[ALBUM REVIEW] - AESOP ROCK & TOBACCO - '...are MALIBU KEN'

[2019 ALBUM JUDGMENT]

Artist – Album: AESOP ROCK & TOBACCO – ‘…are MALIBU KEN’
Record Labels:  Rhymesayers Entertainment
Release Date:    01/18/19
Singles (thus far): “Acid King” & “Corn Maze”

Experimental weirdness, dizzy deliveries, super-dense vocab;
One of the tougher lyricists to decode for some; but provides complex, trippy storytelling.

Those unfamiliar with either:  Aesop Rock is a Long Island-born, Portland OR.-raised, underground emcee/producer who’s been making music since 1996.  He’s often described as an abstract, sophisticatedly-weird, surrealist rapper that’s CL Smooth-meets-Salvador Dali - who rose to fame in the Definitive Jux & Rhymesayers Ent heydays.  Tobacco hails from Pittsburgh, and is producer/frontman for the psychedelic, electro-synth band Black Moth Super Rainbow; with a carefree passion of synthesizers, vocoders, & old pre-digital hardware.

Lead-off track/2nd single, “Corn Maze” instantly exhibits the type of reverbed, whirling, funky-thump, and strangely-reflective raps we’re in for.  His unique imagery’s best displayed in “Tuesday”; a lasery, drunken ode describing his dirty apartment, hygiene, & care for plants – that he ends with the euphony that life thrives best when left alone.  “Acid King” is a dark mix of frantic, restless, ominous keyboards & 8-bit video game sounds; over which Aes tells the 1980s tale of Long Island-murderer Ricky Kasso, who stabbed his best friend 32 times over stolen PCP.  “1+1=13” is driven by a broken organ and creatively reaches at good luck charms & superstitions.  Lyrically, he capably shifts from his blurred-reality, nostalgic, cartoony-view of negative world news on the staticy “Save Our Ship”; to my favorite record here, the zap-heavy, bassy, head-nodding “Suicide Big Gulp” – the most braggadocious I’ve heard Aesop.

Aes’ rhyme-schemes are sharp as ever & his puzzling, wordy verses are out-there & personal; while Tobacco adds a different kind of weirdness.  His rumbling, analog, synth-funk is interesting & very unpredictable - some of the livelier beats I’ve heard Aesop on.  Still unorthodox, abstract, alternative-hip-hop; but not as boom-bap-influenced as his previous works.  Occasionally, Tobacco’s thick tsunami of off-kilter, zappy, electro-keys are a little overwhelming – so admittedly it’s headphone-rap you have to be in the mood for.  Knowing Aesop Rock’s an acquired taste; these concepts are too tedious & aren’t trendy enough for the mainstream to get into.  Underground fans though will find it a colorful, groovy addition to his collection & one of the 1st good projects of 2019.  I enjoyed 6 songs out of 10, so I’m grading it as *Above-Average*.  The best tracks I recommend are: “Suicide Big Gulp”, “Acid King”, “Tuesday”, & “Corn Maze”.


My Final Verdict:

4 STARS (out of 6)