In the midst of an international tour in support of their latest album, March’s The Powers That B, Sacramento experimental hip-hop trio Death Grips have announced another record.
The new album, titled Bottomless Pit, was announced on the band’s Facebook page following the posting of a mysterious video on their YouTube channel depicting 1970s actress Karen Black reading dialogue from a film script penned by drummer Zach Hill, and shot by him in Black’s home in 2013, six months before her death at age 74.
Black came to prominence from era-defining roles in Easy Rider and Five Easy Pieces. Her status as a figurehead of that turbulent era of counterculture lends itself oddly well to the anarchic, undefinable nature of Death Grips.
The band announced their apparent disbandment in 2014, only to rescind on that this year. The second half of The Powers That B was released, and a lengthy tour commenced, all accompanied by a cryptic insinuation on their Facebook page that they might “make some more.” Later in the year, an art-punk album by a group called the i.l.y.s appeared on their website, leading to speculation that the members of Death Grips had formed a new side project. In fact, this was true: Hill and producer Andy Morin revealed themselves to be the i.l.y.s weeks later. For a band that broke up, they’ve been awfully active.
No release date was given for Bottomless Pit, but given the sporadic habits of the group, it’s hard to guess. It could be out by the end of the year, or it might not see the light of day until 2016. It could come out next week. It could be buried on an obscure deep web forum right now, for all we know. The thing to expect about Death Grips is to expect the unexpected, be it an impromptu reunion or a video of an aging Hollywood starlet.
Death Grips recently made their live debut in Boston in July as part of their tour for The Powers That B. If that raw, visceral performance is any indication of things to come, fans of the trio’s relentlessly heavy, staunchly indescribable sound are in for something really special in the months to come.
