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Okay, I came to Aesop Rock through Blockhead, who I got into back in a "Ninja Tune Can Do No Wrong" phase several years back. (As it turns out, Ninja Tune can do some wrong). Looking for more Blockhead, I naturally ran across the rapper he made a name producing for: Aesop Rock.
And I was an Aesop Rock fence-sitter. My first dip in the pool, Fast Cars, Danger, Fire and Knives, was kind of lukewarm. I wasn't sure if he was interestingly loose or just sloppy, whether he was brilliant with lyrics or just piling non-sequitor upon pop-culture reference to razzle-dazzle without substance. "Winners Take All" was decent, but the rest of it was kind of an eyebrow-raise.
Labor Days pretty much turned me around, though, particularly the track "No Regrets" -- a nice tight capsule, well-done on all levels. "Flashflood" also good.
And I've been listening to the new album, None Shall Pass almost non-stop for the last two days. While I've been middlin' on Aesop Rock before, I'm thoroughly enthused about this'un. Stellar production, especially on the title track (a bizarre-but-working blend of a kind of ding-dong Casio-bell rhythm, rapping, and the Blockhead staple of a pitchshifted chorus), 39 Thieves and a collaboration with frequent Aesop Rock collaborator-type El-P.
Lyrically, also a step up. Still too fast to track half the time, with ideas and references flying in from any and all directions, but with more of an emphasis on... well, coherence. For the first time I feel like most of the focus is on expressing a thought rather than impressing the audience.
A search of Barbelith shows only a couple of mentions of Aesop Rock, one disparaging, the others kind of "this is what I'm listening to these days" mentions. Normally I'd just mention "None Shall Pass" in passing on a what-are-you-listening-to thread, but since that thread was explicitly locked to encourage posts with more substance... here it is. Aesop Rock. I like his new album. |
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