Aesop Rock has a reputation for esoteric and abstract raps. It's certainly an earned reputation, but that background makes it interesting when you peel off the layers of his latest, Black Hole Superette and realize that many of these dense songs are actually about the mundane: walking the dog, cohabitation... hell, even fishkeeping.
While there's a lot of day-to-day routine in here, it's built into a conceptual album about our existence in the greater universe. It's about the human condition, if you will. Like any piece of art.
I'll go on a limb to say that each Aesop Rock album is ultimately a mood. He doesn't write singles, these are concepts. This record is sort of a chill, walking-down-the-street-with-your-hands-in-your-pockets vibe. To reference his last record, the tone reminds me of "By The River." It's observant of the world around you, yet locked inside your own head as you drink it all in. While I say it's chill overall, there are some big bumping bass beats and a few guest vocal spots that keep it pushing forward on the 15-track album. The hyper beats of "Ice Sold Here" feel a little paranoid, quickly countered by the trippy bassline of "Costco" after it. "Black Plums" would be my choice of a quintessential single to highlight the overall mood of Black Hole Superette: where breakbeat meets ambient organ. "1010WINS," "Bird School," and "Steel Wool" are some of my favorite moments that convey the album's mood which, overall, is something of a hypnotic and weird dreamscape.
Every time you leave the house to go to the superette, you may find adventure. Sometimes you're just a nameless face in the crowd, a tiny flickering in the vastness of space. Sometimes things legitimately get weird, even making you question your own existence and reality.
Somehow Aesop Rock captures this expansive universe on one 68-minute record, even cracking some pretty solid jokes and self-references along the way. If there's a flaw, it's that the energy kind of trickles off toward the end, fading out rather than ending on a big memorable moment. It's not my favorite Aesop record, but it's another worthy addition to the catalog and a fitting companion piece to 2023's Integrated Tech Solutions.
