Death Grips: EXMILITARY

Summary

Jokermen: Death Grips – EXMILITARY

Podcast: Jokermen
Hosts: Evan and Ian
Date: May 18, 2026
Subject: Deep dive into Death Grips’ "Exmilitary" (2011) and the band’s impact and context

Episode Overview

The Jokermen Podcast launches a new series exploring the discography of Death Grips, beginning with their seminal debut mixtape/album "Exmilitary." Known previously for in-depth explorations of classic rock and pop artists, the hosts embark on this left turn to unpack what makes Death Grips unique, their rock and experimental lineage, their cult mystique, and "Exmilitary" as both a cultural event and a musical statement. The spirit of adventure and openness pervades the conversation, with reflections on the shift from previous Jokermen subjects (Beach Boys, Billy Joel) to the anarchic, genre-blurring world of Death Grips.

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Key Discussions and Insights

Why Death Grips?

(02:12–05:15)

• Death Grips is described as a "paradigm-defining entity," actively rewriting the rules and providing significant cultural events for listeners, particularly those of the hosts’ demographic.
• Despite not being hip-hop experts, the hosts argue Death Grips’ intense, genre-crossing style is accessible and vital, even 15 years after release.

Notable Quote:

“I don’t know if there’s any other band from that era that sounds so vital, interesting and just fresh and cutting edge as Death Grips does still today in 2026.” — Ian (04:37)

The Jokermen Project Philosophy

(08:13–12:20)

• The podcast aims to continually challenge itself, resisting typecasting as a "Boomer era" rock podcast.
• The Death Grips series follows years spent on artists like the Beach Boys, Billy Joel, and Randy Newman.
• This shift is inspired by Bob Dylan’s ethos: “strike another match.”

Notable Quote:

“I don’t want to pigeonhole us into just this very narrow vertical of just the dead or dying old white guys from the Boomer era. I want to broaden our horizons a little bit.” — Ian (10:25)

Death Grips as Rock’s Heirs, Beatles Comparisons

(12:21–17:39)

• Cites Zach Hill's aspiration: "We want to be the Beatles of rap."
  (14:02)
• Death Grips is deeply literate in rock history (references to Beatles, Dylan, Sonic Youth, Black Flag, Jimi Hendrix, etc.).
• Musical continuity with previous podcast subjects makes the transition logical.

Notable Quote:

“They know rock music and they know other stuff—perhaps not so different from the way Bob Dylan knows folk music and country music and rock and roll music and all of this comes together as Bob Dylan music.” — Evan (17:21)

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EXMILITARY: The Band and The Mystique

Band Background & Cultivation of Mystique

(18:48–22:53)

• Stefan Burnett (MC Ride) is notoriously enigmatic; virtually nothing is known beyond his Sacramento roots.
• Zach Hill (drums) and Andy Morin (Flatlander) round out the group; Flatlander’s role now unclear.
• Their music videos, visual style, and refusal to engage with standard publicity fostered a unique mystique.

Notable Moment:

“Death Grips is probably one of the greatest at having cultivated mystique by not playing the game... Especially Stefan Burnett...there’s almost nothing known about him.” — Evan (18:57)

Early Aesthetics: Video & Sound

(23:05–26:14)

• Debut single "Full Moon (Death Classic)"—raw, lo-fi video instantly establishes their visual identity.
• Videos use “corrupted digital detritus” and exploitation of cheap technology for maximal atmosphere.
• Early mastery of their tools and vibe—“elegant,” “well conceived identity.”

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"Exmilitary" Album Deep Dive

Mixtape vs. Album; The Genre Question

(27:01–28:27)

• Exmilitary labeled a mixtape due to uncleared samples, but is fundamentally their debut LP.

Notable Quote:

“Terms are so imprecise and so poorly suited for an artist like this that seems to pass through walls, so to speak.” — Ian (27:19)

Opener "Beware" – Charles Manson Sample, Lyrical Themes

(28:34–42:07)

• Album starts with a chilling Charles Manson monologue, used to simultaneously seduce and unsettle the listener—an "arresting" and "uncanny" choice.
• Blatant rock references and sampling—Jane’s Addiction, reggae track, etc.
• “I am the beast I worship” as a personal/occult mantra theme.
• Lyrics are best approached for their visceral and cumulative impact, not literal analysis.

Memorable Moment:

“You don’t even need to understand what Ride is saying in some of these songs…It’s a visceral listening experience.” — Ian (08:13)

[33:03] Sample lyric:

"I close my eyes and seize it... I am the beast I worship"

Discussion:

• The line “I am the beast I worship” leads to reflections on Satanism, self-worship, ego, and meaning (44:04).

Album Artwork

(35:15–37:09)

• Arresting image of a bearded man (from “The Dark Australians,” 1970). For years, Ride reportedly kept this folded image in his wallet—chosen for its primal, "ex-military" vibe.

Iconic Music Videos

Ex. "Beware"
(38:42–41:23)

• Joshua Tree setting, extreme visuals (“starts with him pissing into a toilet,” always shirtless and tatted—exuding physical menace and charisma).

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Song-by-Song Highlights and Notable Moments

"Guillotine"

(49:03–55:34)

• Iconic song with “It goes, it goes, it goes, it goes…” refrain.
• Video: Ride raps in a car, seatbelt on ("modeling responsible behavior").

Notable Lyric:

"It goes, it goes, it goes, it goes..." — MC Ride (50:23)

"Spread Eagle Cross the Block"

(55:47–62:18)

• Samples Link Wray’s "Rumble"—raw rock energy meets Death Grips’ lyrical onslaught.
• Reflections on rock/sex metaphors and dynamic sampling.

Quote:

"I fuck the music, I make it come…I fuck the music with my serpent tongue..." (56:33 lyric)

Notable Moment:
Hosts dig into the literal/figurative reading of “driving down the street to the beat of a blowjob.” (57:42–58:21)

"Lord of the Game"

(64:06–66:11)

• Samples "God of Hellfire" from Crazy World of Arthur Brown; more 60s rock references and Beastie Boys snippets.
• Discussion of their maximalist, mosaic approach to sampling.

"Tachyon"

(66:22–73:00)

• Video described as “disturbing,” filmed in an office park with a gas mask—real employees were present and freaked out (67:18–68:25).
• Song title references hypothetical faster-than-light particles; band is “very into science” as poetic imagery and mind-expansion, not scientific rigor.

"Clink" & Black Flag Sample ("Rise Above")

(74:32–75:46)

• Punk and rap/hip hop converge: Black Flag’s “Rise Above” grounds a song about the police.
• Humanity and vulnerability briefly break through amidst the chaos.

Outro Lyric:

"Shot this for everyone who’s been there; for my real ones who understand what it feels like to have your rights read to you by the—" (77:15) —immediately samples The Castaways’ “Liar Liar.”

"Culture Shock" (with David Bowie Sample, The Supermen)

(79:17–84:14)

• A more direct critique of information overload and digital/phone culture:
  "Useless information occupies reopen space inside your skull." (83:18)

• Music video: grainy animation with a tombstone featuring a grotesque, nearly unrecognizable clip of porn; compared to Cronenberg’s film "The Shrouds."

"5D" / Pet Shop Boys’ "West End Girls" Sample

(84:38–85:22)

• Short, dancy instrumental; more sample wizardry, this time from synthpop.

"Through the Walls"

(85:47–89:12)

• Loud, live drums from Zach Hill.
• Highlights Death Grips’ use of “human touch” in an electronic context.

"Known For It" / Magma Sample

(90:23–92:44)

• Loops a 20-minute Magma track for 5 seconds to weird, anthemic effect.
• “Known for it, had to do it, acting to it, paid the price to roll with it…”

"I Want it I Need it (Death Heated)" / Pink Floyd - Syd Barrett era

(94:07–102:09)

• Parody of braggadocio rap; mines psych rock for samples.
• Hosts riff on the “Genius” lyric annotation scourge, reading and mocking clumsy user explanations (99:32).

Notably Ridiculous Genius Annotation:

“Ride doesn’t care about the queue. He walks straight into the club.”
“Vaginas are known to stink. I saw him with an odorless pussy. Attractive.” — [99:11–100:26, hosts laughing]

Closing Track: "Blood Creepin"

(102:09–104:34)

• Described as akin to “Ridge Racer soundtrack.”
• Leads directly into the sound/atmosphere of their next release ("The Money Store").

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• Why Death Grips? .......................... [02:12–05:15]
• The Jokermen Project Philosophy ........... [08:13–12:20]
• "We want to be the Beatles of rap" ........ [14:02]
• Charles Manson intro and "Beware" analysis [28:34–42:07]
• Album artwork origins ...................... [35:15–37:09]
• "Guillotine" breakdown ..................... [49:03–55:34]
• Sample and genre discussion ................ [27:01–28:27], [64:06–66:11]
• The Genius.com annotation moment............ [99:11–100:26]
• Album wrap-up, themes, context ............. [105:04–end]

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Notable Quotes

• Ian:

  “It’s a visceral listening experience to me. And that, I think, is part…why do they feel like they've only grown weightier and more significant in the 15 years since…” (04:01)

• Evan (on lyric content):

  “Anybody can enjoy this music because it has, in its own very intense way, something for everyone…something that is best appreciated eventually on its own terms.” (05:47)

• On Exmilitary’s impact:

  “It’s one of the best openers of a record I’ve ever heard.” — Evan [48:56]

• On the meaning of being ‘Exmilitary’:

  “It’s about being a primal being in a world which has softened and forgotten…the hard reality of life in the wilderness of the world.” — Evan (37:09)

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Closing Reflections

• Death Grips is presented as the ultimate hybrid band—atonal, visceral, introspective but also fun. The group’s rock pedigree and avant-garde tendencies make "Exmilitary" a worthy successor to the podcast’s explorations of pop and classic rock touchstones.
• The hosts find unexpected continuity between Death Grips and their previous subjects, especially in the band's maximalist, referential, and rebellious spirit.

Final Review:

“This is a group that has something of a…mindset, you could say, that is related to the rock music. They’re acolytes of the rock song and they rock. Three stars out of three.” — Evan (105:35)

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TL;DR

Exmilitary is dissected as a modern classic that channels elemental rock and experimental energies into something aggressively new. Death Grips is lauded for their mystique, omnivorous sampling, and unapologetic outsider status; this episode is a springboard for deeper dives into their iconoclastic catalog. Expect dense references, irreverent humor, and striking insight—a fitting kickoff for the Jokermen’s boldest pivot yet.

Transcript

[Ian]

Jokerman podcast is brought to you by Distrokid and their new direct to fan tool. Allowing any artist to sell merch. Distrokid Direct allows artists to create a merch store in minutes without any upfront costs or any technical skills or know how they'll take care of all the logistics and the nitty gritty. And as with distribution through Distrokid, they never take a cut of the proceeds. You, the artist, keep 100% of your earnings. Once again, that's Distrokid Direct. Open a store [e-mail] direct.

[Evan]

Saying, well, hello. Welcome back to Jokerman Podcast. I'm Evan.

[Ian]

I'm Ian.

