Bears And Bullets Albums Of The Year (Missed The Cut)

Continuing with list week, we honor the best of 2013's albums with a few honorable mentions. Check it out after the bump.

BREAKING: Death Grips release new album 'Government Plates'

Pretty much out of nowhere, after months of mysterious tour date disappearances, Sacramento meta-rap punk outfit Death Grips have a brand new album free and available for download. Chaotic restitution ensues with Government Plates.

New CX Kidtronik - Lady's Krak P.S.A. (ft. Lady Miss Kier, Ladybug Mecca)

Last March, Stones Throw fellow CX Kidtronik debuted his magnetic and cutthroat "Locked In". The furiously cerebral track brought in likable comparisons to Death Grips, but that's mostly based on the tantric energy on display. Two months later and we finally get the second taste of his upcoming Krak Attack 2: The Battle Of Eli Skiff LP, with "Lady Krak P.S.A".

This time around, Kidtronik stays off the verses, with Lady Miss Kier and Digable Planets' member Ladybug Mecca contributing. It may not be as entirely abrasive as the aforementioned "Locked In", but the production techniques are no joke. There's a really heavy vibe here, and that's worth noting enough.

Check out the track below.

Lunice's Boiler Room set at SXSW

The Boiler Room is on an unbelievable roll lately.

After releasing John Talabot's recent set in Miami, and shortly after Death Grips manic SXSW set, the Boiler Room has another SXSW spot worth your attention.

Lunice's Austin set comes off a tad slow at the beginning, but things turn up to unbelievable degrees once Denino Farrar, Flatbush Zombies, and Mykki Blanco storm out. The finale culminates with TNGHT's remix of Kanye West's "Cold" and finally "Higher Ground" with the whole place ready to explode. See the whole thing below.

Our Newest Obsession: Clipping

Forgive me. My words to describe whatever the hell Clipping is comes directly from fellow 405 writer Wil Cook in his article about the other-wordly Los Angeles rap group.

"Clipping seem to be the logical progression from the Dalek, Death Grips and Shabazz Palaces' stream of consciousness. Two guys making rhythmical Tim Hecker style noise made into perfect swelling waves of cerebral hip hop."

In another word, the streamlined chaos of Clipping's midcity LP, available on the group's Bandcamp, is unheard of. The beats are disorienting, the pulse is fast, and the rhythyms are absolutely jarring. midcity is an experience that cannot be comprehended.

Aesthetically pleasing is out the window - midcity is furious art, made for the most visceral curiosities. For a taste, listen to "guns.up" below and just be ready.

Sasquatch! 2013 lineup revealed

The always underrated Sasquatch! music festival, held every Memorial Day weekend in May, has announced its 2013 lineup.

Headliners this year include Mumford & Sons, the recently reunited Postal Service, Vampire Weekend, The XX, Sigur Ros, and Mackelmore & Ryan Lewis - who are placed pretty high on the billing.

Included in the usually stellar mid-card are: Empire Of The Sun, Cake, Grimes, Andrew Bird, Built To Spill, Danny Brown, Schoolboy Q + Ab Soul, El-P, Japandroids, Death Grips, and plenty others (comedians a plenty, too). Click the poster above to see the whole lineup.

Tickets for the May 24-27 event, held in the stupidly gorgeous Gorge Ampitheatre in Washington, will go on sale February 9 via the festival website.

Bears And Bullets Songs Of The Year (#50-#26)

Going in this year, I realized the previous year-end-list formatting was a bit limited. I opted for lengthy descriptions of the year's best songs, other than adding more. Looking at both, I opted to add more without the colorful paragraphs that follow. So as of today, here is the first edition of Bears and Bullets Top 50 Songs Of 2012 (part one):

Bears And Bullets Albums Of The Year (#10-#1)

Continuing from yesterday, here are the top ten selections for Bears and Bullets Top Albums Of 2012:

Stream Björk's 'Biophilia' remixes, 'Bastards'

Next week, Björk will release a collection of stellar remixes from her most recent album Biophilia. Included in the 13-track collection are reworked songs from Death Grips, Matthew Herbert, These New Puritans, and more. You can stream the entire collection over at The Guardian, or just listen to a few below.

New Death Grips video - True Vulture

Not included on the group's most recent release NO LOVE DEEP WEB, Death Grips have released a brand new video for "True Vulture." The track has been out prior to the album's surprising October 1 release  from the band itself.

While most of the group's videos are shot in supreme lo-fi style, "True Vulture" comes from a partnering with Los Angeles animator Galen Pehrson, and voice-over work from actress Jena Malone. Check it out below, and don't forget about the album.

New Death Grips - @deathgripz

This extra Death Grips cut from last spring's The Money Store comes to us courtesy of Adult Swim, as an added bonus to their 2012 Singles Program. It's an earlier predecessor to their next album, which should be out soon in case you forgot. Check it out below.

