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Prolific rapper and producer Aesop Rock has just announced his first proper solo album in three years, Integrated Tech Solutions, is set for a November 10 release via Rhymesayers Entertainment. The announcement lands alongside a video for the album’s inadvertent mission statement “Mindful Solutionism,” which charts humanity’s progress from the wheel to modern agriculture before taking a misguided hairpin turn into atomic bombs, cigarettes, and surveillance cameras… or as Aes succinctly sums up, “We cannot be trusted with the stuff that we come up with.”
Integrated Tech Solutions fronts as a concept album about “lifestyle- and industry-specific applications designed to curate a desired multi-experience,” adopting bouts of ludicrous corporate speak to pry the parasitic business culture away from the parts of life that truly matter. Amid its streamlined psychedelic production style and features ranging from billy woods, Hanni El Khatib, Rob Sonic, Nikki Jean, and Lealani Teano, the album’s 18 tracks sound like the past and future at once. The album artwork is illustrated by renowned artist Justin “Coro” Kaufman, who was also the creative director and illustrator for the “Mindful Solutionism” video as well as the artwork for Aesop’s 2020 album Spirit World Field Guide.
