Teaser // Death Grips: THE JOKERMEN 30

Summary

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Jokermen Podcast: Teaser // Death Grips: THE JOKERMEN 30

Date: July 30, 2026
Hosts: Ian & Evan

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Episode Overview

This episode serves as a teaser and reflective send-off for Jokermen's Death Grips series, marking the end of an intense, immersive exploration of the band's discography. Ian and Evan look back on the emotional highs and lows of immersing themselves in Death Grips’ music, discuss the peculiarities of constructing a ranked list of their top 30 songs, and hint at what’s next for the podcast. In a characteristic mix of humor and earnestness, they use vivid food analogies to express both their exhaustion and exhilaration after a deep dive into Death Grips’ abrasive sound world.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Listener Reactions and Community

• Polarizing Responses:
  • Evan introduces the show, noting it’s their “final time to say goodbye” to the Death Grips series (00:39).
  • Ian observes audience reactions:

    “I was gonna say it was like evenly split between people who have said, get this shit out of here and people who have been super into it. But I think, honestly, I've been pleasantly surprised at how many of our homies seem to be on the same wavelength with us on this stuff.” (00:49)

  • Evan mentions the delight at recent new listeners who tried out Death Grips for the first time (01:14).

2. The Death Grips Listening Experience

• Intense Analogies:

  • Evan likens nonstop listening to Death Grips to consuming only horror movies or endlessly spicy Thai food:

    “It is kind of like watching only horror movies for your entertainment for a month or only ever eating very spicy Thai food for every meal.” (01:22)

  • Ian concurs, describing the discography as “short and contained,” but more “intense, visceral, honestly, kind of exhausting… than whatever 21st-century Beach Boys stuff or just whatever random Van Morrison album from the 90s…” (01:40)

• Comparisons to Other Artists:

  • The hosts compare their Death Grips binge to prior, more mellow or middling projects, e.g. Beach Boys and Van Morrison.
  • Ian:

    “Whereas with many of our other focuses…the kind of lukewarm, like tap water flavor to a lot of the music... works to its advantage over time… [But Death Grips] I don't think I would have the stamina for an 18 month death grip series.” (02:47–03:34)

3. Needing a Palate Cleanser

• Ian expresses relief at switching from “torturous albums from the tail end of the Beach Boys” (“airport sandwiches of albums” per Evan) to something that “clears the sinuses out” (03:54–04:29).
• Evan:

  “Airport sandwiches of albums like the bland, dry, floppy pesto turkey sandwich from a vending machine.” (04:17)

4. Anticipation for the Next Series

• They discuss the physical and mental “reset” necessary before the next project, hinting that the identity of “Jokerman 4” (the next theme) was revealed in the previous episode (04:45–05:07).
• Ian:

  “I think we'll take...to sort of reset our system and enter the full mind palace necessary for our next series. And then come back swinging.” (05:07)

5. The Jokermen 30: Ranking Death Grips Songs

• The Exercise:

  • The bulk of their final Death Grips episode is a countdown of their top 30 songs, a tradition carried over from previous artist series (Billy Joel, Randy Newman).
  • Ian:

    “Perfect. How did you feel about assembling your top Death Grips songs on your list?” (05:57)

• Philosophy and Challenge of Ranking:

  • Evan describes the difficulty of picking between adventurous, deep cuts versus obvious classics:

    “It was pretty tough, honestly. There's, like, these more adventurous ones and … ones that feel maybe more like, come on. It's so obvious. They should be on the list.” (06:03)

  • Ian amplifies the inherent subjectivity:

    “I couldn't go wrong with a lot of my choices, but, like ... I couldn't go, like, too right ... I'm not displeased with the way this shook out at all, but scanning over it again, it's like, oh, yeah, that's a good song. But, like, it could also be any of these other five songs that didn't make it.” (06:19–06:56)

  • Evan draws an analogy to The Fall’s sprawling catalog and a necessary “lack of preciousness”:

    “It's a little like the Fall to me... You have to take it all together. … It's kind of like a little bit of a red flag for me when somebody's like, this is my favorite Fall stuff, and it's...from anything but ...a section of their career. ... I also feel like Death Grips engender a kind of feeling that's similar of, like, a lack of preciousness. ... I feel a little allergic to ranking it.” (06:56)

6. Value of the Exercise for Listeners

• Ian:

