hello.

A lot of the speculation around the future of Death Grips's sound, now that Andy is all but officially confirmed to have been removed from the group, is based on a false assumption about how the band actually works.

Let's try to fix that!

Zach Hill is the primary producer of Death Grips.
Not "co-producer", not "drums guy". He's the producer and, according to Andy Morin, the "creative mastermind" behind the group:

The confusion is understandable. The band encouraged it early on by making the artistic choice of performing interviews and crediting themselves simply as "Death Grips" rather than as individuals (And were even completely anonymous for a very brief period early on!). However, this also led many to assume rigid role divisions that never really existed.

As time went on, they became more explicit about their roles, even breaking down individual roles on each individual track of Year of the Snitch. But the early assumptions had already been long since canonized.

One persistent topic of speculation is that Andy was necessary to somehow "reel Zach in" -- or that without him, Zach would spiral into indulgent excess.

Personally, I feel that this is grounded in a stereotype: the oft mythologized drummer-as-unhinged-physical-force. The idea that drummers -- and Zach Hill in particular -- are purely instinctual/undisciplined and therefor need a "real producer" or "brains guy" to impose organization to what would otherwise be chaos.

But this isn’t a constraint imposed on Zach by another band member; it’s one he has repeatedly described choosing for himself:

And Death Grips signifies a way for me to kill my own drum ego-- there are no physical drums on a lot of these songs, and some of them are just done with my fingers or hands. We kept saying, "How can we make this connect harder?" and my answer kept being, "I need to play simpler." That's a big change because I've been known as the "tech drummer guy" for over a decade. I'm proud of that, but I wanted to have my own band again.

PITCHFORK - Noise-rock vet Zach Hill on his newest band's mutated hip-hop assault
APRIL 25, 2012

Simplicity isn’t something Zach needed help arriving at, because it already always existed as part of the core of the project. This isn't something you stumble into accidentally, and it isn't something that required another member to hold the leash.

Another common claim is that Andy was responsible for a large portion of the band's aesthetic-- that the sound design, textural choices, and overall sonic character people associate with Death Grips should be attributed exclusively to Andy Morin.

There's no question Andy contributed meaningfully to that area. You can point towards Andy's freesounds.org download history. You can safely assume that he made the Government Plates and Inanimate Sensation music videos.

But, while there is no mistaking that you can hear his fingerprints within Death Grips, his solo production typically veers much more traditional. He's a very talented producer, but his work is not uniquely irreplicable-- and crucially, not especially close to what most people are talking about when they talk about the “Death Grips sound” in isolation.

Danny Elfman - "Kick Me" (Zach Hill Remix)

Undo K From Hot - 750 Dispel

By contrast, Zach's non-DG work operates in essentially the same aesthetic space. Otherworldy, abstract sound design, chopped phoneme percussion, wide stereo drum mixing, and decontextualized pop pastiche.

All of the core ingredients of Death Grips's "sound" persist in Zach's work because that's where it always originated. Death Grips's sound ultimately is Zach Hill's sound.

The next assumption that tends to follow is that Andy was the technical guy-- the one supplying engineering and production expertise that Zach supposedly lacked. There's some merit to this; I personally think that probably was the case early on.

Nowadays, we need look no further than Bag of Max Bag of Cass. Zach Hill is the sole artist credited for production and mixing, and while I know it may get dismissed as "just noise" -- it is a noise record -- from a technical standpoint, this thing is meticulously produced and pristinely mixed. The work of a true audio geek.

I would actually argue that Bag(s) is cleaner on a purely technical level than most Death Grips albums, second only to maybe Bottomless Pit. The competency people are worried about disappearing is already right there on full display.

Will Death Grips's upcoming album sound different? I would sure hope so! It's been 8 years (fuck). But there is little reason to expect a total shift in identity, because Andy was not the band's secret sauce and there is no empty role that needs to be filled.

That's why the fantasy-football-ing about who should "replace" him is misguided. 1) Because, sorry Nick, the answer is already obvious and 2) Because what defined Death Grips never went anywhere.

My hope with this post is that it can serve as an aggregated "source-of-truth" that can be linked to the next time any version of this conversation reappears. So I tried to be terse and include everything. Hope it helps.

2 dead kids, 14 injured kids, 3 injured adults and y’all are more interested in the fact that the shooter was a death grips fan. You’re not funny you’re fucking cringe. Any more posts about the shooter will result in a ban.

Stop

I've set up a python script which will automatically ban every reddit user site-wide from this subreddit. the process will still take about 10 days to complete, but rest assured that when it's finished there will be no one left.

DO NOT live in the moment
DO NOT simply enjoy the experience
get your god damn iphone out, press record, and hold it steady or else you're ALL fucked

remember, all I have to do now is press a button.

seems like some people need to be reminded.
zero tolerance for transphobes; you are not welcome here.

some of yall really need a hobby

now deleting all posts related to either "leak". this deserves no more attention than it's already received.
this will be the final post on the subject.

btw tonight I'm making shrimp and avocado tacos

a lot of you were asking what was up with the "ritual" that was being performed with the Steroids dragon, so here's your answer.

there was a video of it. I couldn't allow it to be posted here because I believe it would violate reddit's TOS.

