Teaser // Death Grips: GOVERNMENT PLATES

Summary

Jokermen Podcast – Teaser // Death Grips: GOVERNMENT PLATES

Release Date: June 5, 2026
Main Hosts: Jokermen
Episode Theme:
A teaser discussion from the Jokermen podcast’s exclusive Death Grips series, focusing on the album “Government Plates.” The hosts analyze the album’s unique qualities, visual aesthetic, release history, and how it fits in Death Grips’ discography, while reflecting on their personal experiences with its sound and artistic intent.

---

Main Theme Overview

The episode serves as an introduction to “Government Plates” by Death Grips—a seminal, boundary-defying album released in 2013. The hosts offer a critical and personal take on how the record marks a departure from the band’s earlier work, its distinctive visual identity, avant-garde release strategy, and why it resonates differently for each listener. The conversation foregrounds the album’s experimental approach, the effectiveness of its visual and physical motifs, and its uneasy relationship with conventional text and vocals.

---

Key Discussion Points & Insights

Is "Government Plates" Death Grips’ Best Album?

• [00:43] Host 2: Questions whether “Government Plates” is the band’s best album, suggesting it’s at least a major standout.
  • “Is it their best album? I mean, it's—”
• [00:45] Host 1: Considers both "No Love Deep Web" and “Year of the Snitch” as other top contenders, but leans heavily towards “Government Plates” for personal reasons.

Iconic Visuals and Album Cover

• [00:55] Host 2: Praises the album cover as Death Grips’ most iconic.
  • “I think it's their best album cover… It's an iconic image.”
• [01:07] Host 2: Describes the main cover:
  • “A digitally rendered license plate that just says death.”
• [01:14] Host 1: Emphasizes the sense of void and detachment:
  • “…very importantly, just in sort of decontextualized. Just floating in a… endless black void.”
• [01:23] Host 2: Draws attention to recurring themes in visual assets—digitally rendered, floating objects, sometimes clustered as on the vinyl edition.

Alternate Artwork and Objects

• [01:57] Host 1 & 2: Discuss the vinyl edition’s alternate “COVID art” (as the hosts refer to it) and visual elements (grenade, shopping basket, bottle of pills) that also feature in music videos.

Release History & Innovative Strategy

• [02:24] Host 2 & 1: Trace the backstory—released November 13, 2013, for free and without warning.
  • Posted for free, music videos for all tracks, physical copies limited to 900 vinyls for Record Store Day (November 28, 2014).
• [02:55] Host 1: Notes this followed the template of their prior album, but with less shock factor than “No Love Deep Web”:
  • “…following the similar pattern that they'd established with no Love, Deep Web, but maybe not quite as spectacular and out of left field…”

"Birds" and the Notion of the Single

• [03:49] Host 1: Mentions “Birds” as the only song released individually; it arrived before the album announcement, inchoate as a single.
• [04:18] Host 2: Finds it “a hilarious choice” for a promotional track.
  • “Unique.” [04:30]

Orientation and Initial Impressions

• [04:40] Host 2: Queries Host 1’s first impressions of the record.
• [04:50] Host 1: Initially struggled with its sound—
  • “I think this one I had a hard time kind of understanding because it didn't like, sound like Death Grips to me initially…”
  • Observes the notable absence of sustained rapping, with vocals treated more as samples or sonic texture:
    • “It's more vocals and they're treated almost as samples. And it's like sounds more than it is like verses…”

Shift in Vocal Structure & Composition

• [05:35] Host 2: Notes the contrast with previous albums' dense lyricism:
  • “Feels like a wheel.”
• [05:36] Host 1: Explains the shift to repetitive, looped lines instead of streams of lyrics and how this departure frustrated them at first but grew on them over time.

