— Following the release of new album Stardust, a glitch-driven, genre-warping futuristic dispatch from the fringes of hip-hop culture, Danny Brown celebrates a decade since the release of his much-loved 2016 album Atrocity Exhibition with anniversary special editions and a quartet of live shows in which he will perform the album front-to-back for the first time.
Atrocity Exhibition was the first Danny Brown album on Warp Records, an inspired coming together of artist and label. The record was greeted as a high watermark in experimental rap, a sonic swirl inspired by the work of Talking Heads and Joy Division that nonetheless sounded like nothing else from the past or present. Along with contributions from producers like Evian Christ, Petite Noir, Black Milk and the Alchemist, the bulk of production is handled by long-time collaborator Paul White, absolutely in the pocket with the rapid-fire rhymes of Brown on Atrocity Exhibition. The pair fashion laser-beam guitars, gym-teacher whistles, creaking vocal samples, and air-raid drones into the most intriguing take on hallucinatory rap since the heady heights of Cold Vein or Madvillainy.
The album boasts features from Kendrick Lamar, Earl Sweatshirt, Ab-Soul, B-Real, and labelmate Kelela; with mixing deftly handled by Derek ‘MixedByAli’ Ali as the cherry on the cake. The melding of Brown’s unique flow and tone with an innovative soundscape, pulling samples from such esoteric sources as 70s German cosmic rock records, radiophonic experiments and industrial techno, with tracks like “Really Doe” and “Ain’t It Funny” becoming leftfield anthems, the latter track rapturously received by a whole new generation of fans on the recent Stardust tour. Atrocity Exhibition explores some weighty themes, but there’s light amidst the darkness, too. Brown’s sense of humor and party-starting vibe is more than present throughout the record, from the frantic electro-combustion of “When It Rain” to the raunchy travelogue of “Golddust”, the latter in which our protagonist rhapsodizes about twerk-offs and Bloody Marys for brunch over a martial soul sample. Soothed-out smoking anthem “Get Hi” finds Brown taking a literal breather to remind listeners about the finer, more fragrant things in life, while “White Lines” turns a dizzying drug binge into the type of sing-along you’d find on a demented, alternate-universe Sesame Street.
For the tenth anniversary, original sleeve designer Ed Davis (formerly of Brain Dead) has come up with new alternate artwork, with the limited 2LP colour vinyl edition housed in shiny silver mirriboard packaging, printed inner sleeves and an 8 page 12” booklet. The CD version is housed in an 8 panel mirriboard card wallet, also utilising the alternate artwork, and comes with a bonus disc containing previously unreleased instrumental versions of all the tracks on the album. Both of these are one time pressings that will not be available again. The instrumentals are also landing on streaming services for the first time, with the version of “Ain’t It Funny” available now as a taste of what is to come. The special edition formats will be available in record stores worldwide on November 13, 2026.
For the live shows, Danny Brown will be performing Atrocity Exhibition in full, front-to-back, the first time that he’s done this for any album, four unique shows taking place in Los Angeles, New York City, Chicago and Austin. Tickets go on sale on Thursday 24 September at 10AM local time.
