Artist: Aesop Rock

Album: Black Hole Superette

Release: 2024-05-30

Duration: 1 hour, 8 minutes

Standout tracks: Secret Knock; Movie Night; John Something; Steel Wool

Aesop Rock - Black Hole Superette

The prolific age of Aesop has been good to his fans. Four albums since 2020? I honestly couldn’t ask for more. I barely have the time to finish digesting what he’s put on the page before the next album starts knocking at the door with pre-release singles out ahead of the impact of the release. Sure, he doesn’t seem to have any appetite to tour anymore, but I won’t argue with another album with a dim hope he’ll show up on a stage near me.

His latest release, Black Hole Superette, will be no different. Here we are, eleven albums in, and the density of his rhymes remains unchanged. I have already had to look up a few words here and there (did you know what a Visigoth was) to ensure I could have a go at understanding what he was rapping around. Ahead of the release, only two tracks were released: “Checkers” and “Send Help”. Both found their way into my regular rotation but felt lost without the context of the album. Now, with the rest of the album out, they’re right at home with 16 other tracks that give them as much context as Aes will let them have.

Since waking up to the release waiting for me on my iPhone, I have listened to it front to back easily eight or nine times by now. How does one take apart an Aesop Rock album for the purpose of trying to sum it up? It honestly seems like a fool’s errand. The relationship between the tracks and depth of each betrays my ability to really disassemble it, especially within a day of release. But I feel like acting the part of a fool from time to time.

Aes opens up the album with “Secret Knock” with a hurried sounding synth loop that feels as familiar as it does urgent. He starts the track with the lyrics, “I don’t go on nobody signal, I don’t signal, I just go” which sets the tone for the rest of the album. The song continues on through a forest of familiarly dense raps for Aes, both in lyricism and diction. I find myself happily flipping through the lyrics as my brain struggles to catch what he’s just said as my ears are listening to the next burst of words. He paints a clear and confusing picture with lines like, “Hooded figure, sniffing markers, chewing ginger, missing marbles / Cookie monsters with conflicting dharmas / I’m moving contra to existing markets, in the mood to conquer”.

By the time “Secret Knock” closes, I was already feeling lost in the album. Then I was fittingly welcomed by “Checker” intro, “You’re a prisoner here now”. And I’m a willing prisoner in the Black Hole Superette, ready for the ride that Aes has in store.

The next track up, “Movie Night”, enters a more playful area of Aesop’s library and is probably my favourite track on the album. The production on the song sounds pretty unique for Aes with a pumping marching percussion moving the song forward and leaving a path for his words to follow. Paired with the drums is another layer I could only describe as sounding like a vintage gameshow ditty, presenting itself as a hype man for Aes to jump from into his rhymes. The chorus really tickled me with Aes getting asked, “What kind of dog is that?” and replying in a way I find myself telling people who ask about our pup: That’s a mutt / It’s five dogs in one / Mmm, that’s a good boy. Of all the tracks on the album, this is probably the one that will stick with me the most on repeated listenings. It is just too fun.

Right around now, I am wondering to myself if I am going to write up a little something about all 18 tracks. Nah - not in the cards for me. There is a lot here that I will want to return to over and over to absorb in the coming year before the next album hopefully materializes.

There are a few more tracks that really jump out to me on the album. “John Something” recounts a memory of a guest speaker at Aesop’s university in 1996 who, instead of talking to the kids about his art, elects to recount a documentary he watched the evening before. Aes leaves the assembly, runs down the documentary, and consumes it eagerly based on the recommendation of his now favourite artist “John Something”. We have all had the “John Something” people in our life – someone who has delivered something with passion that has just stuck to the soul. But memory may betray what you are left with. Who was it that introduced me to the thing that reshaped my understanding? Maybe it doesn’t matter. We are all getting older.

In a similar vein “Snail Zero” is a narrative about Aes finding a bladder snailthat hitched a ride on a plant added to the aquarium he has gifted to girlfriend who recently moved in with him. Over the course of the song, Aes wrestles with what the right decision is to handle the multiplying snails. Does he let them just keep multiplying until they overrun the apartment or does he clean the aquarium and face judgement. Tracks like this and “John Something” are what I truly treasure about Aesop Rock. I don’t know who else would rap about the same subjects. There is something honest and absurd about his lyrics that reflects the truth about life.

I will have this album on repeat along with most of the rest from his collection. From my initial listens, I think it will sit up there with my favourites from him. And I will quietly stew with the album on repeat hoping that Aes will come out of hiding to tour the album. But I won’t be holding my breath.

Track list:

  1. Secret Knock
  2. Checkers
  3. Movie Night
  4. EWR - Terminal A, Gate
  5. 1010WINS
  6. So Be It
  7. Send Help
  8. John Something
  9. Ice Sold Here
  10. Costco
  11. Bird School
  12. Snail Zero
  13. Charlie Horse
  14. Steel Wool
  15. Black Plums
  16. The Red Phone
  17. Himalayan Yak Chew
  18. Unbelievable Shenanigans