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Death Grips Just Dropped A Song With Les Claypool

I think the world can safely assume that Death Grips are going to prevail long after every other band has broken up. The controversial experimental punk/rap group have shaken and rattled fans for what seems like years now, with constantly changing and constantly uncertain news of break-ups, reformations, ‘last ever’ albums, tours (and then intentionally-artistic cancelled tours(?) ), and more.

Their brash tunes are at times brilliant, and exceedingly difficult to digest at others, and their repertoire features an increasingly diverse list of fans and collaborators, including Bjork, not only a major fan but has who was sampled on every single track on Powers That B first half, titled Niggas On The Moon, as well Tom Morello, Tyler, The Creator and Iggy Pop, and perhaps most notably the late David Bowie, who reportedly cited them as an influence on his final album Blackstar.

Only one month after the release of Death Grips’ new album Bottomless Pit, they’ve now released a brand new track, featuring none other than Les Claypool, bassist and vocalist of legendary band Primus. It’s called More Than The Fairy.

If you aren’t aware of Claypool’s work with Primus or his many other musical collaborations, you will probably know him as the creator and performer of the iconic theme song to long-running cartoon South Park. For those who are aware, you’ll know that Claypool is a fucking insane bassist, undoubtedly one of the best in history.

All hell lets loose on this wild track – I have no idea how they managed to make this work, but it does. Wave after wave of extreme, frantic bass, drums, effects and vocals cascade down upon one another with absolutely no sign of slowing. It is frantic, it is chaos. And while their recent output hasn’t impressed me so much, I absolutely love this.

This is not the first time that Claypool has collaborated with Zach Hill; Claypool played bass on Hill’s debut solo album Astrological Staits way back in 2008, after meeting when Hill auditioned to play in one of Claypool’s countless side projects, Frog Brigade. In a 2014 interview Claypool recalled working with the Death Grips drummer: “[he] was so totally insane I knew he would not be able to play my songs in any other way except for Zach Hill style. So we just became friends and we kept talking about doing a project together and we still talk about doing a project together. He said, “Come play on my record.” So I showed up and basically tried to play as fast as I could trying to keep up with him.”

Image: Tucson Weekly