AESOP ROCK Vinyl & CDs

Review: The tenth full-length from the literal most verbose MC in the hip-hop genre Aesop Rock, has been described as "A concept album about an organization offering lifestyle and industry-specific applications designed to curate a desired multi-experience." Following on from 2020's exceptionally dizzying Spirt World Field Guide, some of the core themes of the absurdist search for peace and tranquillity resurface across Integrated Tech Solutions but in a new guise of app placements, corporate speak and artificial goals that keep the masses confined within digital, monitored bubbles. Predominantly self-produced like the majority of the artist's recent output, the beats fluctuate from eerie minimalism to hallucinatory, overwhelming sonic stews, all dictated by humorous yet reliably virtuosic bars and flow. Ten LPs in and Mr. Aesop (or Mr. Rock) sounds as confident, concerned, curious and crazed as ever.

Review: Aesop Rock's most recent studio long player was a superb and interplanetary trip by the name of Spirit World Field Guide. Now it gets released as an instrumental version. Although this artist is heralded for his work as a lyricist, he is also a talented and always evolving producer as this record shows. Here the tunes are a framework for you to explore and use as a roadmap to your own musical adventure. It's a world of emotion and colour that takes you a mile away from the mundanity of everyday life.

Review: Aesop Rock x Blockhead's Garbology album was a huge success and so it makes sense that the label now follows it up with a new issue of the instrumentals. It's a tidy package across four sides of coloured vinyl in a nice spot-varnished sleeve. Musically it is a brilliantly mixed bag that takes in myriad niche sounds and styles. The opener is a deep soul cut with pensive chords while 'Jazz Hands' (Instrumental) suspends you in swirling synths and spring-day optimism and 'Wolf Piss' (Instrumental) has heavier, darker beats and more menacing string sounds.

Review: Top shelf lyricists Aesop Rock and Homeboy Sandman come together here to show off all their skills. They are revered for pushing the envelope with a wide range of topics, moods and grooves covered, always in-depth and with real coherence. They came together initially through mutual appreciation for each other's styles and then built a strong musical connection. It shows here across a bunch of super tight joints, killer rhymes and sweet beats.

Review: Two of U.S. hip-hop's most prominent emcees have brought us twin EPs available on a name-your-price basis, as well as a limited vinyl edition. The rappers' mutual admiration of each other's crafts emerged as a fan-led acknowledgement of their similar styles, which led to Sandman joining Rock on tour back in 2015. Now Triple Fat Lice, the third of their collabs, gets a proper reissue via Rhymesayers.