EP: Lice Two: Still Buggin’ – Lice, Aesop Rock, Homeboy Sandman

The second EP from Lice, also known as Aesop Rock and Homeboy Sandman has been released to streaming platforms. Just like the first Lice EP, this music is entirely new to me, it somehow flew over my head. Probably because it hasn’t been available at Spotify, which is my absolute go to for music.

So, i see this as a completely new release, which is fantastic. Lice Two: Still Buggin’ is a 5 song EP that spans over 16 minutes and 9 seconds and the tracks are performed by Aesop Rock and Homeboy Sandman. There seems to be different producers on almost all of the tracks, and you can hear that while listening to the tracks. The different tracks have very distinct sound that separates them from each other. I think the difference in sounds makes this EP even more interesting, however i do believe that i enjoyed the first Lice EP a bit more.

My favourite tracks off of this new-old EP is Oatmeal Cookies, it goes really hard and it just spoke to me in a way.

I hope that you give this EP a listen, and let me know what you think!

Until next time, take care.
SLQT.

Lice – Aesop Rock – Homeboy Sandman

Some weeks ago i saw Aesop Rock posting in social media, linking a new single called Catfish. It was released under the collaborative title of Lice, which is Aesop Rock and Homeboy Sandman. I’ve since before known that they’ve done projects together, but i haven’t really listened to anything by Homeboy Sandman. I really enjoyed the new single, Catfish, and i enjoyed the symmetry of the collaboration of Aesop and Homeboy Sandman – they bounce off of eachother in a unique way that empowers their respective verses on the track.

A while later i saw that Aesop posted on social media that he was releasing 3 EPs/Albums under the collaborative project named Lice over the next three coming weeks. This amped me up, i love new releases from Aesop. He rarely misses, and i really enjoyed Catfish. Homeboy Sandman pleasently surprised me with his bars, and i will surely pay him more attention in the future.

Today the first EP, Lice (Spotify-link), dropped on streaming platforms – and firstly it confused me, as i expected it to show up under ”Newest releases”, but instead it showed up as published in 2015. However after some digging it turned out that this EP was released back in 2015, but haven’t been on any streaming platforms (except Youtube, since its debut. This somehow flew above my head.

Lice is a solid EP, it consists of five tracks, that span over 17 minutes and 17 seconds and features a Fort Minor remix. Aesop and Homeboy Sandman bounces off of eachother during most of the songs and the songs differ in style. I must say that Environmental Studies easily is my favourite track of this EP. I think i will dive deeper into why that is, in another post in the future.

I see myself as a big Aesop Rock fan, and somehow i’ve completely missed this EP – maybe, and probably, because it hasn’t been on Spotify since before today. This means that this is a completely new release for me, and for that i am grateful. For others that have enjoyed, consumed and devoured Lice before, this release probably comes as a ease of life release, as it makes listening to the EP, easier than on YouTube.

I don’t know if the other two EPs also has been released before, and that they’ve flew over my head, or not. However, i am eagerly awaiting the release of them.

Until next time, take care.
SLQT.

Spirit World Field Guide by Aesop Rock.

”Hello from the Spirit World
My days here have been as rewarding as they are troublesome
And often dangerous.”

Such is the opening lines of the newest release from Aesop Rock, Spirit World Field Guide. I wrote about the first two singles in an earlier post and finally, today, friday the 13th year 2020, the album was released. There was a leak online but i decided that i didn’t want to listen to it before the actual release dropped, so i waited. However since there was a global midnight release as soon as it hit midnight it meant that here in Europe i managed to listen to it once before i went to sleep.
I’ve listened to the album four times in total, and i really do enjoy it, i find it to be one of his best releases ever, if not even the best. I have to admit, i am a sucker for Aesop Rock and his music, so, this text will be biased, very much so.

This is clearly a concept album, and i love the idea of concept albums, some are great and some not – but the idea behind concept albums intrigue me. As Rhymesayers said in their release post, they called the tracks chapters, rather than tracks, and as speculation pointed to, aswell as the name of the album, this is a field guide to the spirit world of Aesops fantasy. The first chapter of the album is called Hello From The Spirit World and this chapter is very important to listen to, if you want to understand the concept running through the album. The chapters are stand alone, and works by themselves since they are tracks – but to get the whole experience from the chapters this first chapter gives us the premises that this field guide is built upon.

