None Shall Pass [Digipak]

Performer: Aesop Rock
Producer: Rob Sonic; El-P; Aesop Rock; Blockhead
Distributor: Caroline Distribution

Notes: Personnel: Hollis, Camu Tao (vocals); Allyson Baker (guitar); Derek Layes, Carson Binks (bass guitar); DJ Big Wiz (scratches). Additional personnel: El-P, Rob Sonic (vocals); Breezly Brewin, John Darnielle, Cage . San Francisco MC Aesop Rock has long been the acknowledged king of hipster-hop, bringing to the game a cerebral, often ironic lyrical sensibility and a taste for adventurous production. Long Island-born AR (born Ian Bavitz) has a lifetime of personal issues and sociopolitical preoccupations banging around in his brain, and he continues to air them on NONE SHALL PASS, his fifth full-length release. Aesop's knack for getting polysyllabic while maintaining an organic flow is in full effect here: how many other rappers can make "Helvetica" and "euthanasia" fall trippingly off the tongue? Backing it all up with tracks that mix '70s funk, IDM-style electronica, left-field psychedelia, and classic West Coast beats, Aesop Rock (with guest shots from pals El-P and the Mountain Goats' John Darnielle) proves that there are still fresh approaches available to rappers with a searching spirit.

Rolling Stone (p.93) - 3 stars out of 5 -- "Indie rap's wordiest wordsmith unleashes another dose of dense, hyper-enunciated rhymes filled with poetic imagery." Spin (p.122) - 3.5 stars out of 5 -- "[A] challenging, rewarding head trip. 'Fumes' and '39 Thieves' are classic Def Jux..." Entertainment Weekly (p.65) - "His dazzling verbal pointillism resolves into clever rants and full-blown stories." -- Grade: A- Q (p.101) - 3 stars out of 5 -- "Long Island-born Ian Bavitz here delivers some typically extravagant wordplay. There's smart production, too..." Alternative Press (p.170) - 3 stars out of 5 -- "On NONE SHALL PASS, the entry point is classic hip-hop....It peaks on 'Coffee,' a wonderfully weird, ska-tinged duet..." The Wire (p.65) - "[With] free associative existential riffs, surreal suburban imagery and winding accounts of decay....NONE SHALL PASS might be his best work since LABOR DAYS." Vibe (p.130) - "[H]is fourth album is as dense as ever....His paragraphs are still wound tight with near metaphors and dissociative imagery..."

New York MC and beat-maker Aesop Rock offers rapid-fire, often stream-of-consciousness lyrics, stuttering beats, and a frequently murky, atmospheric production aesthetic, making him one of the most distinctive hip-hop artists of his era. Though he began making music in the '90s, Brooklyn-based rapper became known in the early 2000s through his work for the feted underground hip-hop label Def Jux. His 2001 album LABOR DAYS was only the beginning of a series of releases that found Aesop Rock pushing the hip-hop envelope ever further.

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