  “I think it's a valuable exercise here at the end of the day for us...as well as for people who are new to Death Grips, you know, hop in and see, give it a bit of a taste. It's like...getting the appetizer sampler.” (07:55)

7. Food Analogies Throughout

• The hosts continually return to food analogies, highlighting how their podcasting tends to overlap with mealtime:
  • Evan:

    “It's usually almost dinner time when we do this. That's probably why we're always talking about snacks and food.” (08:28)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On the series reception:

  • Ian: “I've been pleasantly surprised at how many of our homies seem to be on the same wavelength with us on this stuff.” (00:52)

• On the visceral effect of Death Grips:

  • Evan: “It is kind of like watching only horror movies for your entertainment for a month or only ever eating very spicy Thai food for every meal.” (01:22)

• On Beach Boys fatigue:

  • Evan: “Airport sandwiches of albums like the bland, dry, floppy pesto turkey sandwich from a vending machine.” (04:17)

• On ranking Death Grips songs:

  • Evan: “It was pretty tough, honestly. There's, like, these more adventurous ones and…ones that feel maybe more like, come on. It's so obvious.” (06:03)
  • Ian: “I couldn't go wrong with a lot of my choices, but, like, I couldn't go, like, too right.” (06:19)

• On the Death Grips ethos and The Fall:

  • Evan: “I also feel like Death Grips engender a kind of feeling that's similar of, like, a lack of preciousness. Even though they have less stuff. I feel a little allergic to ranking it.” (06:56)

• On food and podcasting:

  • Ian: “It's almost dinner time. I'm hungry.” (07:55)

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Important Timestamps

• 00:39: Evan introduces the episode as a farewell to the Death Grips series.
• 01:22: Evan uses horror movies and spicy food as an analogy for the Death Grips experience.
• 03:34: The hosts discuss the exhaustion and intensity of a Death Grips binge.
• 04:17: Comparisons to “airport sandwiches” for Beach Boys’ late-career albums.
• 05:07: Announcement of a podcast break to prepare for the next series.
• 06:03–06:56: Reflections on the difficulty and philosophy behind ranking Death Grips songs.
• 07:55: The value of the ranking exercise—“the appetizer sampler.”
• 08:28: Wrap up with self-aware food talk and a segue to dinner.

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Conclusion & Next Steps

The hosts close out their Death Grips journey with both relief and admiration, characterizing the experience as exhilarating but draining, especially compared to their more mellow previous deep-dives. They build anticipation for their next artist series while inviting both long-time fans and recent converts to revisit or discover Death Grips through their ranked list—the Jokermen 30. In typical Jokermen fashion, it’s equal parts musicology, irreverence, and rambling about snacks.

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For more, catch their exclusive episodes on Patreon or follow them on social media @jokermenpodcast.

Transcript

[Ian]

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[Evan]

Welcome back, everyone, to the Death Grips Jokerman podcast. One more final time to say goodbye.

[Ian]

That's right.

[Evan]

And so long. I'm Evan.

[Ian]

I'm Ian. Welcome to the Haters and the Losers as well as everyone who's enjoyed this series because it seems to be, you know, honestly. Actually, I was gonna say it was like evenly split between people who have said, get this shit out of here and people who have been super into it. But I think, honestly, I've been. I've been pleasantly surprised at how many of our homies seem to be on the same wavelength with us on this stuff.

[Evan]

And some who just picked it up for the first time. Yes.

[Ian]

New recent converts. Exactly. Who have been. Welcome to the club.

[Evan]

It has been a strange experience for me. I don't know about you. To be listening as much as we have to this. It is kind of like watching only horror movies for your entertainment for a month or only ever eating very spicy Thai food for every meal.

[Ian]

Yeah, I know what you mean. I think it's good now that we're here at the end. That or I'm realizing now that we're here at the end that it is good. That it's a pretty short and contained discography so far. At least we're fortunate enough to hopefully be anticipating a new record from them in the not so distant future. But it does. I have definitely felt like it's a much more intense listening experience, I think, than whatever 21st century Beach Boys stuff or just whatever random Van Morrison album from the 90s you want to throw. I've been digging Enlightenment recently on that note. Great.

[Evan]

Enlightenment. Don't know what it is.

[Ian]

Don't know what it is. It's one of the funnest.

[Evan]

Chop that wood, carry water.

[Ian]

One of the funniest.

[Evan]

Sound of one hand clapping.

[Ian]

One of the funniest things that you could possibly do. Calling your album Enlightenment, having a song called Enlightenment and then claiming in the chorus. I don't Know what it is? Van is the master.

