3 out of 5

Label: Rhymesayers

Produced by: Aesop Rock

20+ years on and 10 albums (plus EPs, singles, and additional production credits) in, and Aesop has emerged on the other side of post-retirement hippy-dippyness with another phase: just being a dude, and maybe getting older.

“Just being a dude” has been part of Aes’ shtick the whole while, but that slacker roll in his vocals has been in support of his appreciated wordsmithery, verbose and occasionally salad, but never far from a clever or cutting line or observation, and the gobbledygook is, at least, kept thematically in sync with an overall vibe or point. And of course, when Rock has been at this sharpest, even the world salad amazes. Which albums qualify for sharpest is certainly up for debate, but we’ve undoubtedly seen the artist unavoidably aging, and with it, his approach has gone from early braggadocio and provided beats to becoming his own beatmaker, and becoming vociferously socially aware, cast over by middle-aged malaise by the time of The Impossible Kid. Then maybe he was done; then he came back with a spiritual journey. And now Integrated Tech Solutions, probably one of his most wide-reaching, polished, and impressive productions yet, but also… man, just like, songs about stuff like pigeons, and a very weak theme, both in terms of what Rock has to say about it, and how it’s applied on the album.

Quoting from the wiki, ITS is a ” “loose concept album” that explores technology and consumerism;” but loose is an excuse here: we get one song that’s an old man shaking his fist at cell phones, and one song potentially about mass production gutting our culture, and… uh, Pigeonometry, about drawing pigeons, ’cause they’re cool. (For the record, I agree.)

I’d maybe let the two out of seventeen songs pass as just a humorous lark – confining the concept to these tunes – except there are snippets of a jingle for the fictional “ITS” system throughout, as that just serves as a reminder that, like… no, you’re not accomplishing this goal.

Setting that aside, I’m glad the hoodoo of Field Guide has passed; the internal journey has relaxed, and Aes can deliver chill thoughts on the world around him. This lacks some of the emotional urgency of Kid, and is on the level, mostly, of Rock’s sillier songs about food and funny lil’ musings, like meeting Mr. T as a kid on 100 Feet Tall. I’d say this puts ITS mostly on the level of latter-day Atmosphere: you’re dealing with endlessly creative dudes who’ve arrived at a fairly settled state in their lives, and there’s rightly not much intensity of subject matter, but rather being reflective. This can still twist into more affecting, Skelethon-y moments, like Living Curfew, or be twisted into sharp confidence – the ‘own the block’ vibe of All City Nerve Map, for example. But again, on the whole, maybe Aes just wants to rap about liking rivers, and so here’s a song called By The River. No pun intended, but: it ain’t that deep.

All City does represent a place where I’d like to see these songs go, though, with Aggressive Steven being the best example: this is a narrative that starts casual, seems like it’s going to go in one direction, and then becomes a brutally honest take on a particular crisis in America – not a political one, I promise, and only kept vague so the narrative can grab you. So while I don’t want to begrudge Aes cuddling up to the comforts of getting older, it’s inspiring to hear him push his observations and writing towards some agendas.

Now if all of this sounds especially critical, I’d also flip it around and say it doesn’t matter so much, because this album’s production is undoubtedly one of the best things Rock has put together. If the ITS bit had any effect, it was to encourage a blending of boom-bap bass with some fuzzy electronics, interspersed with some soulful hiss and samples that take from the best bits of Ant. Every song has a distinct hook and feeling, and adding to that, we find Rock acting in a kind of Damon Albarn / Gorillaz capacity, adjusting his rapping flow to accommodate numerous guests, and truly setting the songs up to let them shine. While this can lean into some potential for indulgence – I’m not quite sure how I feel about the spoken weird piece yet – this is the benefit to all of this maturity: the inherent confidence is giving Rock the patience to stretch out and experiment, and that ends up making this imperfect album one that has a lot of catchy melodies, and thus a lot of playtime.