[Evan]

And we're doing something different now, like we always do. It just takes us a while to realize things. Someone once said,

[Ian]

what have we realized in this case? That we can't talk about the Beach Boys any more. Yeah, but this is. Yeah, this is the next. This is new Jokerman. I'm not gonna go quite so far as to say Jokerman 4, but it's not Jokerman 3. So here we go. Death Grips or Act. It's. I mean, I think some people still think this is a joke because you had the bright idea to post the announcement on April 1, but longtime listeners should know by now that Jokerman. Well, that's right. You know, the Billy Joel series began as an actual April Fool's Day joke, and then, Lord knows, turned into reality. So we figured, you know, we've made good on April Fool's Day promises in the past. Let's do it again.

[Evan]

Let's do it again. Do it again.

[Ian]

The Beach Boys.

[Evan]

Well, I think we should probably start by maybe telling people why we're doing this. I guess. I mean.

[Ian]

Yeah.

[Evan]

Why this group. Why would we do a series on this group, Death Grips? To get into the reasoning. Why, like, for me, and I think for you, and I think for many people of our rough age range and demographic, this was the. The rock band of our youth. Like, this was. For me, this was like, one of the only bands where, like, the things that they put out felt like significant cultural events on a different scale than something like, you know, the bands that we like. You know, there's the bands that we enjoy, and then there's, like, a paradigm defining entity, something that seemed to be, like, actively rewriting the rules as they went on.

[Ian]

Yes. Yeah. I think that. I mean, I think that there are certainly bands from this era that also felt significant and noteworthy and like a cultural landmark. But I do think that Death Grips is one That I think they've. I don't know, listening to, you know, re listening to ELT's music, I guess I should say, because I. Listeners, you may be aware we've been listening to some different type of music recently. Haven't had a whole lot of bandwidth for the Death Grips discography. I can't wait till summer. Cause it's gonna be a summer of love. Hey now.

[Evan]

Well, it's a love thing.

[Ian]

Although I have been getting back into it over the last several months since we decided, yeah, we're actually doing this thing, listening to it again, coming back to it again here with fresh ears in 2026. I. I'm kind of floored at how exciting it all still sounds. And I'm not gonna say groundbreaking because these are 15 year old albums at this point at least. Ex Military is the first one that we're doing today. But how fresh and interesting and sort of still thrilled I am by a lot of this music. And I can't say that a lot of the music from this era, 2010 to 2014, let's say, whatever. As much as I might love some of those records still by other bands, I don't know if there's any other band from that era that sounds so vital and interesting and just fresh and cutting edge as Death Grips does still today in 2026. To me, that's an interesting angle or an interesting element to just sort of chew on is why. Why do they feel like they've only grown weightier and more significant in the 15 years since, compared to so many of their other contemporaries, both in the rock world as well as in the rap world?

[Evan]

Before we do embark on this, I will just come clean. I'm sure you already might have surmised. I'm not a knower of rap and hip hop music. I only have so many cells in

[Ian]

my brain growing fewer every day.

[Evan]

Yeah, I just gave a huge chunk of them to the Beach Boys.

[Ian]

And those are gone to Mike Lowe. Those are gone to Ram Raj. Ram Raj just took a good hundred cells right out of there.

[Evan]

Hundred, hundred billion, maybe. And so I don't think that you can expect from me, you can't expect from me to offer commentary on this group and their discogr with anything like an expertise on that front. And for that I am sorry. But I do think that whether you are more interested primarily in hip hop and rap or rock or experimental music as a listener, anybody can enjoy this music because it has, in a way, in its own very intense way, something for everyone and something that is best appreciated eventually, I think, on its own terms as they continue to develop a very unique voice. That said, the essential spirit of the rock song is honored by this group, which we love.

[Ian]

We love rock songs, we love guitar songs, we love drums. Boy, I don't know that there's a band with a better set of drums on some of these records than Death Grips.

[Evan]

Better the actual drum itself. It might even be just like hardly a kit there anymore. And it's still better sets of drums. I mean, there's some famous infamous instances where the drum kit is being violently disassembled on stage until there's like one broken snare and a kick left barely even there. And the Floor Tom is sailing through the air into the face of a Mac monitor.

[Ian]

It strikes me as a little Kale Kail esque John Kaelish, you know.

[Evan]

Yeah.

[Ian]

Wearing the mask, cutting the chicken's head off. That feels straight out of Death Grace.

[Evan]

Truly the wildest things that we've already gone into with like, Lulu. And I think Lulu is actually an important antecedent to this kind of stuff we're going to get into here because there's so much in common actually with it and with a lot of Death Grip's music. And I think those conversations can be had, and I'm sure we will, about the role of intense and often violent and sexually explicit material lyrically and thematically.

[Ian]

And it's not only that, you know, it is that. Certainly on some songs it's definitely that, but it's also just fucking thrilling music to listen to. I'm definitely transitioning back. I'm in a period of transition. To quote Van back to, I love rock songs. Sort of the Hallmark phrase of Jokerman 2. Whether or not you want to call every Death Grip song a rock song, whatever, that's nomenclature that is imprecise by its very nature. And I'm sure we can have that conversation many times throughout this series. But you don't even need to understand what Riot is saying in some of these songs in order to dig it and groove it. It's a visceral listening experience to me. And that, I think is part to go back to the point that you raised a few minutes ago, why are we doing this? What is this in the first place? I certainly have felt that I wanted to challenge myself. We want to challenge ourselves. Coming after two years of Beach Boys and the whole Billy Joel sojourn, even the Randy Newman journey, which took place in the middle of the Beach Boy, the earlier part of the Beach Boys series, You know, all artists that we, I guess mostly artists that we love, one artist that we like, tolerate, but all very much of a type, of an era, of an image. You know, they're all kind of in that same Venn diagram here. And so what I think is important to me is that we constantly, you know, take a little bit of inspiration from our friend Bob Dylan, strike another match and so on. And to me, it feels like the most natural thing in the world to like. As we're sitting here today, Tuesday, May 5, talking about death Grips, literally just yesterday we just did a five year anniversary podcast for latest record project Volume one, Van Morrison on Neverending Stories, which we'll have run by the time this episode posts. And then here today we're talking about ex military. And that's how I listen to music myself personally. I can be there sitting and listening to Duper's Delight and Upcounty down one day and then go straight into Beware and spread eagle across the block. I get the sense that maybe it isn't always like that for everyone out there. In fact, I would assume that it isn't like that for everyone out there. But for me personally and for you as well, I would assume it is. And so I think that it's important that we kind of follow our intuition here and acknowledge that if you were into this shit into Jokerman podcasts for the last couple years, because we were doing just Beach Boys stuff, Billy Joel stuff, whatever, and that's your thing. God bless you. Thank you for coming along with us. This might not be your thing, but it's definitely our thing. And it's a different thing than we've talked about on the show. But like I said, I don't want to pigeonhole us into just this very narrow vertical of just the dead or dying old white guys from the Boomer era, I want to, you know, broaden our horizons a little bit. And so I think that's part of what we're trying to do here or part of the inspiration behind this series, which will be, I guess it's worth noting, just to get some basics established here. This episode we're going to run free. This will be our first episode back after the conclusion of the Beach Boys. Every other Death Grips episode we're going to run after this, beginning with the next one, Money Store will be on Patreon and it's only going to run for about two months. Ish. We're going to continue posting free episodes as well. I think mostly some interview episodes just kind of Hang in with some homies for the next couple months. But it'll be brief. It'll be intense, just like a Death Grips record. And it will all be on Patreon. So we encourage you all to come along with us here. If this isn't your shit, rest assured it won't last too long. We'll be on to the next major subject of the program before too long. But that's kind of the deal here. Going in to Death Grip series. Is that fair? Does that make sense?

[Evan]

Yeah. I hope that it's something that you might start to like as you listen, even if you're not a fan. Now, I do think that subtleties and nuances and colors of it become clearer as you become more acclimated. And you can start to see that there is a lot of interesting stuff conceptually happening. They're one of the most interesting groups when it comes to that. There's a quote that I found doing a little bit of research from an interview which I had never seen before. It would have been around 2010 or 11. The interviewer to Zach Hill said, for whatever reason, I had a vision that John Lennon would be a big fan of Death Grips. And Zach Hill said, oh, man. Thank you very much. The Beatles are often a topic in the music that we make. The way they did their shit and went about making music through stages of development at the same time. Highly conceptual. We talk about the Beatles all the time, how we want to be the Beatles of rap. I say that without arrogance. It's just something to aspire to. And when you look at their discography now, and that was said well before they had the body of work they would go on to make. It's absolutely true. Like, they are one of those groups where every project, every record they put out has a very distinct sense of progression from the last and a sense of wanting to push themselves further and explore things from new angles and directions. I think it makes their journey as artists rewarding. In the same way that listening to the Beatles records through their discography is rewarding.

[Ian]

Yeah, it does feel a little Beatles Y. I think that's an interesting quote just in that. I mean, it's compact, the discography so far, at least. Apparently they are in the studio in the stew, mixing up a new record at the moment. So fingers crossed that hits before too long. But, you know, it's compact, but everything's so well conceived and fully itself. The same way that, like, the Beatles move so quickly through the Beatles shit over the course of just whatever it is. Eight years in the 60s, I think death Grips, you know, look, I mean, it's hard to compare anyone to the Beatles, right? And we're certainly not here to say that Death Grips are literally the Beatles of rap. I think that's. That's a. That's a heavy crown to wear. But I like that that's sort of a North Star or something that they aim towards or have aimed towards because I think that their career works in sort of a similar way for me. Certainly I think I might have a little bit more hip hop rap familiarity than you do. Not a ton, certainly. I'm definitely not here to say I'm one of the true ball knowers, but I've dabbled here and there. I've got my fair share of favorites. And I think another thing that I've been so interested by listening to Death Grips recently or re listening is how just kind of in tune with all of our shit. Standard, kind of prototypical Jokerman shit they are. To use the Beatles again. Ride literally. Name checks me. Mr. Mustard in I Forget what Song It Is.

[Evan]

And Blue Jay Way in a different song. Not to mention, of course, the Bob Dylan lyric.

[Ian]

The Bob Dylan lyric. We've got a Minutemen reference on this album that we're talking about today. We've got a Black Flag sample. We've got like Sonic Youth mentioned Sonic Youth, Pet Shop Boys. It's so in tune with, I think, the history and the canon of rock music.

[Evan]

Jimi Hendrix, of course.

[Ian]

Of course. I like Jimi Hendrix, of course.

[Evan]

And he's not kidding.

[Ian]

He isn't. Yeah. No, I mean, I think that there are so many. And this wasn't even apparent to me, I think, as a kid or as a younger man listening to this stuff. But it's so clear that of all the groups that we could talk about and focus on Death, Krips seems to be as in tune with. As in touch with all of the kind of standard or classic, I should say, Jokerman reference points. You know, they are more in tune with that than I think about anyone else that we could pick from the 21st century. Despite the fact that obviously, you know, in terms of some musical styles, it doesn't necessarily bear a whole lot of resemblance to, oh, let's say, you know, Big Man On Mulberry street by Billy Joel. That's just the first song that came to mind. Billy Joel, of course, I wouldn't put it past him. Maybe on the next album.

