Skelethon

Description

Skelethon is the sixth, but the very first self-produced album for Aesop Rock, the New York rapper based in San Francisco. It features numerous instrumental and vocal collaborations from other artists of the independent scene: Allyson Baker (Dirty Ghosts), Hanni El Khatib, Nicky Fleming-Yaryan, Rob Sonic, and Grimace Federation, but also great scratch moments by his longtime friend and collaborator, DJ Big Wiz. Affected by the death of a close friend in 2008, Aesop Rock delivers an album primarily marked by loss and longing. In his style and poetry, he also attempts to add touches of humor and lightness to these difficult moments, always present in the background. Humor illuminates the darkness of feelings, while pain pierces through the lightest jokes. Aesop showcases all his verve and writing talent, which is imaginative, immediate, poetic, and striking; with the sole exception of a duet with Kimya Dawson (formerly of The Moldy Peaches) which, for example, recalls collaborations between Tricky and Martina Topley Bird.