Pioneers of experimental hip-hop, dälek return with “Better Than”, a fierce new single that signals the arrival of their forthcoming album ‘Brilliance of a Falling Moon’, due 27 March via Ipecac Recordings, the long-standing home of cult ouftfits like Faith No More, Mr Bungle, Oxbow, Peeping Tom, the Melvins, Tomahawk….
Taking its name from a section of Erik Larson’s In the Garden of Beasts, the record paints a fiery portrait of life under authoritarian rule in the United States, positioning antifascist resistance not as rhetoric, but as necessity.
True to form, the New Jersey duo deliver a track that is as sonically uncompromising as it is politically charged. Created by Will Brooks (MC dälek) and Mike Mare, “Better Than” serves as a defining introduction to the project’s aesthetic and intent: sparse yet crushing, the production strips dälek’s sound to its core without sacrificing density or impact.
Brooks describes the track as a distilled expression of the current moment: “It conveys the anger, frustration, and defiance of the moment… a new wall of sound built only of the absolutely necessary elements”.
Recorded at the group’s Deadverse Studios between 2024 and 2025, the track is driven by brutal, dust-heavy drum breaks and cloaked in an ominous, otherworldly atmosphere. Lyrically, Brooks channels a sense of urgency rooted in lived political reality—an insistence on engagement rather than retreat.
“I hope you walk away with hope because we’re still fighting, building, and pushing,” Brooks explains.
As the first glimpse of Brilliance of a Falling Moon, “Better Than” rejects escapism in favor of awareness, resistance, and resolve, reaffirming dälek’s role as one of experimental hip-hop’s most vital and confrontational voices.
…Tracklist…
- 01 Better Than
- 02 Knowledge | Understanding | Wisdom
- 03 Normalized Tragedy
- 04 Expressions Of Love
- 05 Substance
- 06 I AM A MAN
- 07 For The People
- 08 By the Time We Arrive in El Salvador
