Death Grips, the genre-defining hip-hop provocateurs, have been very quiet since the release of Gmail and the Restraining Orders in 2019. As fans wait anxiously for a sign of new material, the group chose to go a different route and finally put 2011’s Live From Death Valley on streaming services for the first time.
Live From Death Valley is a set of two singles released via Philadelphia, Pennsylvania independent label Deathbomb Arc shortly after their debut Exmilitary. Deathbomb Arc ran a singles club in 2011 and 2012, releasing songs every week from artists such as Death Grips, clipping., Buff Chix and more. Prior to releasing the tracks on streaming, they were only available on YouTube and Bandcamp. As of now, the club’s other singles remain on Bandcamp and are unavailable anywhere else.
“Poser Killer” and “Fyrd Up” sits right in the middle of the jittery, sound-effect-laden hip-hop of its predecessor Exmilitary with the subtle groove of its successor The Money Store. The pair of singles clock in at less than three minutes, and every second counts. Zach Hill’s drums scatter in a wall of Andy Morin’s atmospheric haze while frontman Stefan Burnett, known as Ride, fills the spaces in between with his unrelenting and dense lyricism and delivery.
Since the release of 2018’s Year of the Snitch, the band’s silence has fueled speculation as to their future. Andy Morin has continued to make music and launched A2B2 Records in February. Zach Hill formed a new band Undo K From Hot, whose debut G.A.S. Get A Star was released in May of 2021. Death Grips broke their social media hiatus in December 2021 with a strange photo of Zach Hill reaching through a door holding a gold bar. In May, the band teased new music in a video of a moth flying over someone’s hands.
[Warning: video contains flashing imagery which may trigger photosensitive viewers]
Below, listen to Live From Death Valley, which you can also stream now via your preferred platform. Revisit our ranking of every Death Grips album here.