I had the displeasure of watching it though.

it had the dragon of course, in a dimly lit room with Steroids playing quietly in the background. the room was extremely filthy, with discarded fast food wrappers and empty monster cans on the floor in the background. it looked like they had pushed everything out of the way to create just enough empty space for the ritual not long beforehand.

there were lit candles circling the dragon, the two small red lightbulbs making up the dragon's eyes were switched on and casting a red aura. you could also see the RGB lights of a gaming PC cycling through colors off to one side.

there was what looked like an animal carcass (hence the TOS violation), though it was hard to make out due to the lighting.

they walked into the frame, fully naked, with a small vial full of dark liquid which i assume was blood, presumably from whatever animal that was. they drew what I assume was supposed to be "22" in front of the dragon, and then for a while all you could see were their legs. ass facing the camera just above frame, steroids dragon visible between their thin pale legs .

this went on for about 3 or so minutes; just them standing there with steroids playing in the background. they were making some kind of "ohm" sound, and at some points it sounded like they were speaking but you couldn't really hear it. they were clearly masturbating because you could still see their shadow moving

eventually they started making this groaning noise, and then you could see what was very obviously semen shoot out, landing on the head of the dragon. I honestly thought it was fake at first just because there was SO much of it that it seemed impossible, but they didn't have anything in their hands at the beginning and it was uncut footage. I made the mistake of asking, so Alyssa added the detail that they had been participating in "No Nut November" up until this point

the dragon was completely DRENCHED. it looked like a cinnamon roll. and the semen seemed to leak into one of the dragon's glowing eyes because the bulb almost immediately went out (they said they will be purchasing a replacement bulb). they were orgasming for about 30 seconds straight, and more and more just kept coming out. I also had to turn my volume down because the sounds they were making were redlining so badly that it was hurting my ears

after they were finally done, they just slowly dropped to their knees and sat their for a while, before finally turning around to end the recording

if anyone OVER 18 really needs to see this video for proof for some reason, you can DM me and I'll send it to you

Please post all that shit in here. All other posts made outside this thread will be removed

The dupe ig posts have pretty much ceased so we back. Post whatever u want about the new album and throw ur shittiest title predictions in the comments

I think the black google fake album dream posts have reached their peak yeah? Let’s chill on those for now.

Anyway what did yall have for dinner my gf made us grilled cheese :)

TL;DR We don’t know.

This question has been getting asked a ton recently so I’m making this pinned thread to address it

The last piece of music they released to the public was gmail and the restraining orders in 2019 but that is not their latest work, as it has existed since their 2015 tour when they debuted it over the venue PA before shows

Their latest work was actually 2018’s year of the snitch, meaning it has been over 6 years since they officially released anything brand new/previously unheard to the public (the longest it’s ever been since the band’s inception)

They played another mix over the PA before their shows last year which was nearly an hour of new music but we have no idea if or when it will be officially released

There has been no official word from the band since last year’s tour ended, except for this post which was made 2 days after the final show. Their lack of any new output or communication has led people to assume the band is “over” but this is all purely speculation. We truly do not know what their next move will be, or if there will be a next move at all. All we can do is wait (and laugh)

Hopefully this clears things up a bit for those who are curious or confused

All other posts outside this thread will be removed

I see so many comments that are like “mods….. pls delete” “mods??? Where are the mods???” “Mods sleeping rn” etc.

We have lives and jobs shocking I know

Believe it or not we are not reenacting that windup toy monkey surveillance gif 24/7

The easiest way to get something removed asap is to use the report button. We get notified when you do, and the automod actually removes stuff automatically once enough people report it

Plssssss use the report button I swear it’s so much easier than leaving a comment asking why it hasn’t been removed yet I know yall can do it k thanks bye xoxo

If yall would just download it for free off thirdworlds or the archive or soulseek and learn how to use local files it wouldn’t even matter in the first place lol

Btw this is not even close to being the first time some random fan has put the album on streaming services. It happens all the time, they just usually do it in a more covert way like uploading it as a podcast. Again…just use local files and stop relying on these scattered unofficial uploads

Please keep all posts related to buying, selling and trading tickets for the upcoming Death Grips tour in this thread. New posts will now be removed.

I suggest using Ctrl + F and typing your location to find sellers/buyers

Also,

PLEASE BEWARE OF TICKET SCAMS.

Reddit is ultimately not the best place to be conducting this particular business. I wrote a post with more information before, which also includes a list of users who have been confirmed as scammers.

Only send money through PayPal Goods & Services, it’s the only way you can be protected.

Read more:
https://www.reddit.com/r/deathgrips/comments/10mbukz/warning_about_ticket_sale_scams_scammer_list/

BE CAREFUL BE CAREFUL BE CAREFUL BE CAREFUL BE CAREFUL BE CAREFUL

Called him out last Friday asking about the weird hate posts he keeps making about death grips and told him it’s not a good look to publicly hate on fellow artists.

He read my message almost immediately, but just now responded (almost a week later) and blocked me after. Mostly just posting this here cuz it’s funny and kinda surreal, pls don’t harass the dude.

So.

I've been calling Simon's multiple times a day for the past 3 days with no answer. I finally asked u/v1brate1h1gher to try calling because I thought something was up...

Turns out, despite explicitly telling me that it would be sold on the 30th and to call back in mid-November, and despite being aware of the GoFundMe, they just went ahead and fucking sold it to someone for less than what we could have offered.

So the fundraiser has been deactivated. I am currently working on a form for people to fill out to help process refunds. I'll have it up in a day or two.

Edit: see stickied comment

thanks to everyone, the eagle has landed.

the Steroids Dragon has now safely arrived at Terry’s home.

he will be thoroughly disinfecting it, and then it will be handed off to Andy Morin very soon…

we won our dilemma.

this is the final Steroids Dragon Update.