New Death Grips video - Double Helix

In the now long-running tradition of very cheap videos, Death Grips have released their newest one for "Double Helix." This time, it's all Sean Burnett being filmed entirely within the back camera of a Toyota Prius, which is filmed. It's not that weird if you think about it. Watch below.

New Death Grips video - Hustle Bones

On the heels of yet another album this year, Death Grips (because I haven't said enough good things about them) have released another new $2 video for "Hustle Bones," a chaotic track that's set to the soundtrack of all your favorite drugs getting mashed in a dryer. Check it out below.

Albums of the Month: April 2012

Albums of the Month - April 2012

With festival season underway, and the full spring and summer catalog of new material getting coming out, April was another solid month. My #1 album may not be a surprise to you guys right now, but you shouldn't be surprised if it's one of the year's best overall. Here's my favorite three albums from last month.

3.) Lotus Plaza - Spooky Action At a Distance
It should be noted before hand that not only Spooky Action At a Distance (Insound), but every album on this month's list ended up beating out the #1 contender coming in; Jack White's Blunderbuss. And while the album was all-in-all, good, it failed to capture my attention and eagerness to replay quite like this and the other two albums did.

The second official album in Lockett Pundt's, Deerhunter guitarist, solo catalog, Spooky Action At a Distance often sounds in line with the best off the latter band. Pundt, who does his fair share of sonic experimentation with the Bradford Cox-led outfit, leads a more subtle guitar-driven set of tracks paired with minimal atmospheric playback; short echoes, underlying noise interference, and the like. But rarely does the 10 track album veer into unreasonable territory. Lotus Plaza, as a whole, plays with captivating, if not simplified elements, creating material that comes off as both outwardly catchy and demanding.

2.) BADBADNOTGOOD - BBNG2
The frequency of jazz albums - modern or retro - making any noise on this site is below the bare minimum. I stick, usually, to what I like, finding a comfortable niche to fill in the daily articles and pieces on Twitter and Facebook. Maybe that's why BADBADNOTGOOD's BBNG2 comes off as so invigorating and new for me. The hip-hop jazz trio, on this completely free album, rework a selection of notable tracks, including Kanye West's "Flashing Lights" and the James Blake-inspired cover of Feist's "Limit To Your Love," adding lively extended flair to each piece. The band, all relatively young, blast through their tracks with a calculated fury, bass and drums heavy. It's a brash, fitting reputation for a band that continues to gain recognition through the hip hop community, and earning more of a spotlight for their inspiring live performances. BBNG2 may not launch the group into a pantheon of modern hit makers (and more than likely, won't), but it gives modern music fans a much fairer and more palatable introduction into something that often gets brushes off.

1.) Death Grips - The Money Store
There's a visceral shock that comes from the first beat drop in "Get Got," the opener to Death Grips' second album The Money Store (Insound). Its chaotic mashing, only further intensified by the glorified tenacity of MC Ride, an unconventional rapper in the most plaintive sense. From then on, the rest of the album blows by you on a stretch of blistering, nerve-wracking tracks that bounce off of rap's comfortable norms. The beats are nauseously heavy, dripping with altered effects that give Death Grips their "punk rap" title. But The Money Store fails to fit anywhere, cruising in a flurry of creative blending and mashing of punk, rap, and electronica. It stands out, convincingly, not only among the crowd of records released so far in 2012, but among much of what rap has seen in the past few years. The unhinged fury of tracks like "The Fever (Aye Aye)" and "Hustle Bones" are almost obscene at times, and still eye opening on repeat. It's, without question, the best thing I've heard all year.

New Death Grips video - I've Seen Footage

Given the fact that their videos are so low-key, and the group is so prolific, Death Grips are literally everywhere right now. Check out their action shot collage video for "I've Seen Footage," which was just released on their Facebook page below and grab The Money Store now.

Stream Death Grip's 'The Money Store'

Death Grips have been everywhere lately, which is slightly odd considering who they actually are. The Sacramento rap punks made waves last year with Exmilitary, and a few weeks back with their insane wall of live looped gif's, plus a Coachella performance last weekend (and next weekend).

So if you're still interested after all of that, here's the group's newest album The Money Store, available in full stream from their Soundcloud page. Listen below.

Tuesday Bears: New Death Grips video - The Fever (Aye Aye)

Death Grips will never be for everyone, but anything that follows along the guidelines (most of the time) of punk rap will usually have me interested. The forever abrasive group released another bright-fisted piece with "The Fever (Aye Aye) earlier today; another jumpy, distorted anthem to go into the growing catalog. Watch the video below.

Death Grips - Lost Boys

Death Grips, the hardcore rap act, are making news for their recent - and pretty unpredictable - signing to Epic Records. But if "Lost Boys" is any inclination, the insanity is still there and probably won't be going away. Listen below.