Released at the end of August, "None Shall Pass" is the fifth album by New York, vocab king Aesop Rock. I was nervous picking it up because the last full length Aes put out ("Bazooka Tooth") was less impressive than previous releases. "None Shall Pass" gets back to the Aes I grew to love years ago in junior high. I think most will agree that it was a good move bringing back Blockhead to produce the majority of the album.
Favorite Tracks:
Citronella - the beat bangs (surprisingly produced by Aesop Rock)
Popcorn - El P delivers a satisfying guest appearance
Coffee - An 89.3 Current-friendly song featuring an unlikely guest in John Darnielle of The Mountain Goats.
-Tooth
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1 comment:
While not familiar with Aesop's new record, I will argue that I don't think Bazooka Tooth is not a disappointing album. Hell, I think it's more interesting than Labor Days or Float. It suffers heavily from Aesop's tendency to not work with the beat in his raps, but all his records are like that (Sage Francis is even worse). But he's experimenting, something that even underground hip hop tends to shy away from. Def Jux and El-P sort of inaugurated the whole jagged keyboard thing and the rest of the scene sort of ran with it, but he took it to the next level by making it heavy and in your face. It pushes boundaries, like Sole's decision to drop a record where his raps didn't rhyme or Cannibal Ox's just kicking so much ass.
Small rant, maybe.
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