FULL STREAM - Death Grips - NO LOVE DEEP WEB (Self-Released, 2012)

Add Sacramento's experimental hip-hop duo Death Grips to the list of musicians I never thought I'd like.

I've been a fan of drummer Zach Hill since he and L.A. art-punk duo No Age released their collaborative 2008 EP Flannel Graduate, but I like Death Grips for more than just the mere fact of his involvement: there's a certain organicness and thematic metaphysicality to Death Grips that I haven't found in any other super-aggro hip-hop group. Maybe it's Stefan "MC Ride" Burnett's internal look-to-the-self-for-inspiration vs. idolatry philosophy, the fact that Death Grips employs live drumming rather than programmed beats and their minimalist approach (see Zach's three-drum set-up) that imbues their primal performance with a certain humanness or immediacy.

Death Grips play Fortune Sound Club this Friday. Redcat Records will announce a winner of two pairs of tickets as well as a copy Death Grips' first (and only other) album The Money Store in the format of one's choice this evening. There's still time to enter the contest, which you can do by clicking over to Redcat's Facebook page.