[Evan]

It's very Zen of him, actually.

[Ian]

It is. Anyways, you know, listening to Jenny, Death or no Love, Deep Web or something, it's a much more intense, visceral, honestly, kind of exhausting listening experience for me at least. And so I think that whereas with many of our other focuses, like the kind of like lukewarm, like tap water flavor to a lot of the music, like that actually works to its advantage over time because you're just listening to so much of it that you can just kind of keep. You just kind of keep eating. It's like a big bowl of white rice or something. But this is like. It does. I don't think I would have the stamina for an 18 month death grip series.

[Evan]

No. I give credit, bow to all the listeners who along with us listened and it wasn't something you already were comfortable or new were familiar with. That's a good thing to do. And frankly, we should all do it more. Myself included, certainly.

[Ian]

And we're all. I mean, I think for me at least part of this. And I think the food analogy holds here as well. I needed a bit of a palate cleanser after. Remember Ram, Raj and just like all of the Mike Love stuff. And no peer pressure. Just these interminable, just torturous albums from the tail end of the Beach Boys.

[Evan]

Yeah. Airport sandwiches of albums like the bland, dry, floppy pesto turkey sandwich from a vending machine.

[Ian]

You just rather go hungry than even eat anything at all with those things. And so it's nice to really get an intense. Clear the sinuses out. And we're back to square one here. And I'm feeling ready and relaxed and refreshed going into Jokerman 4.

[Evan]

Yeah. Which we've. We've said what it is. Listen to the last episode.

[Ian]

You did leave that in there at the. I listened. I listened back today just to make sure that you actually did leave it in. And. And you did. And that's fine. People are gonna find out soon enough anyways. It's not like we've been hiding it exactly.

[Evan]

No. In fact, at a certain point we've gotta start advertising it.

[Ian]

That is true. Yeah. I think on that note, actually, I think this will run. This will run towards the end of July. I think we'll take a. To sort of reset our system and enter the full mind palace necessary for our next series. And then. And then come back. Come back swinging. So stay tuned. We'll be publicizing more about the goodies we have in store. Okay. Next week so just eyes on the inbox. Coming soon. But before we get there, once more into the breach with. With Death Grips and count down our top 30 death grip songs. Jokerman. 30. Here we had 30 Billy Joel songs. We had 30 Randy Newman songs. We got 30 death grip songs. Perfect. How did you feel about assembling your top Death Grips songs on your list?

[Evan]

It was pretty tough, honestly. There's, like, these more adventurous ones and explore exploratory ones, and then there's ones that feel maybe more like, come on. It's so obvious. They should be on the list.

[Ian]

It's gotta be there. Yeah. I kind of felt like I couldn't go wrong with a lot of my choices, but, like, I think by that same token, I almost felt like I couldn't go, like, too right, right. Exactly. Yeah. It was just like there were clearly, to me, a couple songs that absolutely had to be there, like, towards the tip, tip, tip, tip up top. And I feel really confident about, I think, our top 10 here. But beyond that, I do. I'm not displeased with the way this shook out at all, but scanning over it again, it's like, oh, yeah, that's a good song. But, like, it could also be any of these other five songs that didn't make it.

[Evan]

It is a little like the Fall to me, where I kind of think of being a Fall fan as understanding that it's all good. That, like, you have to take it all together. And it's kind of like a little bit of a red flag for me when somebody's like, this is my favorite Fall stuff. And it's, like, clear that none of it is from anything but, like, the first section or even just a section of their career. Like, you've got to kind of have like, a. An unprecious overall appreciation to really get the deep appreciation that there is to get. I also feel like Death Grips engender a kind of feeling that's similar of, like, a lack of preciousness. Even though they have less stuff. I feel a little allergic to ranking it.

[Ian]

You know, take this as seriously as you take anything that we ever do. But I think it's a valuable exercise here at the end of the day for us. Having listened, you know, re. Listened really invested and investigated all this material over the last couple months, as well as for people who are new to Death Grips, you know, hop in and see, give it a bit of a taste. It's like going to the. You know, going to the restaurant and just getting the appetizer sampler, more food that's right. It's almost dinner time. I'm hungry.

[Evan]

It's usually almost dinner time when we do this. That's probably why we're always talking about snacks and food.

[Ian]

About food. That's right. Well, on that note, let's do this so that we can go have dinner.