[Evan]

But that's kind of the thing. They know rock music and they know other stuff. Yes, perhaps not so different from the way Bob Dylan knows folk music and country music and rock and roll music and all of this comes together as Bob Dylan music.

[Ian]

Well, yeah, I think maybe to tie a bow here on this rangy introduction to the whole series for us, I would hope by now, you know, for any long time listeners, 500 something episodes into the program, that we've earned a little bit of trust from everyone out there and that even if it maybe seems like a bit of left turn or a strange move here up front, that in the grand cosmology of the Jokerman universe, it's all. It's all gonna come together. It's all gonna make perfect sense by the end. And, you know, beyond that, I just want to kind of. I want to kick back and have a little bit of fun here. Which is not to say that this is just exclusively a fun discography. That is not the defining mood across most of these albums. But I do think it will be fun and novel and interesting for us to sort of flex some different muscles here in the old podcasting factory. So we could keep prattling on for quite some time. But I think we're gonna have plenty of opportunities to prattle on within the albums with that. Should we start talking about ex military?

[Evan]

Yes. Although I want to give a little bit of background.

[Ian]

We should, but just a little tiny bit of background because there's almost no background to give. Yes, go ahead.

[Evan]

That's right. Death Grips is probably one of the greatest at having cultivated mystique by not playing the game of doing a lot of interviews and making themselves available in that way. Especially Stefan Burnett, the frontman, primary lyricist. Yeah, there's almost nothing known about him other than he is from Sacramento, that's from Northern California.

[Ian]

Legend right down the street from me,

[Evan]

and worked at a pizza restaurant.

[Ian]

Visual artist, I believe, at one point.

[Evan]

Well, he still is. And he had a show of paintings like think in 2017. Was involved in rap and hip hop stuff, sort of like an underground rap project or two. And was neighbors with Zach Hill of the band hela.

[Ian]

Major monster drummer. Hella's got a zillion albums. We're not talking about the Hella albums. Not on this series at least. Sorry to disappoint.

[Evan]

They got together and decided to see what would happen if they made music together. They made. The first Death Grip single was actually recorded the day that's. That's the day the band formed. Death Classic. Full Moon or Full Moon? Death Classic. We can talk about that a little bit. It's largely just ride and Zach Hill. And it turns out that's largely the essential pieces of the group. The foundation is there from the very first moment we are preaching our own funeral.

[Ian]

As we go through this life, don't forget that.

[MC Ride]

It is when it make it come get wet it don't get it seen it happening before it even happens when the door open A fucking town also just fucking around but never mind the way it sound Every time we make it bound straight to the baby.

[Ian]

Now I would talk about it in the context maybe of the video, which is a great Death Grips video. I think the music video aspect of Death Grips is definitely something to talk about as well. Also just the whole. We've talked about this already a little bit. The mystery and the sort of deliberate kind of keeping an audience, keeping the world really at arm's distance, at arm's length, you know, not knowing anything about these guys really particularly Ride, you know, I think they gave more interviews as they were getting started, but certainly over the last however many years that has really tapered off and I guess they haven't put out a record in what, seven, eight years at this point. So we'll see if they are very talkative in the press when they come back. Something tells me that they won't be exactly. But setting all that aside, taking that for granted, they do still have such a. Well, and have always had such a well conceived identity and not just a sound based identity, but just like, you know, a visual identity, a whole just like a vibe identity. And I think that's there from literally the very beginning with the. With the music videos that come out, you know, the Full Moon music video and then everything that is on Ex Military as well.

[Evan]

They communicate as much sonically as they do visually. And those elements go hand in hand right from the start. As for this track and video, it appears Andy was involved as well at this early point.

[Ian]

That would be Andy Morin, AKA Flatlander. Flatlander, for some period of time, the third member of Death Grips. Seemingly maybe not part of the band today, but that. That just goes along with the whole thing here. No one fucking knows.

[Evan]

It's unclear when why he might have stopped being in the group, but by all accounts he was very involved for most of is amazing that from their first utterance it feels and sounds so like them and the way that they operate like the core principles are there and not. Not even in a way where it's like, oh well, I can see how they would get to where we, you know, their classic sound like. No, like Death Classic is death Classic for a reason. And that's true of the visual language of the video as well. The corrupted digital detritus of it all. It looks like they filmed it on a consumer grade handheld camcorder and then threw that camcorder into a black hole and then somehow fished it back out again and pressed play. There's a whole lot of processing and reprocessing it looks like going into this. But that's not to say it looks expensive. On the contrary, I think they're defining look tends to be kind of cheap, but they use that rinky dink feeling to their advantage. I think they're masters of wringing atmosphere out of whatever technology they have at hand.

[Ian]

Yeah, to me it's very elegant. You know, it's simple, simple tools, but it looks, it looks great even today. And even with the simplest tools, you know. And I think that extends to the music as well. Although the music, I wouldn't say is nearly as rudimentary as a lot of the video footage. But even that, like, it's really understanding what you have in your hands, what you have available to you and what you have control over, what you're good at, and then deploying it to the maximum extent, not leaving anything on the

[Evan]

table, and sometimes creating really memorable and dramatic images using tools that just seem utterly unsuited for the task. Just like the, like the effects on like imovie stuff like that for like the tachyon video. That like weird like bubbly, metallic black and white thing.

[Ian]

Yeah. I don't even know what to call that. Filter.

[Evan]

Yeah.

[Ian]

And I mean the Full Moon video is literally just basically ride like, you know, lip syncing at a camera that's like kind of glitching and seems to be playing intermittently like as if it's a VHS tape.

[Evan]

I think it's probably filming a TV

[Ian]

and then running it through. Yeah. And then there's some sort of like video effect on top. I don't know, it's just. It's very well done and I think instantly kind of captures and essentializes like what is going on here. Like what the whole fucking deal is with these guys. Right down to the. The fact that it's intercut with this crow.

[Evan]

Yeah, crow pecking at another bird.

[Ian]

Another bird's like, bloody carcass. It's like. And you know you're gonna get plenty of that type of imagery in many of the other videos. I think they just kind of like, not only did they know what they were all about, but they were like able to execute on it. You know, like, it didn't really take them too much time to really kind of ramp up to full power.

[Evan]

Death Grips, no, the power was already full force. They always had access to that, into a certain level of intensity. And their career is experimenting with ways to channel that and direct it toward certain ends. But Full Moon Death Classic is the one that started it all.

[MC Ride]

Never knowing where we're going Just rolling like waves at night.

[Evan]

2011, ex military is released. Ex Military, the inaugural mixtape, as it's known, rather than an lp.

[Ian]

I think people have come to regard it as an album in the years since.

[Evan]

Yeah, as I understand it, it's a mixtape because they couldn't clear the samples right.

[Ian]

Which, yeah, I mean, you can. Like, what is a mixtape, what is an album, what is an EP or whatever these terms. I think Death Grips is like a particularly interesting artist to think about in regard to that topic. The same way that it is with genre. Is this rap, is it metal, is it electronic, is it hardcore, is it punk, Is it rock, whatever? Because these terms are so imprecise and so poorly suited for an artist like this that seems to pass through walls, so to speak. And so, yeah, it is, I guess, was announced as a mixtape and it was, I think, just self released and does include obviously many, many samples that they probably never could have, never could have afforded back in 2011. But I think for all intents and purposes, it's best to think of it today as their debut lp. Because I've always felt like mixtape kind of undersells a collection of songs. And sometimes that's warranted because sometimes it isn't like a full album, a full record. But I mean, to me, I think Ex Military is clearly a fully, fully conceived, deserving collection of songs that, you know, is, to me is an album, is an lp.

[Evan]

Yeah, absolutely. Announces itself as something serious with the first track.

[Ian]

That's right. With the clearest connection to former Jokerman subjects that you could possibly hope for. I mean, it starts with Charles Manson,

[Evan]

the literal voice of Charles Manson, who

[Ian]

you never actually even hear throughout the entire Beach Boys series. Every Beach Boys, there's no Charles Manson voice, but he's sort of haunting the Beach Boys history. He's a specter. A specter is haunting Europe. A specter is haunting the Beach Boys. It's Charles Manson, not communism. And so here we flip the page into the next series. There he is, open the kimono. In full high definition, it's Charles Manson. Do you know what tape this? Or like interview or recording this is yanked from no. Okay. It's something. When he's doing Charles Manchin. Shit.

[Evan]

He sure is. Yeah. I think that the, the source of the sample is. It's an interview where he was discussing his. Well, he's talking about his, his philosophy.

[Ian]

That's what. That's one word for it, which, you

[Evan]

know, get Charles Manson talking about his philosophy. One day that man started doing that and I think he stopped when he died.

[Ian]

Yeah, but I think it's a. It's a very effective way to start off the record and like sort of plunges you head first into what's going on here because it is this very disturbing and uncanny sound. I mean it's. It's literally Charles Manson babbling Charles Manson shit. But like at the same time, like I kind of get.

[Evan]

Because he's just being like a hype man, you know?

[Ian]

Yeah.

[Evan]

You don't know anything else about him.

[Ian]

He sounds like a cool guy a little bit.

[Evan]

It's like when you've been drunk maybe and then somehow end up in a conversation with a guy living on the street and you're just going, yeah, for sure. Oh, oh, I know. Oh yeah, man, I know how that is. And it's all cool until they start talking about something really sinister and bizarre.

[Ian]

Man, what am I, what am I going to run around and act like I'm some teeny bopper somewhere somebody else. Somebody else's money? I make the money, man. I roll the nickels. The game is mine.

[Evan]

I make the money. It's very much like, who do you think you are? I am like, I don't know what that means. But he seems to.

[Charles Manson]

He come to me with money in his hand. He offered me. I didn't ask him. I wasn't knocking someone's door down. I was running from that. When I got out, I was in that. I was already through that. I had that. I had the studio. I went to the studio, went to VOX studios. I had it all.

[Ian]

And I looked at it.

[Charles Manson]

I said, this is a bigger jail. And I just got out of. I don't want to take my time going to work. I got a motorcycle and a sleeping bag and 10 or 15 girls. What the hell Want to go off into and go to work for? Work for what money? I got all the money in the world. I'm the king, man. I run the underworld guy. I decide who's does what and where they do it at. What am I going to run around and act like I'm some teeny bop or somewhere for somebody else's money? I Make the money, man. I roll the nickels the game is mine I deal the car for sure.

[Ian]

Certainly if divorced from all context, which is what this. You know, how this is being presented. It like, it kind of totally comes and it starts this record off and you're kinda like, if you don't know that Charles Manson, it's like, oh, yeah, this is kind of badass. I'm totally on this guy's wavelength. I see where he's coming from. And then once you realize who it is, obviously many people know who it is going into it, but I like to think the effect is you almost sympathize with the speaker here. You almost are like, I'm down with this dude. And then you kind of get this queasy feel, this gut punch after the fact. Once you realize that, it's just insane, insane mode. Charles Manson babbling at a camera.

