From The Desk Of Aesop Rock: Tobacco

Following a five-year hiatus, San Francisco-via-NYC hip-hop artist Aesop Rock recently returned with his first solo album since None Shall Pass. Released by the Rhymesayers label, Skelethon is the rapper’s effort to come to terms with the death of a close friend, as well as the deterioration of several friendships and close relationships. “Death has become commonplace in my life,” he says. “The past few years was an endless period of skeletons. But, hopefully, Skelethon will help put all of this behind me. It’s like a giant purging—like finishing a chapter and preparing to jump into the next one.” Aesop will also be guest editing magnetmagazine.com all week. Read our recent feature on him.

Aesop: Tobacco records music under his own name as well as spearheading the band Black Moth Super Rainbow, and he is a bad, bad man. Since I discovered his music some years back, he has quickly become one of my favorite producer/beat-maker/orchestrators that I know. Chunky drum sounds that punch you in the chest, gooey synthesizer lines that layer up and drip over the speakers and a fantastic ear for oddball melodies, sounds and effects.

We’ve talked recording techniques before, but truthfully I have no idea how he gets the “sound” he gets. He is one of the few people I think has carved out his own sound to the point where one can almost always recognize his music before knowing he did it. He makes the kind of records that work both as one long cohesive piece as well as individual tracks that rock on their own.

The BMSR material tends to have vocoder-heavy vocals courtesy the man himself, while the Tobacco stuff is more instrumental, with the occasional guest vocalist. It’s all awesome. On the personal side, Tobacco is an absolute pleasure to be around. Reserved and quiet at first, but opens up to be one of the funnier, more intelligent people I know. Super-abstract sense of humor, and some really interesting views on music and life in general. Plus, he has a big heart. Aw, yeah! I can’t recommend this man’s stuff enough.

Video after the jump.