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1. Comment on this post with your favorite Aesop Rock track.
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That’s it! Good luck. Cop tickets here.

But for a lot of us (and by “us” I am including me), he’s the ideal of underground rap, the guy that made you cool by association, the guy who made every decision in his career to be anti-commercial, and who, by liking his music, allowed you to take a stand against the bastardization of hip-hop by “commercial” rappers. Aesop Rock is an important artist in any listener’s musical exodus into the wormhole of rap music, in that he stands as the stock answer for when you’re trying to prove to someone that rap can be abstract, arty and at least partially unlistenable. Aes is something of a gateway drug too: If you can get down with the middle third of Bazooka Tooth, you are ready for anything any rapper throws at you.

What I am saying is that for a certain class of rap fan, Aesop Rock is a signifier of something larger than just a rapper saying a lot of seemingly disconnected things. I’m betting roughly 91.6 percent of Potholes readers had an “Aesop Phase,” a period of time—be it hours or years—where he was your be-all, end-all MC.

Which is to say I saw Aesop Rock live, and it turns out it’s not that dissimilar from listening to Aesop Rock really loud in a large room with a bunch of strangers who annoy you with their stupid light-up speakers T-shirts and the smell of their terrible weed.

***

But here’s where it gets hairy. I know you’re here for a review of what it was like to see Aesop Rock, so you can prepare yourself to sit through a significant part of Aesop’s oeuvre in your town. And that’s fine; I address your needs way down this piece. I understand that desire, and I sympathize with you. But I don’t think it’s even possible for me to be really objective when it comes to Aesop Rock.

Do I wish he spent more of his set doing deep cuts off None Shall Pass? Sure. But I spent most of my time at the Barrymore thinking about all the time in my life I’ve spent thinking about Aesop Rock. To nitpick setlists, or to talk about how I feel a live band set up would have been a better show, just seems too quaint. How do you review a show when you carry around a bunch of personal baggage, even positive, about an artist?

Click page 2 below to continue reading.

]]> http://potholesinmyblog.com/grocery-list-duty-and-death-aesop-rock-live-at-barrymore-theater/feed/ 9 http://potholesinmyblog.com/aesop-rock-announces-north-american-tour/ http://potholesinmyblog.com/aesop-rock-announces-north-american-tour/#comments Wed, 09 May 2012 14:33:34 +0000 Andrew Martin http://potholesinmyblog.com/?p=43292 With his new album, Skelethon, dropping July 10, it’s only fitting that Aesop Rock will be hitting the road to celebrate the release. He’ll be touring North American starting July 13 with frequent collaborators DJ Big Wiz and Rob Sonic. You might recall that together the three touring partners form Hail Mary Mallon, which leads me to believe they’ll probably perform some joints off last year’s Are You Gonna Eat That. Peep the tour dates below. [via]

05-27 Shakopee, MN – Soundset Festival
07-13 Los Angeles, CA – El Rey Theatre
07-15 San Francisco, CA – The Fillmore
07-19 Portland, OR – Wonder Ballroom
07-20 Vancouver, British Columbia – Venue
07-21 Seattle, WA – Seattle Block Party
07-23 Salt Lake City, UT – In The Venue
07-24 Denver, CO – Summit Music Hall
07-27 Madison, WI – Barrymore Theatre
07-28 Chicago, IL – Metro
07-30 Toronto, Ontario – Mod Club
07-31 Montreal, Quebec – Corona Theatre
08-02 Boston, MA – Paradise Rock Club
08-03 New York, NY – Irving Plaza
08-04 Philadelphia, PA – Union Transfer
08-05 Washington, DC – 9:30 Club
08-07 Atlanta, GA – The Loft
08-09 Dallas, TX – Granada Theater
08-10 Houston, TX – Fitzgerald’s
08-11 Austin, TX – Mohawk
08-13 Tucson, AZ – Rialto Theater
08-14 Tempe, AZ – Marquee Theater
08-15 San Diego, CA – Belly Up

Hit the skip for the video and loads of lulz.

Hit the skip for the video.

Hit the skip to stream and download the remix.

Hail Mary Mallon – Garfield (Edison’s Bent Back Remix) by rhymesayers

With work picking up, I admittedly fell out of the routine of doing my weekly album synopses’ for Potholes. Worried I’d be rusty getting back into the routine of things, I was hesitant to see what album was headed my way for review. However, when you run across projects like Hail Mary Mallon’s Are You Gonna Eat That?, it makes writing that much more enjoyable. Built on the story of Mary Mallon, a woman from the early 1900s who spread Typhoid Fever via the food she cooked… It sounds a bit bizarre to base an entire Hip Hop album on. But once delve deeper, you’ll understand how this theme executes itself flawlessly.

Combining the various talents of the Def Jux Crew (Aesop Rock and Rob Sonic) and hip-hop certified DJ Big Wiz on the tables, this project is an adventurous foray into a blend of hip hop that seems to be very hard to execute lately. Successfully mixing old samples and production techniques that are straight out the ’80s with awesome, yet trippy electronic sounds and a modernized feel, the production on this album simply accentuates Rob and Aesop’s lyrical skills. Tracks like “Church Pants” and “Holy Driver” show off Big Wiz’s skills behind the production boards and turntables. Songs like “Breakdance Beach”, “Mailbox Baseball” and “Meter Feeder” are reminiscent of that 1985, Beastie Boys-type hip-hop, while joints like “Table Talk” and “Garfield” keep it true to that Def Jux sound they are known for.

I’ll be honest and admit that I didn’t listen to Aesop much before listening to this entire album in full, and I’m kind of mad that I missed out on his lyrical skills this long. This project might not have been able to stand ground if it only came from one of the three as a solo project. But together, it’s one of the more solid hip-hop releases to drop this year. This is what Lupe Fiasco WANTED Lasers to sound like. Well done, and congratulations to Rhymesayers, who always seem to get it in on the low.

4 out of 5 stars

4 out of 5

Hail Mary Mallon, a super-group consisting of Aesop Rock, Rob Sonic and DJ Big Wiz, dropped this video last week for their single, “D-Up”. Marty put me onto it today and I instantly fell in love. Words can’t even describe what is going on in production, so you are just going to have to press play and find out for yourself. After hearing this, my anticipation for a full-length project from Hail Marry Mallon has grown to a very high level, and I am sure you will agree with me on that. “D-Up” is featured on the Def Jux IV compilation, available now. Major props to the directors, Alexander Tarrant and Justin Metros.