Lip Critic – ‘Theft World’ album review: Good luck making sense of this one
When I’m asked to explain to people what it feels like to have ADHD, I’ll often resort to describing my experiences through elaborate visual metaphors that represent what goes on in my head. Theft World, the second album from New York experimental punk outfit Lip Critic, might be the equivalent auditory representation.
The Skinny: Given that their debut album, 2024’s Hex Dealer, was a confounding yet compelling listen that defied easy description, expecting them to make their follow-up a smoother ride would have been a futile assumption, for the ideas don’t linger while they try to find a comfortable way to coexist with one another, and instead materialise at full tilt, rebounding off one another and creating a clash of sounds that feels discordant.
Lyrically, vocalist Bret Kaser relies on an approach to worldbuilding that combines the mundane with the ludicrous, with the overarching themes of Theft World revolving around a quasi-fabricated story of having his personal details pinched by a fan who was under the impression that he’d been instructed to do so by their debut album. Without the appropriate context, this is hard to decipher, but with it, it becomes clear that everything is a multi-layered in-joke, with every meta-reference being a response to something that only they understand in the first place.
On the musical side of things, the frenzied production and leaps between genres are hard to keep track of, where one moment, you’ll be drawn to the incessant ticking that is the band’s dual-drummer setup, and just as it makes a harsh cut to becoming like gunfire, you’re suddenly distracted by what sounds like a bitcrushed ringtone chiming out in the background. However, while an easily-distracted mind that equally loves hip hop, punk and breakbeats would wonder what a collaboration between Machine Girl and Beastie Boys would sound like, Lip Critic actually will that intrusive thought into existence.
Somewhat akin to hurling the cutlery drawer out of the window and then being forced to reorganise it blindfolded, the inner mapping of my neurodiverse mind and the Lip Critic method of assembling an album are similarly chaotic, messy and full of sharp edges. Explaining or understanding what compels these respective agents of disorder to behave in such a manner is tough, but accepting that this is simply the way is perhaps the best way to come to terms with it.
For all of its exhausting detours and inability to keep focused, when the flurry of activity comes to an end, you’ll laugh and think about how there isn’t a single dull moment, even if the abundance of creativity doesn’t always feel like it’s being harnessed in the most comprehensible manner. Welcome to my world, and more importantly, welcome to Theft World.
Standout Track: ‘Debt Forest’
The Verdict: Theft World isn’t an album that demands you to listen to it, it’s an album that makes it impossible to do anything but listen to it. Just embrace the ride while it lasts, and then try to piece it all together afterwards.
Release Date: May 1st, 2026 | Producer: Bret Kaser and Connor Kleitz | Label: Partisan
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