LIP CRITIC - Theft World

Lip Critic take endless delight in sabotaging any chance of emotional or sonic stability, and their way of turning chaos into entertainment is proof of that. "Theft World" is a record that screams in your face and laughs while you're hyperventilating. The story behind the album (a fan who stole singer Bret Kaser's identity, convinced he'd uncovered hidden messages in the band's music!) already sounds like the plot of a sci-fi movie. Out of this absurd situation comes the album's core mythology. "Theft World" tells of a paranoid world where everything becomes theft: money, desire, attention, love and spirituality. No one owns anything, not even their own identity.

We're faced with a constant short-circuit between digital hardcore, synth-punk, industrial, breakbeat, rave music, hysterical post-punk and mangled rap. Melodic collapses somewhere between Death Grips, Korn and Skrillex. Yet the record keeps a clear direction throughout: overload and overstimulate the brain until anxiety mutates into physical euphoria. The opener "Two Lucks" is a nervous breakdown turned into an anthem. The drums seem to be fighting each other while Bret Kaser spews out self-destructive mantras. "Jackpot" balances violence and immediacy with its broken beats and toxic noise. Beneath a shitpost cyberpunk aesthetic lies a band that builds precise dynamics, with "Charity Dinner" and "200 Bottles on Eviction" even revealing the project's vulnerable side, as if haunted by a melancholy ghost.

At times "Theft World" seems so obsessed with being over the top that it sacrifices any real depth, as if sonic shocks were more interesting than building genuine emotional tension (a constant hyper-stimulation that can also end up numbing). But that's exactly the point of the record: it wants to feel like a feed gone haywire, a mind collapsing under the weight of information, desires and fragmented identities. That's why, in an era of alternative music designed for quick consumption on algorithmic playlists, Lip Critic bring a friction that's bound to leave a mark.

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24/06/2026