Aesop Rock - Spirit World Field Guide (2020)
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Out of his entire expansive discography, Aesop Rock's production, flow, and relentless lyricism are on display better here than anywhere else.
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Devotional Sanskrit songs coupled with otherworldy lo-fi strings and synthesizers. Originally distributed to Coltrane's Vedanta students but eventually made its way to the public.
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Dark, dense, heavy, anxious, claustrophic lyricism with equally atmospheric production. Billy Woods doesn't miss but this is probably his best.
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Energetic youthful pop-punk at its finest. Equal parts fun, depressive, goofy, heartwarming, and inspirational.
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One of the first modern ambient albums. Designed to be equally rewarding as passive background music or when actively paid attention to. Still holds up as an absolute classic.
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Super underrated ambient. Perfect blend of warm drones with melodic strings and horns. Essential reading music for me.
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Messy, heavy, dense, jarring, and incredibly catchy post-punk. Lacks the sheer mass and weight of their (rightfully) celebrated Attack on Memory but makes up for it with tighter songwriting and better instrumentation.
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Religious Rastafari reggae with incredible production. Spacious, ethereal, hypnotic, and devout.
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Quintessential French skramz/screamo. Technical without being frilly or obnoxious. Heavy and ugly while still being melodic.
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A difficult album to listen to and to describe. A messy collection of live recordings, studio recordings, covers, and church hymns. Daniel Johnston's silly side is here but just barely. Mostly he's paranoid, raw, and anguished. Deeply religious, deeply sad, deeply honest.