I’ve listened to this album from start to finish and on shuffle. I think that everyone that wants to listen to this album should start with listening to it in order the first time, and after that you can shuffle it. I’m very bad at this, but it is something that i’ve been trying hard to change in my later years – and i feel that the first time you experience and album, it should probably be intended the way the author (artist) wanted it. Since this is a concept album and a field guide, you probably will, i know i did, draw parallels to literature – and you wouldn’t read the book from the middle the first time you read it. That you can do when you’ve experienced the conceptual art.

However, i do wish to point out that this is not a difficult album to listen to. Conceptual albums, and literature and anything that’s conceptual has gotten a rumour about it that it’s difficult and complex to understand – this is not. I mean, it’s a Aesop Rock album, so it will be filled with complex lyrics that got metaphores within the metaphores, but that’s just Aesop Rock. I believe that if you’re new to Aesop Rock this album is as good a starting point as any other of his albums.

The album is very well made. I’ve seen discussions online about mastering and sound levels and equalizer options being off. But i don’t hear it. I’ve listened to this album on three different setups, a pair of in ears, a pair of studio headphones and a regular speaker setup. The difference is that, the better the speaker/headphones you listen to, the better it will sound. I don’t believe the problem is mastering here, i believe the problem is that people listen to it with different audio setups and that’s what makes the difference – atleast that’s my point of view on the reported issues.

To round things off:
This album will roll steady on Spotify for me, i’ve been finding new chapters (tracks) that stick out every time that i’ve listened through it so far. However i am really feeling Crystal Sword, Jumping Coffin and Coveralls.

You can find the album at places that you find music. I hope you give it a listen this weekend.

Until next time, take care.

SLQT.

”Might be a trap, shit, it’s probably a trap
Might be a possum in the trash
It’s probably a trap”

Spirit World Field Guide by Aesop Rock.

The 13th of November 2020 Aesop Rock releases his new album that’s been named Spirit World Field Guide and as before Aesop Rock is still on the Rhymesayers label.
So far two singles from the upcoming album has been released: The Gates and Pizza Alley. The latter one has stirred up some controversies online partly because people has linked it to some absurd and insane conspiracy theories that wander around social media like a ghoul. Apart from this controversy the other outcry i’ve seen online, about this song, is the mixing. I do not understand what they’re on about, i must admit. But i, on the other hand, really like the sound and i always assume that the released version of a song is the way it’s supposed to sound. And i feel like redacting and updating versions of album, like Kanye West did with Saint Pablo, just makes it hard to keep up with how an album sounds and it gives you this incentive to keep on coming back, just because you cannot be sure if the albums been changed or not. However, back to Aesop.

With these things out of our way, we’ll carry on with this text. From what Rhymesayers write on their website about this upcoming album it’s easy to get the feeling that this is a concept album of sorts that connect to literature. The album is called Spirit World Field Guide which implies that this indeed is a field guide to help us navigate the Spirit World of Aesops imagination. The 21 tracks on the album is referred to as chapters, again tying the knot of this being some kind of literature.
From the sounds of the singles we’ve heard so far, this gives me the feel like it’s tied to some 80s dungeons and dragons-fantasy, The spirit world. The track list really do enforce the feeling of this being 21 chapters that stand alone in themselves, but together they tie this field guide together.

The Gates was the first single that was released from the upcoming album. It appeals to me, i am a sucker for tracks that goes hard. And the beat together with the bass in this track holds hand and makes this slap hard. Pizza Alley has this underlying vibe that makes you a bit uneasy and it feels eerie. And how the sounds in the song switches it makes the feeling that we’re out on a DND-mission hard to ignore. Especially with the other clues we’ve gotten in form of the name of the album and the literature comparision with the tracks named as chapters. The sound of these two tracks differ a lot from each other and i have a feeling that we’ll get 21 tracks that sound very different.

I am truly looking forward to this album and to see what Aesop Rock has managed to pull together this time. I am also very much looking forward to see what lyrical masterpiece Aesop Rock has managed to do this time. As mentioned before, the album drops the 13th of November and will (hopefully) be available on all the regular places you find music.
I will, surely, write something about the album when it’s out.

Until next time, take care.

SLQT.