Garbology

File under “things that seem like they should’ve happened years ago, but somehow hadn’t until now”: *Garbology* is the first album-length collaboration between the two underground hip-hop veterans, despite the fact that they’ve known each other since college, and that Aesop’s biggest tracks to date have been Blockhead productions. Here, the latter’s beats are heady as ever; meanwhile, Aes has grown into the role of the curmudgeonly hermit, digging through the landfill of late-capitalist culture with no small amount of despair: “I hate praising net worth over legwork/I hate ceding all power to the extroverts/I find the current social architecture hell on earth,” he spits on “That Is Not a Wizard.” It isn’t easy making existential anguish sound this good.

Backed by Blockhead’s spare production, the Long Island-bred rapper continues his creative evolution, writing more incisively about himself than ever before.

Abstract beatmaker Blockhead and verbose wordsmith Aesop Rock have been frequent collaborators since the late '90s, with the producer heavily contributing to the emcee's early recordings, and helping to distribute his first releases before he was signed to a record label.

Aesop Rock finally reunites with his longtime producer Blockhead for a hip-hop record less focused on nostalgia and more about depicting our paranoid present.

Aesop Rock x Blockhead - Garbology review: The mythical collaboration of an obsessive fan base’s astral dreams