New York-born Aesop Rock has now been pummeling the underground hip-hop scene with complex, metaphorical lyrics and addictive beats for nearly a decade. Two years after 2003’s Bazooka Tooth, Aesop Rock released his EP Fast Cars, Danger, Fire and Knives. Like Bazooka Tooth, Aesop’s sound goes in a new direction on Fast Cars. The beats project a more electronic sound, and the production is more polished. This is a major departure from the Float and Labor Days style, which are more representative of “original” Aesop; as a fan of both of those albums, however, I loved Fast Cars from the first time I listened to it. Fans of older Aes sometimes regard his work following Labor Days as a failed exercise in overproduction; I strongly disagree, and while I haven’t yet gotten attached to Bazooka Tooth, I see Fast Cars as a brilliant little album. Though, being an EP, it features only seven tracks (eight with the bonus track “Facemelter”), the listener is not left unsatisfied; the album spans a respectable thirty-odd minutes, and all (or most) tracks - which, by the way, are all new; nothing here is rehashed - mesh well together for a cohesive work. No track is less than “good,” and at least three are gems that alone make the album worth picking up.
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Discovery
The nineteenth century is notorious for being an age of American innovation and discovery. This era fostered the Second Industrial Revolution and formed the foundation of our modern day technologically driven and experimentally curious society. Among various other innovations, this period saw the invention of the light bulb, the typewriter, and the telephone1. Transportation was immensely expanded, and the definition of efficiency was revolutionized.2 By the mid-nineteenth century, James Watson and Francis Crick had discovered the double helix structure of a DNA molecule.3
Not too long before this unearthing of information, Americans first discovered new miracle drugs like morphine, heroin, and cocaine.4 From then on, these drugs began their own version of an epidemic in American society. Drug abuse became one of the most popular pastimes of the late nineteenth century. Yet, by the time World War II found its place in history, people had become so paranoid with the outside world- which had opium and cocaine to spare- that they began to shun drug usage. However, the 1960s brought along a new era of drug-mania. Marijuana, methamphetamines, and psychedelics such as LSD were introduced into American culture after being passionately embraced by the idols of the new age: rock bands.
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“We don’t like their sound, and guitar music is on the way out.” -Decca Recording Company rejecting the Beatles, 19621
Philosophers or Musicians?
Rock music today would not be the same if it weren’t for the influence of musicians like Jimi Hendrix, the Beatles, Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, and the Who. These bands stand out as some of the major innovators in rock music, and they all come from the same era. The 1960’s and 70’s were a great time for rock music and carried the genre into uncharted territory. The music during this time was exploring new psychological and political themes—the music pushed for change and deviation from the straightedge conformity of the 50s into full freedom of expression.
The issues that were most important at the time were that of violence, war, and civil rights. People were not worried about things like the economy or job shortages, because those seemed to be a given. Young people were mostly concerned with being drafted and shipped off to Vietnam; forced to fight their parents’ war.
But the change in music brought with it more than just a new sound or fashion trend. The social and political climate changed dramatically from the stiff, clean society of the 50’s and into the dirty, longhaired, drug-using hippie movement of the following generation. The core of this change was the music. Young members of society based their fashion, politics, and other ideals (perhaps to the dismay of their parents) on those of popular rock music.
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LSD-Impregnated Blotter Paper
It is very easy for an audience to blame artistic talent and creativity on drug use. Almost anything that is truly creative in today’s world is blamed on the use of illegal drugs. Is it really the drugs that cause artists to create these magnificent pieces? Can one really say that the man or woman behind the song, painting, poem, or story was less of a factor than the chemicals active in their brain at the time? If indeed drugs are not the cause of creativity, do they have any effect on it at all? Opinions vary, but many believe that while drugs do not cause creativity, they can help the user to better utilize their own creativity, essentially acting as a catalyst for creativity, rather than the fuel itself.
Many artists, from Aldous Huxley to Ozzy Osbourne, believe that drugs are not the source of creativity. While there is no doubt that drug use allows the user to see the world from a different perspective, Aldous Huxley, a strong believer in the use of LSD, believed that “Some people probably could get direct aesthetic inspiration for painting or poetry out of it.”1 Huxley openly claimed that LSD was a healthy experience.2 However Huxley also said that one would not decide, “‘I want to write a magnificent poem, and so I’m going to take [LSD].’”1 It is clear that Huxley did not believe in drug use for the sole purpose of being creative, but for the intellectual experience of seeing the world in a different way. This could, as he said, directly influence a work of art, or simply give the user a new image of the world. Mr. Huxley did not believe that the drug could actually improve the abilities of a writer or an artist. Rather, he seemed to feel that artists that he had seen working under the influence of LSD were rather boring and produced works that came nowhere near the experience itself.2 Even as a strong supporter of LSD and other hallucinogens, Aldous Huxley did not report any true connection between the ability to be artistically creative and the use of drugs.
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It goes without saying that most bands start their careers with an eye on fame and fortune, yet so many bands fall well short of the mark. Still others make it past that mark with one big song, but then burn out and are aptly named “One Hit Wonders.” And of course there are the elite few bands that produce hit after hit and make it to the promised land of eternal rock stardom, but what really makes these songs popular? What determines what we, as consumers and listeners, choose to play? Is there a formula for popular rock and roll? If there is one, is popular music an art or just an industry?
Music is, without a doubt, a fine art. Composers spend lifetimes creating masterpieces that will evoke emotions in their listeners in a way that will just “feel” right. However, few people, including the writers and performers themselves, would consider today’s pop music a “fine” art. Not many are known to sip fine wine in their mansion’s sun room listening to the gentle sounds of Audioslave or the magnificent crescendos of the Killers. Although many prefer popular music to classical, none doubt that classical music is fine art, while rock and roll is perhaps just regular art. But if there is a way to manufacture pop music to insure “hit” status? If there was, why has no one created a computer that manufactures a hit every few weeks. Such a machine would be a cash cow for anyone that could do it. But no one has figured it out yet. There is no set method for releasing a hit.
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