Death Grips

The Powers That B

Death Grips finally completes an immense double album with the release of Jenny Death, assembling two very different--but satisfying--releases in the DG discography.

That’s not a detraction of Niggas on the Moon — it doesn’t feel like less, just different — but more a comment on the relationship between form and content and praise for Jenny Death, which represents another step forward for Death Grips, a group that seems to have walked over the horizon and out of sight albums ago.

The second half, Jenny Death, is better. A lot better. It’s perched far closer to the edge of apocalypse, a pinhead upon which Death Grips seem far more at home.

The Powers That B is a collection of music explicitly without a thesis, and while that’s fine, it’s harder to place in the scheme of things.

Their squashed dynamics leave the dissonances in the gutter, and except for maybe “I Break Mirrors,” it’s hard to differentiate the highlights from the chaff. 

Half esoteric and half essential, The Powers That B is comprised of Niggas on the Moon, a strange, short album where guest Björk was sampled as her vocals collided with Death Grips' own MC Ride, and Jenny Death, a more traditional Death Grips LP which sounds like where they were heading, rather than just outtakes and leftovers.