[Evan]

But by then it's too late.

[Ian]

Exactly.

[Evan]

And then the song starts, and then

[Ian]

the song kicks off.

[Charles Manson]

I deal the car.

[MC Ride]

I close my eyes and sins it I press my fists and fingers I bite my torch and burden I am the beast I worship I close my eyes and seize it I clench my fist and feed it I like my torch and burn it

[Evan]

Brilliant. I mean, this. I sent you the playlist of the samples of this record, but this first one is. Is it Jane's Addiction?

[Ian]

Jane's Addiction?

[Evan]

Like, yes. Just like, if you. You might not like Charles Manson and you might not like Jane's Addiction. I am ambivalent on the latter, but, boy, if they don't sound cool here and in that song, like, they sound great in that song.

[Ian]

Yeah, absolutely. And, I mean, the samples, I think, are one of the clearest links to rock music, rock songs that you get. We talked about this already, but, like, every. At least on Extra Military here at the beginning, almost every sample you get is just like a rock song sample. And it's deployed almost always in this kind of skewed manner that makes it sound alien, foreign, unfamiliar in many contexts, but does ultimately come, like, clearly these guys listen to a lot of the same shit that we listen to.

[Evan]

Yeah. Or have. And the way that they employ it is kind of like if you know it's the one part of the song that might not sound alien to you, that it's actually a song you might know. Up the beach by Jane's Addiction, but it's augmented by another sample which is totally unrelated.

[Ian]

A reggae song, God is watching you by Dickie Burton.

[Evan]

I confess, I don't know much About

[Ian]

Dickie Burton 249 monthly listeners on Spotify. So seems like very few people have anything on Dicky Burton.

[Evan]

It's an incredible poll from a somewhat unlikely source. This will be a theme moving forward. And along those lines. We haven't talked about the COVID of the album of Ex Military. Shall we?

[Ian]

Yeah, sure. I mean, it's a very arresting image of a man, bearded man, that's got some creases down the middle, apparently. I think in one of those interviews that I was reading that you sent someone, one of the members of Death Grips, they didn't say who carried this image around with him in his wallet and that's why it's all creased and folded up like this.

[Evan]

I seem to recall reading somewhere that it was Ryde and that it had been something he carried on him for 10 years, which sounds true enough. It's originally from a book called the Dark Australians by one Douglas Baglin from 1970. It's about Aboriginal peoples and their ways and customs. Very tough people living in a very harsh place.

[Ian]

Yeah, he looks like someone who might, you know, chop your head off.

[Evan]

Cut your head off.

[Ian]

Yeah. Which I think is the idea, at

[Evan]

least cut the head off of a large ferocious animal.

[Ian]

And it's called, of course, Ex military there. Which like. It doesn't. The image and the title.

[Evan]

But he's also very dignified looking, I would say.

[Ian]

Yeah, no, no question. There's a drama. Yeah, there's a drama to the image. I think the title and the image don't necessarily match entirely. You know, you think ex military and you think like some sort of like bum around Rambo type. Someone who was in the military and washed out for whatever reason because he was guilty of war crimes or whatever. And this guy doesn't necessarily seem like a. Seem like an ex Marine or something, but the two of them together, I think.

[Evan]

I think in spirit though. Yeah, I think it's saying something like about being a primal being in a world which has softened and forgotten the. The truth about the ways of life and the. The hard reality of life in the wilderness of the world. Like, to be ex military is. My first association is, you know, somebody who's maybe feeling out of place in society, used to stuff that is not like going to the grocery store.

[Ian]

Not like this is not.

[Evan]

It's not.

[Ian]

It's not a going to the grocery store type album.

[Evan]

It's not. Not watching Hulu. You're to find yourself in. In that world after you've seen some shit. I think that's. That's what the title really perfectly gets to. And I think the record really delves into that in major ways. Somebody like Manson is kind of a perfect avatar for that as well. Someone whose brain is so blown out, like all over the place. Uncontainable by society and completely uninterested in being contained by it. The video for the song too, it starts. It's, you know, grainy, fucked up footage of.

[Ian]

You just take for granted that any Death Grips music video we're talking about. Yeah, grainy fucked up footage. This is going to be part of it.

[Evan]

It's an instantly iconic video to the shots of ride running through Joshua Tree and sitting in the.

[Ian]

Sitting in the Joshua trees and just like sprinting through. Yeah, it also starts with him, like, pissing into a toilet. Like a toilet stains.

[Evan]

Pov.

[Ian]

Holy shit, man. It's so good.

[Evan]

And then the shots of him later in the dark, sitting in the tree and rapping from it.

[Ian]

Man, he just looks so fucking cool. I mean, I don't know what to say. Like, it's. He's. He's almost always shirtless. In, like, every context you've seen, he's got these. He's like tatted out, you know, across his chest and up to his shoulders. He's got this awesome beard and stuff.

[Evan]

The tats are incredible. I mean, he's also just such an iconic visual presence. Yes, he has some of the most menacing tattoos of all time.

[Ian]

He does a lot of heavy lifting for the band just by virtue of, like, his physical presence.

[Evan]

You know, he's extremely wiry and covered in really impressive tattoos. Actually, a lot of them are, like, really cool and well executed and intricate, but they're all of, like black magic and satanic symbols and.

[Ian]

Yeah. Is that like a big pentagram in the middle of his chest? Right.

[Evan]

I think it's like the Necronomicon. Like. Yeah, Lovecraftian sigil pentagram. I just, like. I don't know a lot about rap music. I also am not super well versed in the dark arts and chaos magic.

[Ian]

You better bone up on that for this series.

[Evan]

Honestly, I think there are a lot of references to it. God, you know, you said this was going to be fun, but I think there's so. It's just so much stuff in every single thing they do. It's so dense with signs and symbols that in a way, it's perfect for podcasting, but it's almost like biting off more than one wants to chew. If you really do just sit down with it.

[Ian]

Yeah, it's a bounty. It's a buffet, certainly. And I think we're gonna get some of this out of the way in the first episode and kind of clear the decks for the following episodes and we can just maybe talk more about the record itself.

[Evan]

Yeah. But in this case too, like there's. There is all of that and then there's the actual experience of this music, which you could just be. And I'm. And many have been like 16 year old boys playing Call of Duty and listening to this in the background while drinking a Mountain Dew Code Red and just being like, this is dope.

[Ian]

Yeah, absolutely.

[Evan]

And they're right, it is dope. This song basically Beware is a. It's their motto is the wrong word. Their manif. It's a manifesto of like satanic, transcendent spiritual intent. It is a mantra. The. The chorus.

[Ian]

Yeah.

[Evan]

And it is whether you are, you know, you could be singing along to it and then you're just like, am I singing an evil incantation that's summoning a demon right now?

[Ian]

Beelzebub. Yeah. Baphomet.

[Evan]

You might be, but you're also gonna be feeling pretty cool.

[Ian]

Yeah. You should be wearing sunglasses while you're doing smoking a cig. Yeah. I mean, I think for me certainly the experience of listening to a Death Grip song is one of being overwhelmed a little bit. And you know, I'm sure it goes without saying, but like Ryde's styling as a vocalist is. It's like a tidal wave of language coming at you. Just sort of ceaseless. Just a huge wall of words pounding you and then just another one and another one and another one. And it's very difficult for me, at least as a listener, to kind of pick up on the intricacies of each individual line. And so I think it's a bit of a fool's game. This is the first artist that we've talked about that Genius is really designed for. If you go to a Death Grips page, like every single line is annotated and you can go through and some not with any dummy has left a line. Exactly.

[Evan]

With consistency. Sometimes it's good, but sometimes it's.

[Ian]

Usually it's not so good. There's a couple later on that I'm gonna bring up that are just. I was riotously laughing at. It feels like the wrong way to experience this music to me. And I'm not here to say like my way or the highway or whatever, but for me personally trying to get into a nitty gritty micro, like each and every word of each and every line Is not at all what the experience of listening to these songs is about. But at the same time there are these individual lines, typically in like a chorus or something that are just fucking indelible. And of course, I think Beware starts off with. Or I mean the first one that hits in Beware for me is I am the beast I worship. Which is this just like overwhelmingly sort of unsettling image to me, you know. And I like. I don't have a good solid grasp on exactly what that statement means, you know, in general or to ride specifically or whatever. But like I just, I know it when I hear it and the way that it's said, it's just. It gives me this very powerful physical sensation hearing that.

[Evan]

It's kind of the church of Satan. A little bit like, you know, that Sammy Davis Jr. Had, you know, he

[Ian]

was, he was a death grip fan.

[Evan]

He was a member of the Church of Satan.

[Ian]

Oh, interesting.

[Evan]

See the I've never lyric later in Hacker headed for the Sammy Davis way.

[Ian]

Fuck. I've never really gotten the whole Church of Satan thing. Like isn't. I thought the whole point of Satan is that he's like the opposite of God and so why are you gonna do a whole church about him? Church is about God. If you were really opposite of God, you'd just be anti church. But you've gone and made a whole new church for this other guy. I feel like the church of Satan people, they're a little bit confused about the whole thing.

[Evan]

I think that the. A lot of it, as I understand it, is that it's the church. The guy is you that you go to the church.

[Ian]

Oh, me? It's the church of me, you're saying?

[Evan]

Well, yeah, it's like. It's just, just. It's kind of like radical self worship.

[Ian]

Interesting. I am the beast I worship, which

[Evan]

I. I find to be, you know, the opposite of what I think is true. However, there's another way of looking at that where it's like if you really were earnestly, deeply about that, it would lead to the realization that you are inseparable from all things. That in a sense oneself is. Is the universe. The mind is the universe. That everything you perceive is a reflection of mind. That it's all you be careful with.

[Ian]

That the inner the. The universe is really just you. That, that's some. That thought process has led to some dangerous places for dangerous people in the past.

[Evan]

It certainly has. But it's. It's also what the Buddha says. But so in different hands it means different things.

[Ian]

I guess that's true. It's like a gun. It all depends on how you use it.

[Evan]

Well, it's what physics says today too. I mean, I think the simplest way of saying is like, you know, everything you experience is your own mind, your own senses. There's no real meaningful distinction between internal and external. I think Ride is hip to things of that nature, but I think that he's imbuing it here with a lot more of a. Yeah, there's definitely just like some. I would say just. Yeah. Fierce and ferocious occult signifiers tied up with personal observation and outlooks that are perhaps not literally true. But that being the case, also not logically disprovable.

[Ian]

It should. It should go without saying, I'm sure, but listening to Death Grips, it's important to engage in that. In that classic, that age old exercise of separating the speaker. It's not art from the artist necessarily, but separating the lyricist or the speaker from the subject of the song.

[Evan]

Yeah. Well, to be clear, I don't think that as we get deeper.

[Ian]

We're not saying that Ride himself is a member of the Church of Satan. I'm not saying that.

[Evan]

No. You know, I have friends. One of my best friends is Satan. No. One of my best friends has a lot of spooky tattoos. You know, there's like grim reapers all over him and he.

