Full color printed gatefold jacket. Inserted 12"x24" double sided poster, 12"x12" double sided liner noted panel and download card. Aesop Rock "Skelethon". Add to Cart. Includes panel poster with art and lyrics. Iconic New York-born, San Francisco-based rapper and producer, Aesop Rock, is joining forces with Rhymesayers to release his sixth studio album, Skelethon, on July 10th
Skelethon (Deluxe Edition)
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Aesop Rock's sixth album, his first without any Blockhead beats or guest rappers, evokes the self-doubt, sleepless nights, and isolated focus required to finish something great. This is rap as Rorschach blot. Hack faith healers, stained glass Saint Peter's, black rainbows, ruby tides, jarred brains, magpies, hoarders, and allied forces licking zigzags while being dragged by horses. Antiquated gentlemen outlaws reduced to a Ferris wheel of vitriol. Miniature Raquel Welches, ghost crabs, butchers in bloody aprons, splintering motordrome walls of death, homemade mummies, bats, crypts, and Chuck Taylors with "Zulu" bombed on them in Buckle Font. Dope stone lions and maple donuts. Pick over Skelethon at your own peril.
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Aesop Rock knows that better than most, however, he is like the Captain Beefheart of rap; he grew up listening to it, but after growing and maturing as a person, he realized that there is so much more you can do with the medium of rhythm and poetry then brag about the size of your gun. This ethos of experimentation and nonconformity is tastefully demonstrated yet again with his latest record, Skelethon. The album has an emotional charge to it that escaped his previous records. In this case, the sudden death of his best friend and the collapse of his marriage—things that were once played a vital role in his daily life—have all-too-suddenly been transformed to social fossils, which the skeletal imagery scattered throughout the album may or may not pay homage to. You can expect the customary bombardment of cryptic symbolism, stream of consciousness musings, seemingly incoherent babbling, and mercurial instrumentals glued together by his distinctly unique voice and flow, as well as some of his most oddball choruses and song structures yet—not to mention that the entire album is entirely self-produced and boasts no guest appearances. This time, it's personal, and Aesop has crafted his own ecosystem in this release, a toxic emotional environment for anyone to be a part of, except the man himself. He is essentially orbiting around a mish-mash of influences, thoughts, ideas, and personal sentiments in the record, all of which he navigates through with the seamless transition you've come to expect from the veteran wordsmith. This results in a musical reflection of his peculiar thought process and currently melancholic mindstate.
Aesop Rock is one of the strongest rappers out there, both in lyrics and in flow. His attention to detail and his talent in spinning rhymes like woven silk have helped him stand out in the hip-hop world. Skelethon is his first self-produced album, and the beats he employs complement the more personal story-lines perfectly. He employs cleaner indie-rock guitar lines coupled with booming s on the backing tracks that let his words take over the listener. Personal turmoil of the passing of close friend Camu Tao which also inspired much of El-Ps new masterpiece and the dissolution of a long-time relationship divorce from wife Allyson Baker who, oddly enough, plays bass and sings on quite a few tracks sit front and center on most of the tracks.
