New releases last two weeks: Hip Hop/R&B

Review: Aesop Rock has long thrived on twisting the ordinary into the uncanny, and his latest full-length after 2023's irony-packed Integrated Tech Solutions hears him deepen that fascination. Examining the unseen mechanisms that guide daily life - dream logic, half-formed memories, fleeting emotions - he now blurs the lines between perception and reality with densely packed verses and meticulous self-produced beats. A brooding, cinephilic album recalling the atmospheric street wiles of filmmakers like Wong Kar Wai, the playful 'Send Help', contemplative 'Movie Night' and dusky 'Black Plums' chart strange emotional terrain, brought to life through warped sonic forensic architectures and sharp lyrical precision. Joined by Lupe Fiasco, Armand Hammer, Hanni El Khatib, Open Mike Eagle and Homeboy Sandman, the album pivots constantly, driven by intuition but grounded in detail Speaking on the record's emphasis on public bareness, Rock remarks on 'Checkers', a song "about the neighborhood outside your home being the great leveller. You can't show up feeling one way because the world will show you otherwise."

Review: During interviews promoting their 11th album, Escape The Chaos, 90s trip-hop heavyweights Morcheeba have naturally been in a nostalgic and introspective mood; after all, it appears almost 30 years to the day from the release of the popular duo's debut single. Musically, it feels like a warming, string-laden, head-nodding blast from the past, with core members Skye Edwards and Ross Gordon being joined on the record by various musically gifted friends and family members. Fans will particularly love songs like 'We Live And Die', a John Barry Bond theme-esque exploration of their own undulating history, the rap-sporting mid-90s trip-hop blast of 'Peace of Me (featuring Oscar #Worldpeace)' and the languid, low-slung 'Call For Love', where Edwards is at her most lyrically alluring.

Review: Smiting us down with the third and final chapter of his The God Trilogy, Vinnie Paz' ninth solo LP comes packed with demiurgic collaborators including Young Buck, Cappadonna (Wu-Tang), Onyx, Army of the Pharaohs, ILL BILL, Sick Jacken, and Lord Goat. Rising from Philly’s underground, Paz co-founded Jedi Mind Tricks in 1996 with producer Stoupe The Enemy Of Mankind. Paz’s solo work, starting with Season Of The Assassin, tends to hear the artist explore personal narratives, and this is reheard with a renewed roar on the likes of ‘Two Knights Forced’ and ‘Acid Heat’, exemplifying a highly processed production style echoing the craziest ends of horrorcore and Memphis rap.