01/05/26 Silver Metallic Vinyl Lip Critic's 2024 Partisan debut 'Hex Dealer' was one of the most-hyped experimental releases of that year, and signaled the Brooklyn band's arrival as a borderline-batshit creative force. 'Theft World' is their next chapter, built again from the chaos of two drummers locked in psychic combat, a sampler that sounds like it was struck by lightning, and frontman Bret Kaser's paranoid preacher energy. But where 'Hex Dealer' leapt from one absurdist vignette to the next, 'Theft World' plays like a fully locked-in transmission. Themes orbit around the concept of theft, not just as a political force or digital dilemma, but as a surreal, emotional constant. Club rhythms and hardcore breakdowns pull as much from Tyler the Creator's `Igor' and Korn as they do Skrillex and Soul Coughing, coming together to soundtrack a world that's constantly being striped apart and resold.
