Exmilitary
| Exmilitary | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Mixtape by Death Grips | ||||
| Released | April 25, 2011 | |||
| Genre | Experimental hip hop, hardcore hip hop, industrial hip hop, noise | |||
| Length | 48:28 | |||
| Label | Self-released | |||
| Producer | Death Grips | |||
| Death Grips chronology | ||||
| ||||
| Black Google | ||||
 Cover of Black Google |
||||
| Singles from Exmilitary | ||||
|
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| Professional ratings | |
|---|---|
| Aggregate scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Metacritic | 82/100 [1] |
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| AbsolutePunk | (81%)[2] |
| Pitchfork | (7.5/10)[3] |
| Sputnikmusic |   [4] |
| Drowned in Sound | (9/10)[5] |
| The Quietus | (8/10)[6] |
| The Guardian | [7] |
| Consequence of Sound | [8] |
| No Ripcord | [9] |
Exmilitary is the debut mixtape by experimental hip hop group Death Grips. It was released for free on April 25, 2011 through the band's website.
Background
The mixtape was released for free on April 25, 2011 through the group's official website, thirdworlds.net. It was simultaneously released through iTunes. The track "Guillotine" was released through iTunes on August 3, 2011. "Guillotine" has become the band's most recognized song, with over two million YouTube views on their music video as of October 2, 2012. Other tracks released as music videos include "Known For It", "Culture Shock", "Lord of the Game", "Spread Eagle Cross the Block", "Takyon (Death Yon)", and "Beware".
The cover of the album is somewhat of a mystery, even to members of the band. According to Flatlander, "That’s a photograph that one of our members carried in their wallet for roughly 10 years straight. It’s a power object."[10] This suggests that the image had no personal meaning to any of the members of the band, but was rather an artifact that ended up being an image that they defined themselves by to some degree. There has been speculations by fans of the band that the man on the cover of the album is an aboriginal Australian man and that the photograph could have originated from a National Geographic article, though this is widely based on speculation.
The album was later released exclusively through the band's website in vinyl and cassette format.[11] It was also removed from iTunes.
Critical reception
The album has received universal acclaim from critics and currently holds an approval rating of 82 on Metacritic. In another very positive review, John Calvert of Drowned in Sound focused on the mentality of the character that the album revolves around and how it reflects the inner nature of man, citing the lyricism and sound production as being focal points around this sound and style.[12] Nate Patrin of Pitchfork Media gave Exmilitary a 7.5, describing the album as a "a bludgeoning slab of hostility" that avoids being an "overbearing mess".[13] Ian Walker of AbsolutePunk.net gave the album an 81% rating, calling it a "perfect example of an album everyone needs to experience for themselves".[14] In a less positive review comparatively, No Ripcord journalist Stephen Wragg gave the album a 7/10, stating that "Exmilitary is easy to dismiss as excessive and carelessly noisy. It’s going to polarise listeners, but it’s useless to criticise it for being so angry and unlistenable because that’s Death Grips’ prerogative."[15] NME ranked Exmilitary as the 41st best album of 2011. [16]
Black Google
On September 8, 2011, the group released a teaser video for an upcoming project titled Black Google.[17] It was later released on the band's website for free and revealed to be all of the instrumentals, stems, and acapellas for fans to remix and record with. The cover of Black Google features a heavily darkened version of the cover of Exmilitary with the word "Exmilitary" replaced with "Black Google".[18]
Track listing
All tracks were composed and written by Death Grips.[19]
| No. | Title | Length | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Beware" | 5:53 | |
| 2. | "Guillotine" | 3:43 | |
| 3. | "Spread Eagle Cross the Block" | 3:52 | |
| 4. | "Lord of the Game" | 3:30 | |
| 5. | "Takyon (Death Yon)" | 2:48 | |
| 6. | "Cut Throat" | 1:12 | |
| 7. | "Klink" | 3:22 | |
| 8. | "Culture Shock" | 4:21 | |
| 9. | "5D" | 0:43 | |
| 10. | "Thru the Walls" | 3:56 | |
| 11. | "Known for It" | 4:13 | |
| 12. | "I Want It I Need It (Death Heated)" | 6:11 | |
| 13. | "Blood Creepin" | 4:50 | |
Total length: |
48:28 | ||
Samples
- "Beware" contains a sample of "Up the Beach" by Jane's Addiction
- "Spread Eagle Cross the Block" contains samples of "Rumble" by Link Wray and "(You Gotta) Fight for Your Right (To Party!)" by Beastie Boys
- "Lord of the Game" contains samples of "Fire" by The Crazy World of Arthur Brown and "Brass Monkey" by Beastie Boys
- "Takyon (Death Yon)" contains samples of "Supertouch/Shitfit" by Bad Brains and "A Who Seh Me Dun" by Cutty Ranks
- "Klink" contains samples of "Rise Above" by Black Flag and "Liar, Liar" by The Castaways
- "Culture Shock" contains a sample of "The Supermen (Alternative)" by David Bowie
- "5D" contains a sample of "West End Girls" by Pet Shop Boys
- "Thru the Walls" contains a sample of "Gettin' High in the Morning" by Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti
- "Known for it" contains a sample of "De Futura" by Magma
- "I Want it I Need it (Death Heated)" contains samples of "Interstellar Overdrive" and "Astronomy Domine" by Pink Floyd