Aesop Rock
Skelethon
Rhymsayers Entertainment
Rating: 
Ultra wordy Bay Area rapper Aesop Rock is back with his first record in six years, and we’re willing to wager it’ll be the only album this year to reference Dagwood Bumstead. Let that touch of whimsy stand as a signal to the indie hip-hop star’s critics, who complain that his dense, abstract rhymes are humorless and frequently impenetrable: Because while Skelethon certainly delivers verbal complexity, it’s also loaded with hooks and head-nodding beats (“Zero Dark Thirty,” “Crows 2”), and it features several straight-ahead story songs (“ZZZ Top,” “Ruby ’81,”), along with freewheeling dashes of humor (“Racing Stripes,” “Homemade Mummy”). A welcome return.
