If Exmilitary had been the only thing Death Grips had ever released, they’d be legends. This 2011 self-released mixtape is full of uncleared samples of Jane’s Addiction, Charles Manson, Link Wray, Beastie Boys, Pet Shop Boys, Black Flag, Bad Brains, Magma, Pink Floyd, and 2 Live Crew, but it’s what instrumentalists Zach Hill and Andy Morin, and vocalist MC Ride, bring to the table that pushes this bleak PTSD nightmare of an album into the red and into listeners’ brains as a permanent psychic paradigm shift. Ride’s voice sounds on the edge of panic as he shouts “I am the beast I worship,” as Hill and Morin create an unholy collage of jackhammer beats, synth blasts, and disorienting reverb and echo effects. The brazenly hijacked Caribbean parade beats of “Thru the Wall” will make you want to leap onto a car’s roof and stomp your way into the driver’s seat. This is as close as hip-hop’s ever come to the fear-inducing queasiness of the Butthole Surfers’ classic mid ’80s albums.

– Phil Freeman