Aesop Rock – Spirit World Field Guide
welcome back folks! this week, we’re listening to Spirit World Field Guide, Aesop Rock’s record from late 2020!
i really like how Spirit World Field Guide opens – the spoken intro feels very appropriate and thematic, and The Gate is a really strong song to kick off that angle for the lyrics, thematically functioning as a kind of, well, field guide, starting at the gates. i dont think its the strongest lyrical throughline – i know the spirit world functions as a parallel for artistic process, mental states, and spirituality itself, but some of the tracks feel very tangentially related for something that sells itself so strongly up front. several tracks on the record discuss travelling to other countries, which Aes described as being very creatively rejuvenating – my favorite of these is Pizza Alley, discussing his visit to Peru, which has an excellent chorus (“find him a strange hill to die on / never let me die on a regular hill”).
i also think that this record runs a tad long what its offering – at a over an hour long with 20 track, i think its missing some connective tissue or sequencing to keep it solid the whole way through.
that being said though,Aesop Rock’s flow and lyrics are as excellent as ever. his delivery in Gauze kicks ass, for example – relentless and driving, its very fun to listen to.
on the whole, a very neat listen.
faves – The Gates, Gauze, Pizza Alley, 1 to 10
dislikes –
Spirit World Field Guide – 6/10
next week, we’ll be checking out Garbology!
first: Music For Earthworms | previous: Malibu Ken | next: Garbology
Discussion ¬