Lip Critic – Theft World

Have you ever listened to an album or even an artist that the algorithm and your past musical tastes all point to you having to love? For me, that’s Lip Critic’s Theft World. Yes, since the sophomore album of the New York electro punks came out, I’ve been inundated with ads of the album’s existence on all forms of social media. They’ve been compared to their label mates, IDLES, Fontaines D.C., and fellow New York noise rock experimentalists, Model/Actriz, which, for me, checks all the boxes.

So yeah, I eventually checked it out, and it has all the ingredients I should love: noisy electronic work, post-hardcore vocals mixed with some rapid-fire voice, and double drum sets, but as a whole, it just doesn’t have the sauce for me. It could be because it sometimes sounds like Fred Durst doing his best Death Grips or even Rage Against the Machine impression on tracks like “Jackpot,” “Debt Forest,” and “Shoplifting” or maybe just the chaotic everything in the sink mentality that fringes on hyperpop, digital core, and post-punk in between songs. Usually, I’m fine without albums that don’t pick a lane and experiment, but I don’t know, this one just annoyed me more than anything.

I think this group needs a bit more variety in their song builds, because most just kick it into high gear immediately and continue on and on with no real cathartic resolution. I had the same issue with the latest Crack Cloud album. The theme of the album is cool; theft of everything based on a fan attempting to steal the identity of the lead singer, and the lyrics are well thought out, but it’s the execution that really falls flat for me on a song like “My Blush (Strength of the Critic).” It could just be a simple choice of taste, but there are songs on this thing I’ll be avoiding for the foreseeable future. Maybe you’ll dig it?