[Ian]

Jack Skellington.

[Evan]

He doesn't. Not that one. Any kind of spooky skeleton, he's gonna get. Get that tattooed on him. And he doesn't.

[Ian]

And he's not a skeleton and he's

[Evan]

not a skeleton as far as I know. Oh, he could be hiding this from me.

[MC Ride]

I am the beast I worship I close my eyes and season I place my fist defeated I light my torch and burning I am the beast I worship. I am the beast I worship.

[Evan]

What more is there said about. Beware? It's. It's. It's epic.

[Ian]

It kicks ass.

[Evan]

It kicks ass. It's an amazing open. It's one of the best openers of a record I've ever heard.

[Ian]

Easy.

[Evan]

Guillotine. Guillotine is one of the best follow up songs. It's just such an. It's an instantly iconic song. Like the. The way the song sounds and like the way it uses the textures that it has is so visceral and memorable. It's a showcase for like, how they can kind of make sculptures with sound and that's like a huge part of what they do.

[Ian]

Yes. Yeah.

[Evan]

I think it's these sharply cut off things like using silence really Sudden silence and then using really unexpected jolts of sound.

[Ian]

There's a spareness, you know, to the song. There's a spareness to a lot of the songs on this album. But I think Guillotine in particular is one of the more spare songs. But what is there is so powerfully packaged and kind of knit together combined. And, I mean, this one, again, to go back to, like, just the indelible hook. Hook is even the wrong thing to call it, but just the. The thing, the meme that just kind of wet, like. It goes, it goes, it goes, it goes Exactly. And then the. What up, man? See what's going on with it. If you guys got the CD thinking about hitting out here, they come through with smoke.

[MC Ride]

It goes, it goes, it goes it goes it goes it goes it goes it goes it goes it goes it goes, It goes it goes it goes it goes it goes it goes, it goes, it goes. Sit in the dark and ponder how one bit to make the bottom Pop to the floor and they all fall down it goes, it goes, it goes it goes, it goes, it goes

[Ian]

this is gonna come to the forefront, I think, more as we get later on into the Death Grips discography. But, like, right here, from the very beginning, that kind of, like, annoying, like, sharp. What is that? Like a sequencer or a synthesizer thing that I can't even make the sound with my mouth? What you mean exactly? Yeah, that like. Like, they are. I think they're so willing to just grab tones and textures from anywhere.

[Evan]

And they do.

[Ian]

It's.

[Evan]

A lot of the samples are. As many samples are from songs. There's stuff that's like printers and alarm systems and machinery.

[Ian]

Yeah, it's a sort of symphony of these unpleasant, like, industrial sound. Like. It's idm, I know, is a genre of music that I don't really know the first thing about. But, like, it's not real.

[Evan]

It's like a stupid idea. Intelligent dance music.

[Ian]

Yeah. This is not that, but it is. It's just. It's not what you expect. A. If you're thinking of this as just, like, rap music, it's not what you would expect that to sound like. I was interested to see some of those in those interviews that you sent earlier. Some of the counterpoints that a couple of the different interviewers were calling out were like, the odd future guys because ex military came out in 2011. This was right when I think Goblin was 2011. Doris was maybe 2012, 2013 or something. And they seem so dissimilar to me now, especially with Tyler as a Coachella headliner and has the whole lifestyle apparel line and stuff like that. He's cool, too. He's got his own thing going on, but it's so far away from this. But I guess Back in 2011, there was much more crossover or you could see more similarities between, you know, an album like Ex Military and then a record like Goblin.

[Evan]

Yeah, well, I remember when Goblin came out and I. I saw people love it and I did listen to it and like, of course, like, the video where he's like, eats like a bug or whatever, I understood the appeal, but in retrospect, I see why the appeal was strongest among high schoolers.

[Ian]

The only reason I bring all this up is. Is to say that, like, it's sort of. It was shocking to me, mildly shocking to me, to see all these people just kind of wedging Death Grips and Odd Future into the same. You know, into the same little niche of whatever you want to call this experimental hip hop, alternative rap or whatever back in 2011, when here in 2026, we know that they're so wildly disparate, dissimilar in terms of the type of music they would go on to make, the type of people, the type of artists they are. But for a brief moment, you know, there was this kind of germinal, I think, stage in the music industry around then where you could just say, yeah, this is basically the same as that. And they kind of go along with one another.

[Evan]

Well, yeah, they got signed, I think, based on that premise, to a major label shortly thereafter.

[Ian]

This, the video for Guillotine, also classic. He's just hanging in the car. I love that he's wearing the seat belt.

[Evan]

Yeah, well, you're not gonna wear a seatbelt.

[Ian]

He's modeling responsible behavior there.

[Evan]

There's some times where it's like he says something really scary, and then there's just, like, one other thing about it that it's like him wearing the seatbelt during this. Like, when he says the line about one too many times. Been disgusted by the stench of rot. It's such a drag, you know, he wants to cut someone's head off, but it doesn'. He doesn't like it. It smells bad. You know, that's gross.

[Ian]

You know, it is.

[Evan]

Come on. That's. That's gross. It's like, yeah, I'm gonna. I'm gonna run someone over in my car, but I'm wearing my seatbelt. I'm not crazy.

[Ian]

I love that. It's also clearly such an old car. Like, you know, sometimes you Would put on a seatbelt just to get the car to stop beeping at you. But this car has. You can see in the video, it has crank windows. It's got handle windows. It's clearly such an old car that, like, there's no way in hell that this thing would ever beep at you if you're not wearing your seatbelt. And yet he's, you know, he's driving on the freeway.

[Evan]

Click it or ticket.

[Ian]

Guillotine banger alert. Coming up. Spread eagle cross the block.

[Evan]

Talk about using the rock and roll music.

[Ian]

Oh, man.

[Evan]

Link Ray.

[Ian]

This just fucking rocks. Yeah. Rumb1 Bob Dylan's favorite songs.

[Evan]

Yeah. It's a song Bob Dylan has played on the stage in the last few years in. In one form or another. What a cool song.

[Ian]

It rocks. It just rocks.

[Evan]

The way that his vocals, like. Sounds so, like, detached, like, just, like, pasted on over it. It shouldn't work as well as it does. It almost sounds like this music was written, it was waiting for this to happen to it.

[MC Ride]

Yeah.

[Ian]

It's kind of hard to believe that Rumble ever existed in another context beyond this. Totally.

[Evan]

It's such a rich piece of music that, like, it can hold. That Rumble is tough enough to take everything that riot is throwing at it, which is everything.

[MC Ride]

Spready, go cross the block Spready, go cross the block Spready, go cross the block I fuck the music, I make it curve I fuck the music with my serpent Curve Hit, hit, hit Wanna be had no fear Comes and goes, man, it's here no one knows Feel so weird when it blows through my bones I got a dose for it Wanna know more? Cause it's about what I got to show for it I want some more of it I want to merge I got so bored with it I shot it up Wanna light my torch with it and get all up yeah, I've

[Evan]

heard it so many times. But listening to it today, like when he says, shit is mine, it's just like, it sounds true. It sounds like it is his.

[Ian]

I mean, speaking of sounds true, I don't know what the hell driving down the street to the beat of a blowjob means.

[Evan]

How do you not know what that means? That's like the most obvious lyric of Death Grips career to the beat of a blowjob. Getting a blowjob while you're driving down the street.

[Ian]

But what's the beat of it? Like, what's the sound of? What's the rhythm?

[Evan]

You need me to spell this out for you? It's not a beat can be Something that's just a. You know, it's a movement. It doesn't have to be the sound.

[Ian]

Uh huh. All right, but there's.

[Evan]

Come on. Use your imagination. Get your mind in the gutter a little bit so I don't have to.

[Ian]

You're gonna have to get. Get over your prudishness. Talking about this Death Grips type shit.

[Evan]

Are you happy? Are you asking if he's literally pressing on the gas with each downward motion?

[Ian]

Downward motion?

[Evan]

If somebody's behind him, like, honking.

[Ian]

Well, I mean, I think he's just

[Evan]

like going three feet every. Every two seconds.

[Ian]

Every night? Yeah, every second and a half. I mean, it goes along with the course. I fuck the music, I make it come. I fuck the music with my serpent tongue. I think that there is this. To me, it's not like literally just, you know, he's getting sucked off while he's driving his car. Although maybe he is. But I like this sort of weird, almost nonsensical kind of interpolation of sex and songs. Rock music. Because, like, yeah, the song sounds like that to me. The way that his words just kind of intrude on Rumble, but totally recontextualize it and like, kind of like it's almost like it's wearing the skin of Rumble. Like it becomes a song.

[Evan]

He says how I bend the rhythm over.

[MC Ride]

How I bend the rhythm over Hit, hit, hit it on my knee Give it up, I need it all the time Bleeding on the drop of a dime down the path until it starts moving Makes my red wall make no mistake, I made Simone.

[Evan]

The way that he uses that sex is invoked all over their lyrics. It's.

[Ian]

We've dealt with some horny artists in the past.

[Evan]

Yeah. I mean, it. It gets Mike love pretty intense in here.

[Ian]

I mean, love is right in his name.

[Evan]

I think Lulu is probably the. You know, there's a lot of Lulu.

[Ian]

Yes.

[Evan]

Just like true. You know, it's like. Like, you know, listen to our Lulu episode. But the way that this stuff is used, I think a lot of the time it is like kind of abstract and explicit and equal measure. But in this particular case is not super intellectualized.

[Ian]

Let's say it's a power trip. It's a fantasy.

[Evan]

Yeah. It's kind of just a vibe.

[Ian]

Yeah. I mean, like I was saying with Beware, you know, I am the beast, I worship. Like, it's much more about just these kind of glimpses. It's almost like montage music. You know, you're not fully understanding each and every image that flashes before you on the screen. You're not, you know, kind of able to interpret all of the detail and all of the context for one image in one second, the next image, next second. But like, they're kind of collective, you know, they're cumulative effect, piling them all up next to one another. And inevitably one or two images does stick out in your brain, does leap out, does kind of hook you. And I get the same thing out of a lot of these rhymes. And then on top of that, it's just like bouncing against just the baddest fucking sample I think that it could imagine. It's so cool how like. Cause you can listen to a song like Rumble. I can in 2026 and be like, yeah, this is badass, just like the original Rumble. But like, I'm listening to a. What is it, 60, 70, 80 year old, like, you know, rock song that, like a bunch of greasy old boomers in their garage are also interested in listening to and banging like, you know, it.

[Evan]

I mean, Lee was just. He just was cool.

[Ian]

He was like, the song has lost some of its cultural power and its cultural context as the culture has just moved beyond it. But, like, that's what I love about this, is that, like, it takes it

[Evan]

brings it back, it makes it as

[Ian]

powerful as it ever was. Exactly.

[Evan]

Yeah. And it's true to the spirit of the original song, actually, like, it does. It's a way of honoring the song.

[Ian]

Yeah. I think anyone who digs Rumble should be able to dig Spread Eagle across the Block and kind of pick up what it's putting down.