The “Put It On” Quality and Album Flow

• [06:04] Host 2: Shares that they loved the album from first listen, especially the opener.
  • “…the first track, like, exactly was like I was all in.”
• [07:48] Host 1: Talks about “vaporous” vs. physical qualities:
  • “It's less vaporous than anything they've…because it's sort of just like a pure physical...It's physical experience. Exactly.”
• [09:05] Host 2: Defines the record as a “put it on” album:
  • “…it's the type of an album that you just…can put on and then play all the way through and then maybe you'll just put it on again. It's not something that's going to be taxing…”

Dance, Physicality, and Warhol Parallels

• [09:34] Host 1: Jokes about listening context ("snifter of whiskey"), but sees it more as high-energy, vinyl DJ set music.
• [09:39] Host 2: Delves into the “physicality” of the music and compares it to encountering Andy Warhol’s art:
  • “...thinking about Warhol's work as we have, you know, it's come up like a bunch of times and Death Grips themselves…have referenced it. I think there's something interesting to look at there…”
  • Describes how repetition, saturated imagery, and emotional weight in Warhol’s art parallels the album:
    • “...the actual experience of looking at it…that's a physical experience you're having with the image and yet the meaning…there's even more meaning, but also there's less.”

Bob Dylan Reference: Album Opener

• [11:31] Host 1: Points out the explicit Bob Dylan nod in the album’s opening track title, drawing a bridge between pop culture, literary reference, and Death Grips’ avant-garde approach:
  • “…Bob Dylan is here in the form of the title of the album opener. You might think he loves you for your money, but I know what he really loves you for. It's your brand new Lep skin pillbox hat.”

---

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On the Album’s Visuals:

  • "It's an iconic image. A digitally rendered license plate that just says death."
    – Host 2 [01:07]

• On the Album’s Physicality:

  • "It's less vaporous than anything they've…because it's sort of just like a pure physical...It's physical experience. Exactly."
    – Host 1 & 2 [07:48]

• On the “Put It On” Quality:

  • "…it's the type of an album that you just…can put on and then play all the way through and then maybe you'll just put it on again."
    – Host 2 [09:05]

• On Warhol and Death Grips:

  • "…the actual experience of looking at it…that's a physical experience you're having with the image and yet the meaning…there's even more meaning, but also there's less."
    – Host 2 [10:56]

• About Initial Confusion:

  • "I think this one I had a hard time kind of understanding because it didn't like, sound like Death Grips to me initially...there is rapping, certainly, and vocals, but it's more vocals and they're treated almost as samples."
    – Host 1 [04:50]

---

Timestamps of Importance

• 00:45: Is this their best album?
• 01:06 – 01:23: Discussion about the cover art and visual themes.
• 02:24 – 02:55: Brief history of album release and its "stunt" nature.
• 03:57 – 04:30: The odd choice of “Birds” as a pre-release track.
• 04:50 – 05:36: Shift from rapping to sample-like vocals and Host 1’s changing relationship with the album.
• 06:04 – 06:36: Host 2’s instant connection and the role of the opening track.
• 07:48 – 09:05: "Vaporous" qualities, momentum, physical listening experience.
• 09:05: "Put it on" album quality.
• 10:10 – 11:08: Warhol comparisons and the nature of physical art/music experiences.
• 11:31: Bob Dylan reference in album opener.

---

Summary

This teaser episode of Jokermen’s Death Grips series presents a rich, enthusiastic, and somewhat academic dialogue around “Government Plates.” The hosts debate its place in the Death Grips legacy, the radical minimalism of its vocals, the striking visual language, and its kinetic, almost sculptural quality. Historical context, personal reactions, and art-world comparisons intertwine, preparing listeners for a deeper album dive in the series.

Transcript

[Host 1]

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. Maybe the best piece of COVID in the Death Grips discography.

[Host 2]

Is it their best album? I mean, it's.

[Host 1]

It's one of them.

[Host 2]

I love it.

[Host 1]

I think it's either this or. It's either this or no love Deep Web for me. And then maybe you're the Snitch is like a sleeper.

[Host 2]

I have thoughts on those, I guess. Yeah. I don't know. I think it's their best album cover. I guess I'll just say off the cuff right now.

[Host 1]

It's iconic.

[Host 2]

It's an iconic image.

[Host 1]

Yes.

[Host 2]

A digitally rendered license plate that just says death.

