Death Grips

Combustible Sacramento rap group Death Grips started 2012 in unlikely fashion by inking a deal with Epic Records – a deal that came to a messy end eight months later, when they leaked second album No Love Deep Web online, after getting impatient with their label's proposed release schedule. Rarely does a major get into a mudfight with one of its signings and come out looking better, but this was definitely one of those cases. Still, if Death Grips aren't likely to make any new friends in the record industry for the time being, they've been earning hyperbolic reviews for their thunderously macho live show. Whatever goes down at their debut Japan show this month, it's likely to be brutal. DJ Eye (of Boredoms fame) supports.