[Evan]

And I just. Man, those like, those like chopped up, splattered vocal samples. Iconic. Whether they're using like a recognizable sample or not, everything is firing on all cylinders. And it's not just like copy paste either, which so much I think is part of what's turned me off about a lot of hip hop and rap production. And it's like, why I'm not as interested in it historically is the sense that it's sort of like, here's the beat and then copy paste, copy paste, copy paste. And there's such a. An unpredictability. There's so many layers to what is happening here that it feels like as dynamic as. As people playing live. And that only gets further explored in the rest of their records. Nice video too, for Spread Eagle across the Block with young, young people skating. Skateboarding. That is not figure skating. I guess we should go on to the next song.

[Ian]

Mm. Lord of the Game, man. What another just banger. Just like that's what I love about this. It's just so catchy. It's just like every one has just got me just amped.

[Evan]

This one also features a sort of boomerish rock sample with the Crazy World of Arthur Brown. Fire sample. I am the God of hellfire I

[MC Ride]

am the God of hellfire and I

[Ian]

bring you fire

[MC Ride]

I take you to burn.

[Ian]

I don't know that I've ever heard this.

[Evan]

No.

[Ian]

Yeah. I mean, it sounds like something I might have heard, but it's not.

[Evan]

Well, anyway, it's a. Another great example of their literacy with penchant for using the. Yeah, and it's specifically like. Like,'60s psychedelic rock references.

[Ian]

I like it. It sounds cool. I mean, I think that there's another very notable instance of that type of thing on a song a few lines down. That is a song I'm very familiar with that. I'm sure it's actually a song by a former guest on Junkerman podcast, where it's just like a teeny little snippet of song that.

[Evan]

The Ariel Pink sample.

[Ian]

That's right. Get nine in the Morning. Great song. Anyways, you know, it's just kind of. That's what I'm saying. There's this maximalist approach thing where it's just. That's just one other element in this mosaic of sound and feeling and rhythm that it's hard for me to even, like, even knowing what I'm looking for. It's hard for me sometimes to clock, like, oh, this comes from that. This comes from this. Cause there's, like, Beasties samples on Lord of the Game too, right?

[Evan]

There's, like, three Beastie Boys samples on this record.

[Ian]

I'm pretty sure at least one is on Lord of the Game.

[MC Ride]

Yeah.

[Ian]

Brass monkey. It's just, like, I can't even, like, thinking about it right now. Like, point out exactly where that shows up, but I know it's in there somewhere.

[MC Ride]

Into the flame, into the fire with no regard for a thing but that I'm the lord of the game I rule this in fire I am the God of hell fire Lord of the

[Evan]

game did you read Going on to the next song on Tachyon? Did you read that thing about what happened during the video?

[Ian]

Yes. Yeah. Which is so. I mean, you.

[Evan]

You.

[Ian]

You see the video and, like, it is just.

[Evan]

The video is one of the freaky.

[Ian]

It's very disturbing. It's, like, extremely disturbing.

[Evan]

To me, it looks like the beginning of this video, like, made by, like, a school shooter.

[Ian]

A school shooter, exactly. He literally looks like he's about ready to walk into this empty office building, presumably in like the suburbs of Sacramento and just like just torch the place. Well, because in the gas mask, he's

[Evan]

wearing like an all black tactical outfit. And he actually did walk into a functioning office building in ostensibly the suburbs of Sacramento. And there were people there and they were scared and the whole situation was really bad, apparently.

[Ian]

I'm shocked.

[Evan]

Yeah. I don't know what they were expecting.

[Ian]

I mean, imagine if you were the person who said. Because you hear it in the video, some woman says hello, and then it cuts to the actual song and then it's off to something. Imagine if you were that person. Like, I would be flipping and flipping my wig.

[Evan]

Well, they. Yeah. Zach Hill says in an interview that they cut the audio after she says hello. Because it didn't. It. I guess she was screaming probably. And there's for good something that. Also in that quote though, he says, like, it was a very scary situation for. For ride.

[Ian]

Won't someone think of ride here? Hello.

[Evan]

I'm sure it became scary, you know, I mean, there's. It's not a good position to be in.

[Ian]

It may be a position you totally put yourself in and it's 100% your fault, but the fact remains it is in a good position to be in

[Evan]

and have to say it was for our. It was for.

[Ian]

That's right.

[Evan]

We're artists.

[Ian]

Tachyon. I mean, this is another great element of the whole death grips cosmology here. But like, we're at the beginning of this record when we're talking about, you know, we have Charles Manson and we've got this weird Church of Satan shit. Then we've got like, you know, guillotine.

[Evan]

I am the God of hellfire.

[Ian]

And now here we are into like deep sci fi stuff. Do you know what a tachyon is?

[Evan]

Well, from what I understand a tachyon is. It was a theoretical particle. A particle.

[Ian]

Exactly.

[Evan]

Faster than the speed of light.

[Ian]

It's never been glimpsed. Exactly.

[Evan]

Because I think it's disproven.

[Ian]

Did they disprove it?

[Evan]

Tachyon not real. Let's see. Regrettably, for science fiction fans, tachyons are not real physical particles that appear in nature. So it was part of a science fiction thing.

[Ian]

I think that they. I think they sound like hypothetical particle

[Evan]

that always travels faster than light. It was first theorized in 1967. Status hypothetical.

[Ian]

Yeah, it's one of these things like dark matter, you know, where, well, dark matter is real. Well, but like, no one is able to Measure it or explain what it is or point. You can't say that. You can't point at something and say that's dark matter. You can only point at the absence of something and say that's where dark matter should be. Something is. It's one of these things that like, is a mental exercise, a mental concept that you can't actually get any sort of physical tangibility to. And it's more interest to me. This type of stuff is always more interesting to think about than it is to actually knuckle down on the details and like get into the research and understand, oh, is it hypothetical? Oh, was it proven? Was it disproven? I like it to exist as this sort of mental exercise almost, you know, like a resistance band that you can just kind of of tug at and pull in one direction or the other and use to kind of mold your thoughts and expand your. Expand your mind a little bit. And that's just. And now here we go. That's the subject of this next song here.

[Evan]

It's another thing I love about them is that you get just a huge amount of fodder for thought and contemplation. Apparently. In an interview with Andy Morin, AKA Flatlander, he said, we're very into science.

[Ian]

Cool. I like that. We're very into silence in the song.

[Evan]

It's a metaphor representing the sensation of either becoming that particle or harnessing its energy.

[Ian]

See? Yeah, exactly. It's more interesting to me as this concept or this metaphor, like he says, than it is as an actual, tangible, scientifically sound thing.

[Evan]

In other words, as poetry. I mean it is. Is using scientific stuff, occult stuff and historical stuff all over the place as symbols. Using those things in a poetic way, like in, in poetry. It's one of the things that I, I like, I'm sure in underground hip hop and experimental hip hop there's. There's plenty of projects that are doing that. But on the other hand, I do think that you'd be hard pressed to find a group that has a more intense omnivorous way with subject matter than them.

[Ian]

Yeah, it's a very big brained approach to music making, to art making. And I love that this album that begins with the Charles Manson quote and seems to be about the Church of Satan or whatever on the first song, then segues seamlessly into the link Ray Sample. And now here we are two songs later and it's about. About a theoretical subatomic particle. And the music video is the most like sort of disturbing found footage thing roaming around this anonymous office park. In a gas mask. Such a. Such a verdant garden. A cornucopia of images and feelings and sensations and influences. And that's what I'm interested in. And so even though this music obviously sounds very different than a lot of the other music we've talked about, like. Like that to me is what really hooks me. And then on top of that, it's such a.

[Evan]

It's. The song is about how it feels.

[Ian]

Yeah, just the banging sound of it. Like it's. It's. It's intoxicating.

[Evan]

Oh, I'm feeling it. I mean, it's like the most gut level thing, but it's like also some Bill Nye the Science Guy.

[Ian]

You hear it and you say, you know, me too. I'm also feeling it.

[MC Ride]

So you want to know if I can feel it? Do you really want to know if I can feel it? Because I can feel it. You want to know what. What I'm feeling? Yes. I'm feeling like a.

[Ian]

We got Cutthroat, the instrumental. Just a little bit of sound collage there.

[Evan]

Cutthroat instrumental is one of the. It might. Is this the first instance of the It's Death sample? It shows up endlessly through their discography. They are one of the. The great masters of interpolating and recycling themselves, often to interesting effect textually. But this is, yeah, the debut of that. Of the It's Death. Death depth.

[Ian]

And then we got Clink, which samples. Rise above, Rise above, Rise above. Now we're into Black Flag. Rise above, we're gonna rise above.

[Evan]

This is one of the more literal lyrics, I think.

[Ian]

Yeah, I mean, that's what is also impressive to me is that this is clearly just a song about the fucking cops, which is a little bit more of a well worn trope in rap music. Obviously punk music as well. Punk music too. And I think by using the Black Flag sample, they're kind of showing their work there, you know, and kind of tying those two seemingly distinct traditions into one.

[Evan]

There's a bit of vulnerability to it. It's a bit of humanity.

[Ian]

Here you see an actual person behind this. Exactly. It's not just spectral visions of demons and aliens and stuff. It's like, oh yeah, I am a guy who lives in reality. I do live in soccer.

[Evan]

And it's got a lot in common with songs that'll come down the line. I mean, the. There's. It's a thing that comes up again and as you know, we kind of joked about like the thing Zach said about like it was scary for Ride for Stefan there. Like to be in that situation.

[Ian]

That's so funny.

[Evan]

It is funny that he said that. But it's also like, you know, you can't go hardly a week without hearing a story of somebody in a much less compromising situation, like driving their car as a black person and getting killed by a cop. And like to be in a situation where you. You wind up in tactical gear with a gas. Like, that's. That's a sticky wicket. But I think it's safe to say that this song, I think, comes from much more prosaic but no less frightening encounters with cops who are on a power trip and liable to do anything to you.

[Ian]

Absolutely. Also, great moment at the end of this song. You pointed this out to me, which I didn't even make the connection until you pointed it out. But it so clearly at the end, the outro says, shot this for everyone who's been there, for my real ones who understand what it feels like to have your rights read to you by the. And then it segues directly into the sample of Liar Liar by the Castaways. Right?

[Evan]

Yeah. Like kind of a novelty song.

[Ian]

I love that song.

[Evan]

Pseudo exotic. It's sort of like the Ventures or something.

[Ian]

It's got a little bit of, like, the ostrich type feeling to it, you know, like the early Lou shit. This kind of song Factory novelty. At the same time, I think it's from, like, 1965.

[MC Ride]

What it feels like to have your rights read to you. Father.

[Ian]

Segueing directly out of. You know what it feels like to have your rights read to you by the. And then they're sampling Liar Liar, you know, so calling the cops liars by sampling the song called Liar Lie. That's. That's great.

[Evan]

Yeah, well, that's. That's what I'm talking about when I say, like, they textually use samples, and that's just like the tip of the iceberg. Like, obviously using Rise Above. I just love the way that you get rewarded by looking into it. It's not perfunctory. And Van Dyke Parks does this, and we talked about that a lot. His referencing older music and sampling bits of music and covering old songs and

[Ian]

replaying it himself and knitting it together into new composition.