[Host 1]

Exactly.

[Host 2]

California Exempt. It's a government plate.

[Host 1]

It is a government plate. And very importantly, just in sort of decontextualized. Just floating in a. In a. In an endless black void. Exactly.

[Host 2]

Which is a theme of all the visual assets for this album, the videos, most of them, not all of them feature like digital rendered objects floating around and interacting with each other in various ways in. In a similar black. Nothing. But that's also. I think there's also an alternate cover version where they're all. All those objects are like cluttered together haphazardly in the black void.

[Host 1]

Yeah, there's. I'm looking at it right now. There's. It looks like the vinyl copy of this. Yeah. Came out with COVID art. And it's got. It's got like a. It's got like a.

[Host 2]

The grenade.

[Host 1]

Yeah, like a clipart hand grenade in like a clip art shopping basket. And then.

[Host 2]

Yeah, that's one of the videos.

[Host 1]

Then the bottle of seeming. What, Percocet, Vicodin or something.

[Host 2]

Pills. Whatever the yellow pill shit that he refers to is.

[Host 1]

Yeah.

[Host 2]

What's the story with this record? 2013 13.

[Host 1]

That's right. I believe. Didn't come out. 13 months, 13 days and like 13 hours after. No love Deep Web, I want to say. And they. I think this is the first one on their own. On their own label. I want to say. Right.

[Host 2]

Third Worlds.

[Host 1]

Yeah.

[Host 2]

Third Worlds is their imprint.

[Host 1]

Yeah, yeah.

[Host 2]

Of Harvest. Is that the record label?

[Host 1]

And then Harvest and Capital. That's right, yeah. November 13, 2013, Death Grips posted Government Plates on several websites for free download without any forewarning. Subsequently, they released music videos for all 11 tracks on YouTube and streamed the full album on SoundCloud. The album was released to iTunes and Spotify January 14, 2014. November 28, 2014. You get the physical copies for the first time. 900 vinyl copies for record store day. So, you know, sort of a, you know, following the similar pattern that they'd established with no Love, Deep Web, but maybe not quite as spectacular and out of left field as the release had been for that album. That's what. That's, you know, that's a stunt. Or stunt is maybe even too not a charitable enough term. That's a choice you can really only kind of pull off and to the maximal extent once, you know.

[Host 2]

Yeah.

[Host 1]

What I do think is funny about this album, though, is that the first single, or. I mean, it's not even a single, really, the first song from this album.

[Host 2]

This is the only song. There's not another single.

[Host 1]

Exactly. And it wasn't really even released as a single ahead of the album. It was just the song that came out on its own, I believe. And then it ended up showing up on this album later. But the album had not even been announced at the time. Was Burr. Was Birds.

[Host 2]

Birds,

[Host 1]

You a hilarious choice of a song to be, you know, the quote unquote single or promotional tool?

[Host 2]

Well, it's certainly.

[Host 1]

Well, yeah, let's.

[Host 2]

Unique.

[Host 1]

Yeah, we'll get into the lore on that one when we get to the song itself. Anyways, this album is. Man, I've loved listening to this album recently.

[Host 2]

Did you like this? Like, what was your feeling about it when it came out or when you heard it first? I remember when it came out, but if you maybe came to it slightly later.

[Host 1]

Yeah, I think this one I had a hard time kind of understanding because it didn't like, sound like Death Grips to me initially, or at least what I expected Death Grips to sound like. And that the clearest instance of that or the clearest example of that, I think is just like the lack of rapping across this album. There is rapping, certainly, and vocals, but

[Host 2]

it's more just vocals.

[Host 1]

It's more vocals and they're treated almost as samples. And it's like sounds more than it is like verses, you know, and you do get those occasionally. But a couple songs are basically just like Two or three lines looped all the way throughout. It's a very.

[Host 2]

Feels like a wheel.

[Host 1]

That's right. You know, coming from ex military or from money store, certainly those are dense. Line after line after line songs for the most part. And you don't really get that. You don't really get that on this album. And I think it was sort of frustrating to me initially because that's what I dug about Death Grips initially. But I, as a wiser, older man, man, this one's been hitting the spot for me recently.

