Note: For purposes of sanity and artistic integrity, I will not be censoring the word “Nigga” in this review. I won’t use it outside of referring to the name of the project, and if this offends you, you should probably just read another article or something. Also, I’m entirely aware of the “incomplete” nature of this project, and I am reviewing these 8 tracks as their own independent entity. They may change in perspective when the other half of the project is revealed, but for now, these 8 tracks make up this project, and I’m reviewing these tracks on their own.

Death Grips are a band that revel in unpredictability and experimentation. They’ve been so randomly prolific over the past couple of years that people can forget how strange and bizarre their music is. When Niggas on the Moon dropped Sunday night (P.S.: There is nothing more exciting than when an artist randomly drops a project like this.), some people on Twitter groaned at the now “predictable” nature of Death Grips. However, as someone who still finds this band vital and entertaining, this project’s release-not even the project itself- was one of the best moments in music this year.

Death Grips, even though they have a general aesthetic, never do the same thing on their projects. Chastisement over their perceived “repetitiveness”  may be on account of hype and the group’s innate divisive sound. While No Love Deep Web was a grimy and dirty dark project and Government Plates was an instrumental heavy project, Niggas on the Moon is their most poppy release since their 2012 grower The Money Store (A record that I once hated that I now mostly love). Part of this catchiness is a renewed emphasis on hooks, part of this rests in the renewed and newly reinvigorated MC Ride, and part of this is found in the Björk “samples”.

Björk’s involvement in the project has been the subject of much discussion, with the Icelandic singer claiming that the band used her vocals as a “Found object”. However, the use of her voice in fractured samples is one of the most effective sonic ideas that the band has ever pursued. There are plenty of songs that would have been great without the samples (Like the vicious Up My Sleeves and the glitchy Have a Sad Cum (Best Death Grips song title ever, by the way)). The modulation of electronics and MC Ride on these tracks works brilliantly, and it would make the project decent on its own. But Björk’s vocals add a strange ethereal quality to all of the songs they are prevalent on. One of the weakest tracks here, Say Hey Kid, is noticebly lacking in clear Björk samples (She may be there, but the sampling veils her voice too well). The way her beautiful soaring voice is broken into these shattering beats is fascinating and endlessly entertaining. It’s a collaboration that, on paper, doesn’t make sense. In execution, it works incredibly well.

On a song like Fuck Me Out, the warped and skittering sound of Björk’s crashing vocals creates a chaotic sound that echoes MC Ride’s panicking vocals. The same happens on the screeching Voila, with MC Ride calmly repeating “Voila!” over Björk’s breakneck vocals. The clashing synths on these tracks come in and out, taking a back seat to Björk most of the time. Zach Hill also brings a lot of great drumming to tracks like these. The breakdown towards the end of Voila has Hill violently losing it on the drum set in front of some horrifying screeching. It’s a song that, while not heavy on replay value, is absolutely fascinating to sit through.

Niggas on the Moon is a short project (because it’s part of a greater whole), and this does make it one of the most enjoyable Death Grips projects yet. The concentration of ideas works better here, with the unrelenting punch of the sound not wearing out. While it does lag a bit in the middle with songs that aren’t as great as the bookend tracks (Say Hey Kid is a bit bland and retreads former territory, Fuck Me Out doesn’t hold up with repeat listens). But the songs that surround the middle section are some of the best songs Death Grips have ever made. Up My Sleeves rivals Government Plates’ opener in terms of pure violent energy, while Big Dipper’s chaotic closing rivals Whatever I Want (Fuck Who’s Watching) and Hacker as the band’s best closer yet. The use of Björk samples throughout the album is also a welcome experiment, as it mostly works incredibly well. The electronic freakout towards the end of Big Dipper is absolutely fascinating, and the use of an unbroken Björk samples over the glitchy synths creates a moment that actually transcends into true beauty. Death Grips themselves still show that they’ve got more energy than most punk bands that still make music these days, and they’ve proven once again that they’re a forward thinking group that you shouldn’t mess with.

Summary: Niggas on the Moon is an energetic, short, and exciting project that once again brings a new idea to their sound that works brilliantly; the use of Björk throughout the 8 songs is some of the best sampling that the band has ever done.

Choice Cuts: Up My Sleeves, Black Quarterback, Big Dipper

Leftovers: Say Hey Kid

B+

You can stream the entire project below.