[Evan]

Yeah, this collage.

[Ian]

Exactly. Ye. Intertextual sound collage.

[Evan]

In this case, it's but a detail of a song that on its own is also just very good.

[Ian]

Yeah, it's a banger. And it's something you can only do with a sample, you know, I don't know that We've ever really even, I guess, some of the Van Dyke park stuff. Although I don't even know if he sampled songs, you know. No, we haven't really gotten to talk about an artist who, like. Samples are like a fundamental part of the way that they make music. And that's such an important part of the way music is made today. And so native to the world that we exist in that, like, it's only. It's about time, I think, that we get to talk about a little bit of that shit, I would say.

[Evan]

Well, speaking of speaking which.

[Ian]

Yeah, now we're onto the David Bowie sample.

[Evan]

Yeah. It's not a particularly well known Bowie.

[Ian]

Yeah. What song is it? I don't even.

[Evan]

The Superman, I think.

[Ian]

Oh, it's just the Supermen.

[Evan]

Yeah.

[Ian]

That from the man who Sold the World.

[Evan]

Do you know that record very well?

[Ian]

It's fine. I, I think I've, I know some of the singles there. I, I, I don't go super deep on early Bowie, to be honest. I think everything before, like Spiders From Mars, I want to say I have not really spent a whole lot of time with.

[Evan]

Was this before that, though?

[Ian]

I think so. Right.

[Evan]

1970.

[Ian]

Spiders. Well, spiders from Mars was like. 72. Yeah, 72.

[Evan]

Bowie says about this song. I was still going through the thing when I was pretending they understood Nietzsche and had tried to translate it into my own terms. So Superman came out of that. They're sampling that song.

[Ian]

Yes.

[Evan]

Specifically the part where he says so softly, Super God cries.

[Ian]

Super God dies.

[Evan]

Super God dies, yeah.

[Ian]

Cause I think the song was initially called God Blocker.

[Evan]

God Whacker.

[Ian]

Honestly. Hey, I would not put it past him to be fans of Everything Must Go Late period.

[Evan]

Steely Dan.

[Ian]

That's right. I'm getting a little bit of a pixeline type vibe from some of these songs too. You?

[Evan]

Honestly? Yes.

[Ian]

Yeah. It would be pixeling. Yeah. I mean, this song obviously just kind of revolves around the chorus. Culture shock. Future shock. Fuck yourself. Choke yourself. The music video for this, I just learned what that is in the tombstone today. Are you aware of that?

[Evan]

No.

[Ian]

Okay. Have you seen the music video for Culture Shock?

[Evan]

I don't know.

[Ian]

Call it up. Computer. Let's bring it up. It's basically just a tombstone, sort of an animated tombstone. An image of a tombstone that's kind of scrolling from the bottom to the top of the frame. And then in the middle of the tombstone, there's a very small window.

[Evan]

A screen.

[Ian]

Exactly.

[Evan]

It's a window of fire.

[Ian]

Distorted footage. It's a man fucking A Woman in the ass.

[Evan]

Wait, there's a. What do you mean?

[Ian]

I mean exactly what I just said.

[Evan]

Is it blurred out?

[Ian]

It's. It's processed beyond almost all recognition, but that's exactly what it is.

[Evan]

Wow. This actually looks a lot like something that wouldn't exist till much later. But the most recent David Cronenberg movie, the Shrouds.

[Ian]

Never saw it.

[Evan]

There's a character who invents a tombstone that has a screen on it and you can watch your loved one decompose.

[Ian]

Sounds like David Cronenberg, but.

[Evan]

Oh, okay, now I see that it is someone getting fucked in the air.

[Ian]

Yeah, they mention it in one of those interviews that you sent me earlier. It says in their video for Culture Shock, a lone tombstone stands with a video screen seemingly embedded in it, playing a fuzzy, gyrating, pulsing image. Upon closer inspection, it's a close up of two people having sex focused on the penetration.

[Evan]

Yeah, it's like a porno parody take on the the Shrouds by David Cronenberg where you can go to the tombstone and watch all the times that you fucked your loved one.

[Ian]

That's right. And that's why you can't find this video on YouTube. There's. There's songs.

[Evan]

I just found it on like it was on like Facebook.

[Ian]

It's on. Literally, it's on a Facebook page. There's a Vimeo page for it too.

[Evan]

Speaking of, this song, lyrically is very much like a certain other song I think thematically that we just talked about on the podcast.

[Ian]

Why are you on Facebook?

[MC Ride]

Why are you on Facebook? Get it, get it, get it. Culture shark.

[Ian]

Culture shark.

[MC Ride]

Yourself, yourself. Useless information occupies reopen space inside your skull.

[Ian]

You know what's going on every day, every night, everywhere it's rain.

[Charles Manson]

So international.

[Evan]

Yeah. Culture shock.

[Ian]

Fuck yourself.

[Evan]

This song is really just about phone.

[Ian]

Well, this was. I mean, honestly, this is like pre phone music. I mean, or like very early days phone 2011. This is like the iPhone 4 has just come out here. So the phone is happening, but it's not nearly what it's going to become quite yet.

[Evan]

But even still, they see, they knew.

[Ian]

Yeah, they saw.

[Evan]

You know, it's actually much more true now.

[Ian]

I love the concept of just a little. Just like a. Like a 4 inch by 4 inch fuzzy VHS quality screen on a tombstone playing an endless loop of hardcore pornography.

[Evan]

I really didn't know about that until today.

[Ian]

Yeah, well, you learn something every time you hop on the mic.

[Evan]

It's a cool sounding song. It's definitely a bit more straightforward. Also Like I'm surrounded by morons.

[Ian]

Same as it ever was. Then we got 5D, which is the Pet Shop Boys, West End Girls.

[Evan]

This is a short instrumental. I mean the. The thing that comes up again and again in culture shock of like this sample of, I Believe, a YouTube video about a cult. Like. Like it's like a cult initiation video.

[Ian]

Yeah. Sending from the three dimensional earth to the fourth or fifth dimensional earth or whatever. You need to vibrate higher so you can capture the opening of the portal that connects this earth of 3D to one earth of 4D or 5D vibrate higher. Yeah. And then the next song is 5D and it's. It's just a chopped up version of west, but it's a very.

[Evan]

It's. It's a great little dancy instrumental.

[Ian]

I love it. Fantastic. Pet Shop Boy is pretty cool.

[Evan]

Yes.

[Ian]

And then. And then we got through the walls.

[Evan]

This one's really kooky.

[Ian]

I love through the walls.

[Evan]

This like the klaxon at the beginning. The like.

[Ian]

I mean this is like dance hall shit here.

[Evan]

Yeah.

[Ian]

To go back to what I was saying at the very beginning of all this, us hopping on to talk about this and listen to this album immediately after having talked about Latest Record Project Volume 1. This omnivorousness is sort of built in, I think, to the very nature of being a music fan, a music listener in the 21st century, certainly for people of our age. And I think that this is the first artist, first group that we've really talked about that has that same gene as omnimorous as someone like Bob Dylan is.

[Evan]

Of course, Bob Dylan doesn't sample music. I mean. Yeah, they're almost like a DJ rather than.

[Ian]

Yeah, I mean there's definitely an element to that. And certainly the sample heavy nature of a lot of these records, ex military, obviously, is very much predicated on samples. But like to think again along the lines of like, Death Grips is a rock band. And through the walls you've got a really heavy loud present real ass live drum track from Zach Hill here. And that's a sound that. That is very natural to you and I. It's something that we're very familiar with, something we love to hear. We love to hear the drums, but is not a tone and a texture that you get in a lot of other electronic music, a lot of other dance music, a lot of other rap music. And you get to a song like this and it's just got this like really tight, very dry, loud, almost kind of like annoying, but like ultimately kind of ass Kicking drum track here.

[Evan]

Like live drums.

[Ian]

Yes, exactly.

[Evan]

Well, that's another thing about them is even when they're not live sounding, a lot of the time, they actually are. Are being played live on a digital kit in order to get a live feel. Clearly, maintaining a connection to the human touch is really important to them and their music. And I think they achieve that through unlikely means as well as extremely obvious ones, like playing some damn drums. That's like, as much a part of what they do as digital percussion. It's like they're used interchangeably. It's part of their attitude of just like everything works.

[Ian]

All of the above. If you're delusional, your call will be transferred to the mothership. Yes, I have made trouble.

[Evan]

I think their influence has trickled down a bit into more mainstream stuff. Like, somebody could listen to this today and be like, yeah, this could just like a dance song.

[Ian]

Yeah, I mean, I. I honestly, so much of the Death Grip's reputation, certainly the early days, is like the most shocking and abrasive and difficult to listen to. Experimental avant garde, you know, whatever. And that's not entirely off base, or it certainly wasn't in 2011, 2012. But again, like, another here, it's not quite there. Yeah. I can't help but listen to this and just find it just compulsively catchy. Not tuneful or melodic necessarily, but just, like, very easy to listen to.

[Evan]

Yeah. And once you're familiar with it, you can just slide right into this record and it's almost like a pop album. Like, to me now, I think it's

[Ian]

a put it on album. There's no question.

[Evan]

I think this one is. And there's. There's a lot. It's hard for me not to, like, just get so ahead of myself all through talking about them, but it's really interesting to listen back to this one and then take stock of how later they really do actually achieve some stuff that is genuinely like that. You can't describe it in any other way than avant garde. And, like, actually only exists on its own terms as what it is.

[Ian]

But it's almost like they, like, worked their way up to that based on what people were already saying about them. Beginning people are saying, like, oh, they're so crazy and, like, unexpected and difficult to listen to. And they're saying that about this. Or Money Store, whatever.

[Evan]

Yeah. And that. You ain't seen nothing yet.

[Ian]

Exact. Exactly. They're like, oh, you thought that was up. Just wait. Just wait until.

[Evan]

Yeah, exactly.

[Ian]

Bring it. Bring that shit. Heated sling it Bring it. Oh, man. I almost had to bring back that shit. Kill it.

[Evan]

It's a bop.

[Ian]

I love it. Known for it.

[Evan]

Known for it is.

[Ian]

Is this that sample from that weird, like, German metal band or whatever? Magma? Yeah, it samples D Futura by Magma. I tried listening to this on that playlist you sent earlier. It's like a 20 minute.

[Evan]

Oh, wow.

[Ian]

I wasn't about to listen to 20 minutes of this shit. But the two seconds, the five seconds that they snipped out and just loop all throughout this song, they killed that.

[Evan]

It begins with something that's more in line with the kind of stuff we were just saying. It's kind of poppy, dancey. And then the verse starts, and then suddenly it becomes this queasy, freaky narrative. Narrative of Maniac. And it does that so seamlessly. It still is like a bop, but you're reminded that this is the album that had the second track about cutting someone's head off.

[Ian]

Yeah.

