Government Plates

Death Grips - Government Plates
Critic Score
Based on 17 reviews
2013 Ratings: #296 / 1115
User Score
2013 Rank: #331
Liked by 390 people
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CRITIC REVIEWS

90
Tiny Mix Tapes
Its idiosyncratic animus is something to behold, and even if you don’t like it, both the digital age and Burnett himself can reassure you with the verse, “Don’t worry; in a few, you’ll all be somewhere else.”
84
Pitchfork

Unlike the blunt, confrontational NO LOVE DEEP WEB, Government Plates lets you think for yourself and even if it doesn’t have an agenda, that doesn’t mean it’s nihilistic.  It’s music that doesn’t care about how you feel, just how you react to it.

80
Drowned in Sound

Somehow all these disparate parts click together and make Government Plates the most captivating Death Grips album yet.

80
PopMatters
Their creativity is flowing at its peak and they are only concerned with music, and you should be as well.
80
NME
Terrifying and innovative album from the masters of uneasy listening is a tough but engaging listen.
80
SPIN
An album so urgent and pressing that it often foregoes language for feeling, explanations for executions.
80
Slant Magazine

Government Plates is another fascinating, frustrating, full-throttle effort from Death Grips.

80
The Skinny
It's at times a challenging listen – even by their standards – but one that further empowers their merciless, self-serving legacy.
80
DIY

Showing a complete disrespect for song structure and melody, the record ditches the immediate hooks and conventional beats of 'The Money Store', without abandoning any of its toothless anger.

75
Spectrum Culture
There’s something elusive that makes it all work, even if that very quality means it feels consistently out of reach.
75
Pretty Much Amazing
Death Grips thrive on impulsiveness, but it so often seems like outright chaos that it can be hard to tell what they’re really after.
70
The Line of Best Fit

Death Grips are at their best when they’re just being plain weird. Some of the attempts to fully reproduce various types of dance music fall a little flat – it’s a passable imitation, but the kind of people who like psytrance might not have much time for most of Government Plates.

70
Rolling Stone

Government Plates is a rap record, albeit one whose abstracted fury and next-level formalism make Kanye's Yeezus sound kind of quaint.

70
FACT Magazine

Government Plates is sometimes just incoherent. ... But in the end these are minor quibbles.

66
Sputnikmusic
The result is a sometimes great, sometimes merely serviceable album which can stand among Death Grips’ ample discography, despite occasionally sacrificing melody for amplified pandemonium.
60
The Needle Drop

While Death Grips' Government Plates might be one of the most aggressive releases to come from the experimental hip hop trio, it's also one of their most forgettable, repetitious, short-winded, and half-baked.

50
Consequence of Sound

Other than album single “Birds”, this entire record feels like that show: a retreading of already covered material, where at points it doesn’t seem like they’re really “there.”

BradTasteMusic
72

There are moments of pure genius in the track listing. Unfortunately, as many people point out, this is such an obvious front loaded project. The first 5 tracks (and the closing track) are far more ambitious than anything else on this project. While Big House has a cool beat, Feels Like a Wheel is a fun shitshow of a song, and I'm Overflow brings out the inner Gachi, this album has easily some of the lowest points of any DG album. Bootleg is unlistenable.

HOWEVER... the opening track to this ... read more

Fertvlol
90

Am I missing something? Because to me this was a great album overall, but I get what people are coming from. Before I went into this album I noticed that this was a very divisive album where you either get it or don’t get it, which to me is very amusing because I can think of many albums of theirs where there are a lot of misses like Steroids or NOTM but to me this album doesn’t feel like it deserves the underwhelming reception that it gets. The production is amazing and I love the ... read more

MontyDog123
72

Today is the day. Today is the day when I actually listen to a death grips album that I don't love. I do still Think this is a solid project but it is a lot weaker then every other death grips album I've heard. You probably already know why this is one of death grips weakest projects but I'll say it again now. This thing is just too inconsistent. For example the first couple tracks on here are great especially the intro which is by far the best track on this album. But On the other side the ... read more

80

underrated, overhated
i love the vibes on this one!

VeggieGod
70

Cool project from Death Grips

dPreferNotTo
70

Worst from the deck of their albums I heard yet so amazing, which shows Death Grips is a national treasure

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Added on: November 13, 2013