[Host 2]

I've always loved this one and it wasn't very hard for me to understand. I think. I think I. I don't want to sound like, you know, Mr. Know It all sarcastic. Mr. Know It all here, Red Hot Chili Peppers. I don't want to sound like that. But I do feel like when I first heard this, I mean, the first track, like, exactly was like I was all in. I loved it. I love everything about it.

[Host 1]

The title especially.

[Host 2]

Yeah. I mean, it's. It's like it was made for me. And I think that set things off on a path of great goodwill for this record. Like, I just. I really wanted to like it and I felt like it had a really interesting structure. The first and final track, the opener and closer of this album, feel more literary in a way, like a progression of the things that were the most interesting to me from the previous albums. There's more to chew on or think about with those two, and I think that there's plenty between those two to think about in that way. And then everything else. It's an interesting move and choice that I took to be deliberate and interesting for the way that it kind of lets the album be anchored by these denser songs. And then the middle is this kind of more vaporous, like, less heady, like. Or maybe that's not the right word. Less text based, frankly, like more. More. More body. More like. Almost like dance music.

[Host 1]

Yeah, No, I think it's vaporous in one sense, in that there isn't. There aren't so many words and lines, bars to, you know, sink your teeth into. But in another sense, it's. It's less vaporous than anything they've. Because it's sort of just like a pure physical. It's physical experience. Exactly. It's like the same way that people describe some movies as, like, pure cinema. Just the overwhelming power of the moving image. Like, I kind of feel that same way about a lot of the music in the middle of this album. And I think that they kind of lean into. Especially given what I've kind of realized my reading is of a lot of these songs. The way that I experience them, I should say, in that it's more just about the overwhelming effect of all the sounds together. I think they really just kind of lean all the way into that to the point where they don't. Like you don't really even need the same level of vocalization on this album the way that you did before. And it's exciting when they do still do that. I think they punctuate a lot of these songs with great lines very effectively. But to me listening now, I think this is a real album. I think in many ways momentum piece from start to finish.

[Host 2]

Yeah, I think it has a, dare I say a put it on quality. If you're new to the show. This is the term we use when it's the type of an album that you just. You can put on and then play all the way through and then maybe you'll just put it on again. It's not something that's going to be taxing and that you have to sit down for. In fact, it's funny in a way to imagine this being listened to while sitting down.

[Host 1]

Snifter of Whiskey this is a great workout. It's a great workout.

[Host 2]

Album workout. Yeah, it's definitely closer to like something like that if it's on vinyl. Like the correct context would be like during a vinyl only dj DJ set and like scratching it, which like we'll get there with record scratching appearing on a Death Groose album. Not here, but yeah, the. The physicality of it couched in or like framed by the very cerebral. That's what I love about this record. And if we're. I've got Warhol on the brain a little bit now, but like thinking about Warhol's work as we have, you know, it's come up like a bunch of times and Death Grips themselves have like seemingly have referenced it. I think there's something interesting to look at there. Like, what is it like to look at his like Jackie Kennedys and his like car crashes and. Sure, like the soup cans. Like all of it, some more than others are like heavier in the. The memories and the text and like the stories and all of the. The emotional weight they carry and what that implies. But the actual experience of looking at it, you know, when you're looking at like 100 of the same image in varying degrees of like slight difference and very saturated deep red or whatever it is, that's a physical experience. You're having with the image and yet the meaning. You could say there's even more meaning, but also there's less. And I think that they're, like, definitely clued into the ways in which music making can kind of interpret and play around with similar ideas.

[Host 1]

Yeah, I think that makes sense. And you. I mean, you reference Warhol as someone that you at least have on the brain, whether or not he's there in the music, you know, implicitly, explicitly, somewhere else entirely. I mean, looking at the first song to bring it back, though the text itself as such, you know, there he is. Bob Dylan is here in the form of the title of the album opener. You might think he loves you for your money, but I know what he really loves you for. It's your brand new Lep skin pillbox hat.