Fashion Week (album)

Fashion Week is an instrumental "soundtrack" album[1] by experimental hip hop group Death Grips. It was self-released, available for free, on January 4, 2015 via Third Worlds, without any prior announcement.[2] It was the band's first release after their supposed disbandment in 2014, and also the first release to not feature vocals from frontman MC Ride, which was a major factor in its mixed-to-positive critical reception.

Fashion Week
Studio album / Soundtrack album by
Death Grips
ReleasedJanuary 4, 2015 (2015-01-04)
Genre
Length47:48
LabelThird Worlds
ProducerDeath Grips
Death Grips chronology
Government Plates
(2013)		 Fashion Week
(2015)		 The Powers That B
(2015)

Background

Fashion Week was described by the group as a “soundtrack.”[1] A leaked .zip file was shared via Reddit in late-2014, containing 6 tracks from the album and 2 unreleased tracks, but was initially dismissed by fans as fake.[3] The song titles, follow as: "Runway J", "Runway E" and so on; acrostically spelling out the phrase "JENNY DEATH WHEN", in reference to the clamor surrounding the upcoming second disc of The Powers That B.[4]

The album art features an image of artist Sua Yoo, who designed the band's cover art for The Money Store. The large chair in which she's sitting on the cover is located at the Silver Legacy Resort & Casino in Reno, Nevada.[5]

Critical reception
Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
Metacritic74/100[6]
Review scores
SourceRating
Exclaim!7/10[7]
Pitchfork6.6/10[8]
Spin7/10[9]
Sputnikmusic2.5/5

Fashion Week received positive reviews from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from critics, the album received an average score of 74, which indicates "generally favorable reviews", based on 5 reviews.[6]

Calum Slingerland of Exclaim! suggested the lack of Ride's performances made the album very accessible to new listeners of Death Grips,[7] and Spin critic Dan Weiss, comparing Fashion Week to Ghosts I-IV by Nine Inch Nails, wrote that while the album is fairly linear, it still has the group's "astoundingly dark and imaginative sonic palette."[9] The Quietus critic Calum Bradbury-Sparvell described the album as "the most vibrant and least menacing collection of tracks Death Grips have released."[10]

One recurring criticism of Fashion Week was the absence of MC Ride's vocals,[8][11][7] with one reviewer suggesting that the instrumentals "stagnate" on their own.[11]

Track listing
No.TitleLength
1."Runway J"4:09
2."Runway E"3:14
3."Runway N"2:42
4."Runway N"3:01
5."Runway Y"4:01
6."Runway D"4:43
7."Runway E"3:25
8."Runway A"3:37
9."Runway T"2:36
10."Runway H"4:29
11."Runway W"3:29
12."Runway H"3:35
13."Runway E"2:21
14."Runway N"2:01
Total length:47:48
Leaked .zip Track listing
No.TitleLength
1."01 voco beat 13 DARK"4:45
2."02 darko drum 12"3:59
3."03 day loop 06"2:57
4."03 golden 07"4:02
5."05 red moon 06 DARK"3:01
6."06 chateau new DARK"2:36
7."07 lepso arp 08 03.03.14"4:09
8."08 new bass loop 08 OUTBOARD 2.23.14"3:39
Total length:29:11

Personnel
Death Grips
  • Zach Hill – drums
  • Andy Morin – keyboards, programming
  • Nick Reinhart - guitar (Track 12)

References
  1. "Death Grips release surprise instrumental album Fashion Week". The Guardian. January 5, 2015. Retrieved January 5, 2015.
  2. Young, Alex (January 5, 2015). "Death Grips release instrumental album Fashion Week — listen". Consequence of Sound. Retrieved January 5, 2015.
  3. Stubbs, Dan (January 5, 2015). "Death Grips release surprise instrumental 'soundtrack' album – listen". NME. Retrieved January 5, 2015.
  4. Phillips, Amy (January 4, 2015). "Death Grips Release Surprise Instrumental Album Fashion Week". Pitchfork. Retrieved January 5, 2015.
  5. "r/deathgrips - Went and found the chair on fashion week's cover (with my backpack for scale)". reddit.
  6. "Fashion Week by Death Grips Reviews and Tracks". Metacritic. Retrieved June 10, 2020.
  7. Slingerland, Calum (January 9, 2015). "Death Grips - Fashion Week". Exclaim!. Retrieved January 11, 2015.
  8. Patrin, Nate (January 13, 2015). "Death Grips - Fashion Week". Pitchfork. Retrieved January 13, 2015.
  9. Weiss, Dan (January 6, 2015). "Death Grips Rise From the Dead With the Explosive 'Fashion Week'". Spin. Retrieved January 6, 2015.
  10. Bradbury-Sparvell, Calum (January 15, 2015). "Death Grips - Fashion Week". The Quietus. Retrieved January 18, 2015.
  11. Jordan M. (January 12, 2015). "Review: Death Grips – Fashion Week". Sputnikmusic. Retrieved November 19, 2018.
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