that The Powers That B got, since it is a very good song! Lyrically, both Disc 1 and Disc 2 feature Death Grips' signature lyricism, present ever since the early days of the group's existence; their creativity continues on this album (admittedly, this sometimes leads to their lyrics making little sense – but this is true of all Death Grips albums), occasionally exploring more strange themes such as those in the song “Pss Pss”, a song that features lyrics about pissing, among a few other things. Disc 2's last track, “Death Grips 2.0”, is the only track not to have lyrics on the entire album. It features a very futuristic instrumental, highly reminiscent of breakcore songs. Despite not having any lyrics, it is still one of the best tracks on Disc 2, along with “Inanimate Sensation”, “Turned Off”, and “Pss Pss”. (Not that Death Grips needs lyrics to be good – see my review of Fashion Week to see what I mean). Overall, The Powers That B is another great album by Death Grips. It once again signifies a shift of the group's sound, iterating on it by being a highly frantic, unusual, and bass-y affair, with lyrics that are just as creative as the group's previous albums. Unlike Government Plates, where it took two full listens to get used to the group's new sound, it took getting to Disc 2 to fully appreciate this album for me.
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