Aesop Rock & Blockhead have just announced that the instrumentals for their recent album Garbology (2021), as well as its companion EP The Recycling Bin (2022), are coming to vinyl for the first time on April 28th via Rhymesayers Entertainment with pre-orders available now. The original Garbology album was the culmination of a creative partnership that stretches back to the late 90’s, when the two artists were just getting started on their respective music careers. Despite collaborating and lending one another features across each other’s releases over the subsequent decades (including Blockhead producing Aesop’s fan favorite songs “Daylight” and “None Shall Pass”) Garbology marked their first full length release together. Following the success of the full Garbology album, the duo felt compelled to offer the instrumentals for further examination and repurposing efforts, adorned with a revised artwork by renowned illustrator Justin “Coro” Kaufman, packaged in a deluxe spot gloss gatefold sleeve. The pair went on to follow the Garbology album with The Recycling Bin, on which Blockhead resurrected three songs from Aesop’s catalog that he didn’t originally produce, giving them each a unique spin with new remixes. Originally available as a digital only release, the physical reissue of The Recycling Bin marks the EP’s vinyl debut.
“Garbology is defined as the study of the material discarded by a society to learn what it reveals about social or cultural patterns,” Aesop explains. “I find a lot of parallels between that and the idea of picking up the pieces after a loss or period of intense unrest, and seeing whatʼs really there. Furthermore – the idea of digging through old, often neglected music from another time — with an ear tuned for taking in that data in a different way than your average listener — is exactly what Blockhead does.” Aesop and Blockhead went on to delve even deeper into the themes of recycling with last year’s collaborative “Pumpkin Seeds (ft. Lupe Fiasco)” single, whose proceeds are being directed toward helping repurpose underutilized land in Dayton, OH to build a pair of DIY skateparks – read more about the effort and enter for a chance to win an exclusive skate deck and vinyl at Thrasher here.
