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Ahhh, it’s so nice to have Aesop Rock back. His first two label releases, Float (2000) and Labor Days (2001), sent signals of a massive underground talent to be reckoned with. His beats are strange, dark and beautiful, and he has such a unique cadence to his rhyming that’s hard to compare to anything else.

Then, with his follow up Bazooka Tooth (2003) and another EP called Fast Cars, Danger, Fire and Knives (2005) he went to a darker place and lost some of the simpler, yet more enjoyable grooves introduced earlier in his career. Well, maybe that’s unfair. I would never call anything Aesop does “simple”. But the first two records were decidedly different than the next two, and not in a good way (for me at least).

But in 2007 he came out with None Shall Pass, which proved to be his best and most complete work to date. Each song is great in its own right…there aren’t many albums you can say that about. From track 1 to 14 (plus a hidden track) you get something new that makes you stop, listen and appreciate it. And we’re treated to a special surprise when the Mountain Goats’ John Darnielle lends his own unique vocal stylings to the end of “Coffee”.

Here’s a very cool animated video for the title track, “None Shall Pass”…