[MC Ride]

Broke through it never was attached to it Took all of that in a flash Knew it was about to crash so I masked through it Known for it had to do it acting to it I paid the price to roll with it Waste your life and you won't get it Play it out with nowhere to go Bet it makes you feel like a hoe don't it, don't it? Known for it I paid the price to roll with it Waste your life in your world get it play it out with nowhere to go Makes you feel like a ho, don't it, don't it?

[Evan]

Known for it Known for it Been through it Done everything I can to it it, you know, is another thing that comes to mind through so many Death Grips lyrics. And what I love about it is Bob Dylan. Pain Blood.

[Ian]

Oh, yeah.

[Evan]

Like, so much like Bob Dylan's Pain Blood is basically you. It could be a Death Grip song.

[Ian]

Sure.

[Evan]

The lyrics are so close to, like, something like that would be on this record. And of that track, I've always thought, you know, like, what. What's so compelling about Pain Blood to me is how it's like this triumphantly grotesque and ugly song. I always thought this song was a little bit like that, too, like reveling in filth. But you're kind of on board.

[Ian]

Absolutely, yeah. I mean, it's. We talked about this earlier. It's posturing. It's triumphalism. It's like kind of gassing yourself up. I think you get that from Pain Blood, and I think you get that from many Death Grips.

[Evan]

I think I'm resistant to that type of song. Like, I don't feel like buying into it most of the time, but for whatever reason, I'm more into it when it's less about money and bitches and more about being a disgusting freak. Bob Dylan knows this mode, you know? Like, he's no stranger to. Oh, certainly songs that feel like they're written by Rat Fink.

[MC Ride]

Well, I'm grinding my life, my life

[Ian]

Steady and sure Nothing more than what I must endure I'm dressed in the light that shines from the sun I could still get a death for the

[MC Ride]

wrongs that you don't I paid the price to roll with it Waste your life and you won't get it Play out with nowhere to go it makes you feel like a home, don't it? Donate no foreign. No foreign.

[Ian]

Wanted I need it yeah.

[Evan]

I mean, the. Speaking of, this one is the most ridiculous. Like, the most. This is the absolute, like, silliest song on this record.

[Ian]

Pink Floyd sampling.

[Evan]

Yeah, early Pink Floyd. Like, they. The connection to, like, psych. Rock just doesn't die. It doesn't quit.

[Ian]

These guys, they know their shit. It's easy.

[Evan]

Importantly, it's the Syd Barrett era that they're mining. The cool era, the era where the main guy lost his mind on acid drugs. Yeah, I wanted. I need it death heated. Yeah. Like, this one is macho. Talk about posturing. Like, this is the most outrageously hyperbolic macho posturing to the point.

[Ian]

Yeah. Clearly where it, like, to me, I can't. I don't think you can listen to this song and not, like, clearly read it as like, an, you know, an ironic kind of take on this type of songwriting.

[MC Ride]

Been working way too much. He could get out and get up. What's going on? Where's it? Make some calls to make it crack. Let's see. I need money trucks and ride and spot with hot winds and suck. The mission to get all of DM in a limited amount of time. I can do this and it's done like that. We're on our way Be it acid on the tongue, cocaine in your brain or some weed that hits your lungs like a runaway train Hell yeah From DMT to MDMA Got all this and more so till dawn we're okay. But anyway,

[Evan]

there was a quote in one of these interviews I was really looking for. Like, is there. Are there any times where Ride was actually interviewed? And there was one. He was asked by this interviewer in Clash magazine in 2012, what's the worst hip hop record ever made, in your opinion? Union. And he said too many come to mind to single out. Honestly, I don't like most of the hip hop I hear lately. Shameless pride and total ignorance pushed over spineless beats that sound like senility, oppressor worship fed to the masses by entertainers disguised as artists. There are rappers I'm feeling right now like they got that. But as a whole, I know hip hop could be far more than it presently is, and I want to see that happened.

[Ian]

That sounds like something Van Dyke Parks would have said about rock music in, like, 1967.

[Evan]

He is kind of like a park. And honestly, lyrically, the wordplay element of what is going on in so much of Death Grips and so much many of R's lyrics is so Van Dyke Parks, like, totally using words specifically that have, like, double or triple entendres. Constantly creating these situations where the references work with each other or against each other. Also, a Markie Smith parallel, I think could be made. Anyway, I bring up that quote from the interview because I think that this song is. There's a case to be made. It's like essentially a parody of kind

[Ian]

of vapid rap, but on top of that, it still rocks. You know, it's not just a parody. It's not just like, oh, that type of song that you listen to a couple times and you're like, oh, I get it. But it's like, not really a good song that is worth listening to. When I listen to this album for the whatever hundredth time.

[Evan]

And I think that's part of the reason there's a lot of Beastie Boys samples on the record. They're kind of masters of being stupid while being smart and being fun to listen to. They sampled Fight for your Right to Party, and that is a ridiculous song, but it is also a. A classic party anthem.

[MC Ride]

Shake it, can't take it, must break it, break it off now When I said this, I wanted. I need it, need it to make me feel heated Shake it, can take it let's break it, break it off, yeah When I take it Yes, I want it I need it needed to make me defeated Shake it, can't take it Must break it, break it off.

[Evan]

Now we have the opportunity to do the thing that somebody joked about us doing.

[Ian]

Yeah, I've never been able to listen to this song since that person left the comment that.

[Evan]

That they were like. Ian would say.

[Ian]

Well, it was.

[Evan]

Say the line.

[Ian]

It was about. What was it? It was about legs in the air looking like they feel nice Volcano pussy melt your Peter Like, I love that he calls it a Peter. It's like when I was 4 years old. Melt your Peter like ice. I'm supposed to say that it'. It's about Ride talking about a nice night with your sweetie baby or something,

[Evan]

which, you know, sort of the line, look. Legs in the air looking like they feel nice.

[Ian]

It's a banger, it's a bop. It's a fun one. It's also a great example of the scourge of genius annotations.

[Evan]

Oh, there's so many.

[Ian]

I was clicking around this. This is like the worst possible way to look at music. Like, I'm not saying that ours is the best way, but like, you look at verse one, I can do this. And it's done like that. We're on our way. That's one of the lines. And then the annotation says, Ride can get the drugs and women he wants easily and he's now on his way to the party.

[Evan]

Yes. Right.

[Ian]

Fuck a line every time. Get in, get a drink, lose our minds. Genius annotation. Ride doesn't care about the queue. He walks straight into the club.

[Evan]

So we know this a British guy.

[Ian]

He also references doing a line of cocaine.

[Evan]

Ride doesn't care about the queue. He's disregarded the cue.

[Ian]

That's right. Okay, this is actually a good one. Skirt so short, her ass is showing.

[Evan]

What could that mean?

[Ian]

Genius annotation just says freaky. If you're gonna do something like that, that's a good way to do it.

[Evan]

Oh my God. Chorus also, you don't want to know about the fucking annotation for the line about their pussies don't smell.

[Ian]

Actually, I do want. And that's exactly what I want to know.

[Evan]

Quote, vaginas are known to stink. I saw him with an odorless pussy. Attractive. Unquote. And it has five down votes and

[Ian]

no up minus five down votes. That's.

[Evan]

So if I was a member, I would give it one more down vote.

[Ian]

Who are these? I've never known. Who are these people who are going to Genius and typing that in?

[Evan]

Could be just one guy. In this case, could be the same. There's got to be.

[Ian]

I just.

[Evan]

I don't know that he hasn't gone into the queue.

[Ian]

There's this other one up earlier in this verse. Start to pondering rape. We don't endorse it.

[Evan]

Where does it say that?

[Ian]

Earlier in verse four, about halfway through Genius annotation. Erm. What the deuce mc ride plus 56. 56 upvotes. That's right.

[Evan]

Well, we know who said that. That was Stewie.

[Ian]

Stewie Griffin. That's right.

[Evan]

And he's right, actually. What the deuce?

[Ian]

What the deuce in the. Dude, I want it, I need it need it to make me feel heated Shake it can't take it Must break it Break it off yeah, what I'd say, bitch, the way that. That it just like rolls right on top of the guitar riff.

[Evan]

Oh, it's so good.

[Ian]

It's so fucking cool. It's so smooth. I love that.

[Evan]

It's from Interstellar Overdrive by Pink Floyd.

[Ian]

Yeah, whatever. This. I don't. I don't know. I don't know too much about the Pink Floyd, but you only need to

[Evan]

know the early Pink Floyd. You should. You should get into the. There's only like one full album with Syd Barrett.

[Ian]

I have a whole Death Grips podcast series that I need to be invested in right now.

[Evan]

Well, this is your chance. They're telling you, listen to Sid Barrett.

[MC Ride]

I want it, I need it need it to make me feel heated Shake it can't take it Must break it Freak it up there when I say bitch.

[Ian]

Then we got Blood Creep in here to wrap it up. Sounds a little bit like Ridge Racer and that's cool.

[Evan]

I think this song was one that I used to not care about as much, but now I think it's really good.

[Ian]

Oh, this one rocks, man.

[Evan]

It also leads perfectly into the next record, their next album. This one is like the stuff about like under the highway digging graves. Like, is so money stolen store. Like, that's where the money store starts. In terms of the vibe, I see that. There's nothing really as bonkers in the way that I wanted. I need it is. It gets a bit more just like serious and noided. To use their favorite word on the next one. Blood Creeping is like being in the car with somebody who is paying more attention to a crack pipe than the road.

[Ian]

Yeah. Someone you don't want to be in the car with.

[Evan]

Also has a gun.

[Ian]

He's wearing a gas mask and is driving to a suburban office park to wander around and film the freakiest music

[Evan]

video you've ever seen, judging by the lyrics. Also, like, there is imminently, like in the next four seconds, going to murder a bunch of cops.

[Ian]

Yeah. And it continues. Continues with that too. You get plenty of that. It's cool. It rocks. I love that. That whatever Ridge Racer soundtrack ass sample.

[Evan]

Well, that's something I love about so many of the samples. And so much of their music is like, it doesn't all just sound, like, ominous and dark. It has, like, so many other colors.

[Ian]

No sexy Y2K computer Dreamcast sounding.

[Evan]

Exactly. And yeah, thematically, again, like, the song will get there soon enough. But get got is like, picking up right where you left off in this car.

[Ian]

Yeah. The most terrifying car.

[Evan]

Yeah. But you're wearing a seat belt.

[Ian]

Gee. All right. Well, I think it's been a good first step into very different. Well, in some ways, very different.

[Evan]

Increasingly, I think, less different than I

[Ian]

thought than we might have thought. Exactly.

[Evan]

Every stone you unturn with this group, I think kind of proves those connections. They run deep.

[Ian]

They doing deep.

[Evan]

This is a group that has something of a. Of a mindset, you could say, that is related to the rock music. They're acolytes of the rock song and they rock. Three stars out of three.

[Ian]

Three stars. Ex military Easy.

[Evan]

A great debut. A modern classic from that new heated group from California. You can't wait to see what they cook up. Next time on Jokerman.

[MC Ride]

Radio.

[Ian]

Sam sa.

[Evan]

Sat.