2012 was the year many will remember as the year of Death Grips.
Releasing two genre bending full-length LPs in the space of six months amid rabid hype and storming controversy, the enigmatic, experimental hip-hop group were never far from headlines.
So to say Death Grips’ reputation preceded them on their first Australian tour would be an understatement. Luckily, for those in attendance at Ding Dong on Tuesday night, the hype was completely justified by one of the most vicious live acts in the world right now.
Stripped down to the bare essentials, from the moment the duo of vocalist Stefan Burnett and drummer Zach Hill took the stage, their body language was confrontational.
Not acknowledging the audience even slightly, Burnett went about setting up a Macbook at the back of stage, while Hill tuned his drums and adjusted the positioning of his kit.
The stage set up was minimal, with simply the two men and two Mac computers, flipped and propped up sideways so they displayed in a portrait format. A fitting image for the band that has turned the genre of hip-hop on its head and transformed it into a glitched, corrosive, and pummelling hybrid of industrial noise and electronic hardcore.
Opening to a crash of percussion and deafening electronic squeals, the intimate venue was brought to the ground in an avalanche of hammering rhythms and Burnett’s visceral holler. Within ten seconds, Hill had already broken a drumstick, which flew ten feet into the audience – without him even seeming to take notice.
Opening with ‘Come Up and Get Me’, the venue was immediately engulfed in movement more akin to a punk gig than a hip-hop show. There were most definitely no sing-alongs, no hand claps, and not even so much as an acknowledgement from the band of the chaos that had engulfed the venue.
Playing for an hour straight with no breaks, Death Grips’ live show is an assault on the senses.
Letting the art speak for itself, Burnet and Hill’s interaction with the audience was limited to their performance, and the vitality of their live show spoke in ways that words never could.
While there was a laptop playing backing tracks throughout the set, the mix was tweaked so that Hill’s drumming and Burnett’s screams were more prominent and took centre stage. This lended the live set up a raw intensity that transcended their studio recorded counterparts.
Hill’s set up was scarce, with simply a snare, tom, and bass drum making up his kit. Furthermore, all of the drums had been tuned extremely loose, creating a trashy and beaten up sound.
An animal caged by his instrument, Hill was spastic in his movements, jumping out of his seat in fits of passion throughout the show. His fills were twitchy and off-kilter, yet never out of time, and the intensity was maintained for the entire hour-long set.
However it was Burnett’s maniacal hollering that commanded the audience that night. With a pentagram tattoo decorating his bony chest, his convulsing movements were a sight to behold as the duo powered through a set featuring cuts spanning from their initial EP, all the way up to October’s NO LOVE DEEP WEB.
Tracks such as ‘Guillotine’ had the entire venue screaming along to Burnett’s guttural ‘Ugh!’, while the group’s twisted homage to golden age hip-hop conventions in ‘I’ve Seen Footage’ inspired the most impassioned dance floor of the night.
Then, just as suddenly as the group had demanded your full attention, they once again retreated. Despite the audience’s cries for more, there was no encore, and frankly it would have felt cheap if they had returned for one.
This was a performance on Death Grips’ terms. There was no bullshit; simply a primal catharsis that proved music can still be dangerous and forward thinking, without being wrapped up in pretentious noodling or technical wizardry.
Dangerously unique and utterly terrifying in their conviction, Death Grips have tapped into exactly what’s missing from the musical landscape today, and are presenting one of the most engaging live shows going around.
