Best Albums of 2012! (3)

3. Death Grips. The Money Store

2012 was in many ways the year of Death Grips. At the beginning they were still riding high of the left field success of Exmilitia, they then released No Love Deep Web. Both were given away as free mixtapes and of course by the release of No Love Deep Web, servers were crashing with the numbers trying to download it from the Death Grips website. The torrents lost their collective mind.

The Money Store, is the third in this progression of releases. It's definitely a more accessible release, with greater pop sensibilities than the previous two albums.

The raw anger which came across like a lion in a pack of hyenas, has been some what toned down and replaced with a pulse like energy that is irrepressible. That's not to say it isn't an 'angry' record, it's just that it seems to have been focused via the plethora of ideas, flips and u-turns on show here.

The flange synth (as I like to call it) is preeminent throughout, but as a base plate for what is layered on top of it. It's a signature calling cards in many ways. Like the best of Beastie Boys funnelled through Shabazz Palaces in-step out-step deliveries. MC Ride spits his mantras with an impassioned delivery which puts many hip hop vocalists in the shade.

This is 40 minutes of a speed rush sensation that wont let go. Like a pack of wolves chasing deer in the woods, it's unrelenting and magnificently scattershot.

Recycle this: Get Got, Hustle Bones, I've Seen Footage