aesop rock integrated tech solutions rhymesayers review
Music, Sounds

Aesop Rock, Integrated Tech Solutions: REVIEW

by Darcy MacDonald

“Aesop Rock once again outdoes himself on production and lyrical composition alike, as only a select few artists with comparable longevity manage.”

Aesop Rock, Integrated Tech Solutions (Rhymesayers)

With an inciting incident that took place “2.5 million years ago,” the ever-prolific rap futurist’s latest invites the listener on a sprawling adventure through time, human evolution and its tactile relationship to technology from the wheel onward. Aes rarely comes across as the sentimental type, so there’s something particularly satisfying about how often the themes on ITS also reference the long-since-relocated rapper’s New York City roots. Though almost certainly unintended, repeat listens suggest a subliminal connection to former Def Jux label boss El-P’s dystopian 2002 masterpiece Fantastic Damage. Aesop Rock once again outdoes himself on production and lyrical composition alike, as only a select few artists with comparable longevity manage. And none have Rock’s patented, time-stamped, encoded creative signature, a hip hop innovation neither man nor machine will ever decrypt. 8/10 Trial Track: “Pigeonometry”

“Pigeonometry” by Aesop Rock, from Integrated Tech Solutions

For more on Aesop Rock, please visit his website.

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Posted in Music, Sounds

by Darcy MacDonald

Contributor
Darcy MacDonald has been with Cult MTL since day one, a decade ago. Which means today, he’s a middle-aged white guy (albeit one more interested in other people’s ideas than in his own). He was previously a columnist and reporter for Montreal Mirror, and has also created content (FKA “written”) for RBMA, Noisey, Montreal Gazette, The National Post and probably some other great places he’s forgotten about. Music, culture, community and miscellaneous questions in search of answers all come across his desk, sooner or later.