Skelethon is a statement other than a few guests who stop by to beef up the instrumentation, this is an Aesop affair, a vehement demonstration of personal dissatisfaction, with the key word here being “personal.” No guest verses (though Kimya Dawson adds eerie vocals to “Crows 1”) and no solo guest production (a first) makes this his most intimate, individual release to date.Īesop has tremendous control for a syllable-stuffer he’s Kweli with restraint, knowing when to rein in the racehorse flow and slow down for emphasis, never loosening his grip long enough to stumble over the vigorous drum-driven beats, which - to the benefit of Aesop’s gruff narration - are simple and unobtrusive and angry and allow whatever he’s talking about at the moment (distaste for vegetables, his love for a donut shop) to sound not only compelling, but also hard. The five years since his last release has seen the collapse of Def Jux (temporary or not), spilling its active roster and forcing Aesop to seek refuge in the interim at Rhymesayers, one of the last bastions for like-minded alternative hip-hop. After last year’s rise of a young fashion-obsessed upstart from Harlem with a coincidentally homonymous name, Aesop Rock will have to work hard to reclaim the associative power of which his name has been robbed.
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