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Aseop Rock - None Shall Pass

[3/5]

As much or more than Def Jux founder El-P, Aesop Rock has come (fairly or not) to symbolize the label's perceived philosophy-smart, dense and screw-you-if-you-don't-get-it hip hop. But his fourth solo album is similar in approach to El's latest, I'll Sleep When You're Dead; despite forbidding titles, both display a willingness to meet listeners halfway sonically, which makes you try harder to decode lines like "If you never had a day a snow cone couldn't fix/You wouldn't relate to the rogue vocoder blitz."

On None Shall Pass, the entry point is classic hip-hop, from the boom-bap that animates "Keep Off The Lawn" to referencing old-school faves like "6 In The Morning." That playfulness surfaced on Aesop's 2005 EP, Fast Cars, Danger, Fire And Knives, and it's exploited more fully here with the help of longtime boardsman Blockhead and new DJ Big Wiz. It peaks on "Coffee," a wonderfully weird, ska-tinged duet with the Mountain Goats' John Darnielle that flat out rocks-and includes a rambling, shambling, fuck-tha-police coda, just for old times' sake. (DEF JUX) Dan LeRoy

ROCKS LIKE:
El-P'sI'll Sleep When You're Dead
Mr. Lif'sMo' Mega
S.A. Smash's Smashy Trashy

IN-STORE SESSION WITH AESOP ROCK:

So was it weird this time to ask your wife [Parchman Farm's Allyson Baker] to play on your album?

No; so far, so good. I mean, no one's spontaneously combusted yet. [Laughs.] She does her own projects and has her own practice studio up the street. But I'd be stupid not to take advantage of-I mean, I guess I'm biased, but the truth is, she's a really good guitarist. Plus, when we got married, we combined all our gear, and I realized, "Wow, we have a somewhat respectable studio here!"

With all the live instrumentation on None Shall Pass, what's the tour going to be like?

I'm not bringing musicians, if that's the question. I can't do a rap band. I just can't organize it. There was a point where I said, "Shit, I gotta do something different!" But Rob Sonic's gonna be doing some songs during the set, and I have some guys working on these visual projections, so that's how we're gonna change it up. It's also giving me a massive headache every day. [Laughs.] But that's beside the point.

El-P talked earlier this year about how he wanted to bring back the idea of the cohesive album. Was that a discussion you guys had before you made None Shall Pass?

Me and El are pretty good friends, but I think that's always in my mind when I make an album. And there's always one song that seems like a turning point that makes it become an album, instead of a collection of songs. On this record, it was a song called "Catacomb Kids," which isn't even one of my favorites. But it's a reflection about the past that isn't one of those clichéd, "back in the day, I used to wear these shoes" songs. It's a snapshot of a time, without directly speaking about specific things.

I see you've kept your New York City cell phone number-what's the one thing you miss most about the Big Apple since you moved to San Francisco?

There's the pizza and bagel factor, but the big thing is just your average bodega-a 24-hour store on your block where you can get anything you want. When I first moved out here, I needed rolling papers, so I had to drive to the gas station. They didn't have 'em. Then I drove to the Safeway, and they didn't have 'em. I was like, "Where the fuck does someone go around here? How does it work?" [Laughs.]

But at the same time, I had a lot of distractions in New York. We plan to move back there someday-but I sorta needed my world turned upside down. Dan LeRoy


Official Website: http://www.myspace.com/aesoprock