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When asked about his favorite music venue in a recent interview by Pitchfork Media, underground hip-hop wordsmith Aesop Rock responded with a litany of reasons why Washington’s 9:30 Club topped his list. This past Monday night saw Aesop gracing the club with his presence as one of the early stops on his None Shall Pass tour – and visibly enjoying every second of it.
Labelmate and longtime Aesop collaborator Blockhead kicked off the evening with a spacey, Mac-driven DJ set accompanied by DJ Signify. While the set was certainly enjoyable – Blockhead’s sampling of Phil Collins’ “In the Air Tonight” worked perfectly – poor sound system quality weakened the bass-heavy performance.
Fellow New Yorkers Yak Ballz and Cage grabbed mics and were up next, keeping crowd energy high throughout their amazing, albeit short, set. Their performance definitely would have benefited from being longer – presumably due to time constraints, Cage cut two songs from his planned set list – but it’s hard to complain when you get to see the duo end their set with Cage’s classic, “Agent Orange.”
With crowd anticipation high, Aesop Rock strolled on stage to a crowd of cheers and a front row of eager high fives. Flanked by DJ Big Wiz on turntables and fellow emcee Rob Sonic, Aesop began his set with the first track from None Shall Pass, “Keep Off the Lawn.” Aesop followed up the opener with the album’s immensely catchy title track; the emcee was all smiles as the whole club sang along with him.
Sticking mostly to None Shall Pass tracks during the beginning of the set, Aesop continued with two more songs from the album, “Catacomb Kids” and “Bring Back Pluto.” After those two crowd sing-alongs, Aesop delved into a strong variety of older classics (including a “2009 remix,” as he called it, of Labor Days’ track “No Regrets”), more new songs (like “39 Thieves,” performed live as “Ali Baba and the 39 Thieves”) and even some tracks from Rob Sonic’s own new album.
As usual, turntable genius DJ Big Wiz gave an amazing performance, and even got a few minutes to shine by himself as Aesop and Rob took a break to kneel near the side of Wiz’s table.
Aesop finished things off with “Coffee,” which, while still an incredible track, would have benefited immensely if collaborator John Darnielle had been present, or even there in recorded form – the song just isn’t the same without him. Almost immediately after leaving the stage, Aesop, Rob Sonic and Big Wiz returned to chants of “Ae-sop! Ae-sop!” for a one-song encore.
Aesop made the one-song count, performing – as most familiar fans expected, and Aesop joked was the one song he’d never be allowed to skip – the perennial favorite “Daylight.” As the 9:30 Club crowd joined in unison to sing, “All I ever wanted was to pick apart the day/ Put the pieces back together my way,” Aesop and his stage-mates fed off the mob’s energy, making the performance that much better.
Counting the encore, Aesop’s performance lasted a solid 77 minutes, and was complemented the entire time by a projector showing videos by Jeremy Fish, Aesop’s longtime friend who did all of the art on None Shall Pass as well as several of Aesop’s T-shirt designs.
The only substantial complaint about the night is the fact that it wasn’t longer – not because it was exceptionally brief, but because it’s hard to get tired of Aesop Rock. In case you missed the emcee this time, do yourself a favor and make the drive to Baltimore’s Ottobar for his Sept. 21st show. You’ll be glad you did.
Aesop Rock will appear at the Ottobar Sept. 21. Tickets are $18.
fallopia@umd.edu
