After decades of mutual collaborations, Garbology is Aesop Rock’s and Blockhead’s first full-length project together. While Blockhead produced much of Aesop Rock’s sophomore album Float, all the way back in 2000, this is their first official project as co-collaborators, nicely capping off a careers worth of reciprocal involvement.

In explaining the name and nature of the project, Aesop states: “Garbology is defined as the study of the material discarded by a society to learn what it reveals about social or cultural patterns”, “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 what’s really there.” 

The study of garbology was initially spearheaded by American archeologist William Rathje, though the term ‘garbology’ itself was invented by A. J. Weberman after rummaging through the waste of folk legend Bob Dylan. This study has become much more important over the years due to climate concerns. Aesop additionally uses this as a metaphor for sampling: “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 would is exactly what Block does. Go through the information and see what you find.”

To match the albums theme, it is being released on physical formats as “a 100% recycled compound comprised of trimmed flash and leftovers from other color vinyl pressings”, according to Stereogum.

Garbology came about after a creative rut experienced by Aesop, after he had lost a close friend. “The world got real weird during those months,” recalls Aesop. “I knew at some point I had to get back to making something. Make a beat. Draw a picture. Write. Just go.” After embarking on a quest to write again, it was only natural for Aesop to hit up Blockhead for some beats, and it was seemingly within no time that an albums worth of material had accumulated through their efforts.

The project has recieved acclaim since its release, with Pop Matters writing “Garbology is an album of rituals and graveyards, of mixed messages and lost communications, and it manages to walk a mirror-thin line between relatable and inscrutable. In short, it feels like a great Aesop Rock album.” 

Listen to the album Garbology below:

The pair collaborations going back to the late 90’s when they have both started. Blockhead produced two of the most popular Aesop’s tracks “Daylight” and “None Shall Pass”, they also featured across each other’s several other releases. 

The upcoming album Garbology is their first full-length release together. The album came together when Aesop went through grief after losing his close friend in January 2020. He commented in a statement: “The world got really weird during those months. I knew at some point I had to get back to making something. Make a beat. Draw a picture. Write. Just go. But the idea of making a beat felt like math homework, and drawing is just so hard. Writing is hard too, but at some point I had to pick one.” 

In the end, Aesop Rock chose the path of writing and asked Blockhead for some beats. At that time there was no plan for creating an album, but the collaboration produced enough tracks for release.

Last night, I was talking to @AesopRockWins and we decided to make a new album together. When we woke up, it was finished and called “Garbology” and it’s dropping 11/12 on @rhymesayers. A shocking turnaround.
the first single ” Jazz Hands” is OUT NOWhttps://t.co/y1hztAV3DX pic.twitter.com/BUjVey4Vwf

— Blockhead (@BlockheadNYC) October 13, 2021

Musically the new album captures a current moment, where social interactions are limited and we are “anchored on a goulash of cabin fever, fear, anger and boredom“. Aesop said in a statement: “Garbology is defined as the study of the material discarded by a society to learn what it reveals about social or cultural patterns. 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 what’s really there. It’s information that speaks to who I am, who we are, and how we move forward“.  “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 would is exactly what Block does. Go through the information and see what you find” he added. The first single from the album is “a stunning stream of consciousness musical and lyrical sprint” captured in a video directed by Rob Shaw. You can watch the video for “Jazz Hands” below. You can stream it from all music platforms here. Garbology is out on 12 November and can be pre-ordered here. There’s an option to order a vinyl pressed on 100% recycled “compound comprised of trimmed flash and left overs from other color vinyl pressings which cannot otherwise be reused“. That results in the unique appearance of every copy of the LP and reduces the environmental impact of the pressing process.