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Blockhead first came to my attention as Aesop Rock’s go-to producer, and his work on those albums was a major factor in my appreciation of them. Truly, an emcee that outlandish needs a producer who can create a sonic environment for him to thrive in, and Blockhead’s brooding, melodic soundscapes are always precisely crafted and just weird enough to fit the bill.

This week sees the release of his fourth solo album, The Music Scene, a methodical, cinematic sea of instrumentals. Here, Blockhead’s production mastery and attention to detail are really given a chance to shine without any proper vocals to work around. Each track is a dense collection of samples, expertly arranged to achieve the most mystifying, psychedelic result. Much of the material sounds more trip-hop or downtempo than anything, until Blockhead starts piling on the pounding drums that drive the album to its next peak.

Here’s one of my favorite tracks, “Only Sequences Change,” which is great evidence of how Blockhead can build up a track with layer after layer of sound.

Although to be fair, the album is really best appreciated in its entirety. It’s a slow burner, and as it gradually weaves through each song, surprising samples and transitions spring up at just the right moment. I said Blockhead’s compositions were cinematic, and just like any movie soundtrack, you only get a small piece of the story with just one song. Even taken in all at once, the staggering number of details and subtleties worked into each song will take you more than a few listens to really appreciate.

Music videos are at their best when they’re as visually inspired as the song they’re created for — this one for Aesop Rock’s “Fast Cars” is awesome. It utilizes a pop-up book as its set and that theme also informs the video’s cut-paper aesthetic. If you’re making a video for an Aesop Rock track, you’ve got to be pretty weird and out of the box… or I guess in this case, out of the book.

Ugh.

Kid Cudi might be tearing up the charts, plenty of hype in hand for his debut album, Man on the Moon: The End of Day, but he’s hardly the first to incorporate the theme of day transitioning into night in a rap concept album. Aesop Rock did it years before him, and he did it harder and smarter at that.

The highlight of his 2002 Daylight EP are its title track and its sister song, “Night Light.” Ace Rock is always frenetic, brash, and relentless but this album opens up on a relatively serene note. “Daylight” is a melodic, poetic reflection on life and ambition. This segues into the next track, the darker, angrier twin that started wearing lots of eye makeup in high school and spent way too much time alone in its room.

Somewhere in the white noise between the two songs the listener is transported to some kind of hip hop Bizarro World. “Night Light” features Bizarro Aesop Rock flipping his own lyrics, giving up not only on hope, but on humanity in general. It’s a see-saw of furious rapping and lush beats, so if you’ve been looking for some innovative, thoughtful hip hop, it’s time to see the light.