Here we go again. The artist so nice I reviewed him twice.

I’ve known of Aesop Rock for a long time, but the first album that I really dove into was his newest release The Impossible Kid. It was one of the albums making its rounds in my iTunes rotation around the time I started this blog, so I picked up a copy. The packaging was novel and satisfying, and the vinyl listening format allowed me to sit down and listen closely, focusing on the lyrics and the modern implementation of some classic hip hop techniques.

Since then I have become smitten by his work and have been working my way backwards through his catalog. Operating in reverse order from the Impossible Kid, the next stop on the album train is the subject of this entry: Skelethon.

Skelethon is a lot more classically hip hop than The Impossible Kid (TIK), at least as far as the sounds and samples selected for beats is concerned. I found myself commenting a lot on how weird TIK was, not as a criticism but rather as an observation of the unconventional choices Aesop Rock tended to make. Skelethon is a lot more traditional in this sense, with some great percussion loops and old school scratching.

His lyrics are as intellectually hard to follow as any of his work. It’s a treat to listen to, damn near impossible to memorize, and fun to deconstruct while reading along. I have a very hard time thinking of another artist who puts as much evident work into his/her craft. The ideas communicated are concise and deliberate while also maintaining dense and elaborate rhyme schemes. Listening to an Aesop Rock album is a great way to make yourself feel inadequate.

The packaging is another home run. Pressed on bright red, semi-transparent vinyl in a gatefold jacket this album is a treat to look at and to handle. The skeleton and tan colored theme persist on the front and back, turning much grimmer and creepier inside the fold. The jacket also holds two more booklets containing more artwork: one with lyrics and one with credits. Again Aesop Rock has delivered a product where you feel as if you’ve got your money’s worth.

It was a treat to take this step back into Aesop’s career and to start to understand the albums that led up to TIK. As an adult it’s not very often you find yourself breaking new musical ground and excitedly exploring a new discography. It reminds me of some of the excitement I used to feel as a teenager exploring music, and that is quite refreshing.

Zero Dark Thirty

One of the first things that jumps out about this album is how busy the drum samples are. Too often in hip hop you’ll hear simple driving kick drum and snare: a simple beat to put some modest instrumentation over. This isn’t the case here. In fact the percussion serves as the lead instrument with droning bass notes and repeated synthesizer sections filling out the back.

His lyrics are mind-bendingly complex, difficult to decipher, and eloquently built. Without a visit to Genius one would feel woefully unprepared to even begin talking about them. Some personal favorites that jump off the page for me:

Canned food, manmade tools

Lanacane, band aids, mandrake root

Bindle on a broomstick, pancaked shoes

And a handshake-proof campaign, can’t lose

Here Aesop paints a fairly simple picture: a picture of him as a bum without many resources, making it on his own without outside help. The hobo imagery is fairly self explanatory, and the “hand-shake proof campaign” suggests that he can be successful without having to cater to anyone else’s conditions. He does this all while maintaining a wonderfully dense rhyme structure.

Or to take the hook as an example:

Roving packs of elusive young become

Choke-lore writers over boosted drums

In the terrifying face of a future tongue

Down down from a huntable surplus to one (x5)

Here Aesop reflects on his age and his endurance as a performer after watching all of the people he started out with fade and become hacky, to be replaced with a younger generation. The phrasing is rhythmic and catchy, and produces the incredibly repeatable line “Down from a huntable surplus to one”.

Racing Stripes

This song had to make the cut to be discussed just because of how damn fun it is. Again we’re surprised with how busy the drum sample is, and funky the bass line is. Occasional guitar and other samples fill out the sound, while allowing it to remain percussive and bare enough to leave focus on the lyrics.

What seems to be a silly song about different haircuts also reveals itself to be about teenage insecurity and self-expression.

Felt pressure at the center of the dog show

Better off blending, sweater—off Waldo

You! Wanna see a genome mutate?

Cut a page boy ‘til it bring home a Cube tape

Poof, screw-face wriggle out a chop shop

Home-brewed Kool-aid, Disavowing Osh Kosh

Those first two lines paint a perfect picture of what any of us who have lived through our teen years can relate to. The desire to be able to blend into the crowd and not have attention drawn to you.

What’s more interesting is the following lines where he describes that perspective changing, simply with the ability to choose one’s own haircut, listen to Ice Cube and dress oneself. All of a sudden with this freedom of self expression, an awkward teenagers wants to stand out rather than blend into the background.

Again, while the rhyme scheme is not as insane as previous examples it’s consistent, rife with compound rhyme, and rolls off the tongue rhythmically.

Taken as a whole this album is a definite treat and an excellent second step in my exposure to Aesop Rock. Admittedly I do find myself revisiting individual songs on TIK more than I do for this album, but on my first listens of Skelethon I found the more authentic hip-hop sound fairly refreshing. Comparing the two is somewhat of an apples-and-oranges exercise and I would be hesitant in recommending one over the other without first knowing a great deal about the listener’s personal taste.

The vinyl addition of this album is a definite must-have for any Aesop Rock fan or vinyl collector. This is one artist that does not cheap out on the medium and gives you significant bang for your buck: Buy it here .

And thus another review was added to the archives! I definitely enjoyed this album and I hope I’ve inspired someone out there to check it out.

Thanks to the readers who pop by every week and provide feedback! The Father-in-Law Recommendation from last week was a well-received success, so I think I’ll be putting it into regular rotation. I’m thinking about slipping one in every fourth or fifth review. I currently have a list of 24 albums to pick from, so that should keep me going with that segment for a while.

Next up for the regular reviews we’re going to get a little Canadian again with the Arkells’ “Morning Report”. This is a band I’ve seen many times due to my proximity to their hometown, and they’re always a treat.

Once again: many thanks, and until next time:

I’m Not Your Dad.