Tame One – Molly video featuring Aesop Rock & Breeze Brewin
Directed by Andy Gray.
Aesop Rock – Daylight review
Published in Aesop Rock, Reviews
Aesop Rock Daylight EP
Since his first proper release of ‘Appleseed’ (since the earlier ‘Music for Earthworms’ was more of a compilation), Aesop Rock has been recognized as one of the underground’s sharpest emcees. Throughout ‘Appleseed’ and its follow-up full-length, the excellent ‘Float,’ Aesop established a reputation as a lyricist of vast intelligence but formidable abstraction. With last year’s awesome ‘Labor Days’ Aesop, perhaps influenced by his new Def Jux colleagues, worked on more traditional rap skills: brash flows and a more lucid, though still creative, approach to songwriting. The ‘Daylight’ EP pushes this further: taking one of the album’s more approachable songs as its starting-point, its probably his most likeable release yet.
Don’t get me wrong, Aesop’s still Aesop. But Aesop’s five new songs on ‘Daylight’ (discounting ‘Daylight,’ the previously-released ‘Maintenance,’ and Blockhead’s excellent instrumental piece ‘Forest Crunk’) demonstrate a harder, more aggressive style then we’re used to, both in the beats and the rhymes. The disparity is most evident on ‘Nightlight,’ a reinterpretation, more than a remix, of ‘Daylight,’ with a sinister new beat and a cynical line-by-line revision of the original’s hopeful lyrics. Life is a “BI-OTCH” this time instead of a beautiful woman; ‘Nightlight’ emphasizes the bleak reality over the ideal. The twists on each line are sometimes awkward and generally can’t match the original, but as a concept the song is perfectly executed, and a good intro to most of the CD.
Aesop Rock – Float review
Published in Aesop Rock, Reviews
Float cover Aesop Rock
On the back of his two minor, but notary, underground releases (’Music For Earthworms’ and ‘Appleseed’), New York’s finest abstract MC Aesop Rock has finally dropped his full length debut. Marking a dramatic departure from ‘Appleseed’s tight package of eight near flawless songs, ‘Float’ comes twenty tracks deep with a plethora of clever instrumentals and cunning linguistics. With a booming baritone, a flow that knows no fear and a generous collection of alternative quotables, Aesop is the type of MC who could probably produce a classic, paradigm-shifting album. Keeping this in mind, it’s perhaps a bit disappointing that ‘Float’ is merely a great record, not a tremendous one. Nonetheless, any listeners of innovative hip-hop will be highly impressed by ‘Float.’
Unlike most rappers pigeon-holed as “innovative” or “progressive,” Aesop has a strong voice closer to Rock from Heltah Skeltah or Xzibit than Morrissey. No complaints about breath control or flow could be aimed at the exemplary vocalist, who combines this talent with lyrics that’ll have you reaching for the notepad as much as the rewind button. It would be wrong to call a burst of inspiration like “I’m running with these fantastic amalgams / Painting casket boundaries to peers gunning with plastic albums,” exceptional for Aesop Rock, since that’s the quality of every line he spits. All of these great liners are tightly integrated into real songs with real concepts, such as ‘Commencement At The Obedience Academy,’ the source of the quote above, which uses a variety of creative metaphors to outline Aesop’s struggle for individuality and ‘6B Panorama,’ a literal observation of the New York streets in front of our talented narrator.
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