Big thanks to Jeff Weiss, who filled in for me with a couple great posts while I was gone, walking fast and sometimes bumping into people as I tried to negotiate the NYC sidewalks. (Update your blogrolls, too, because Jeff has a killer new design as passionweiss.com.)

Speaking of blogrolls, my old blogspot address, somuchsilence.blogspot.com, somehow got hijacked and no longer has my content prior to the redesign and move to a fully hosted format. So, please update your blogrolls to somuchsilence.com. Thanks muchly.

What can I say about New York? It’s amazing, like no other place. We skipped most of the touristy destinations (museums, Statue of Liberty, etc.) and instead opted to get on the subways, get out and walk. (We did take in a Yankees game in which Alex Rodriguez hit two homers in one inning. Pretty great.)

Phoenix and New York could not be more different. Everything comes down to a matter of space. In New York, there is no space – not in between buildings, not in between people, not on the subway. In Phoenix – and much of the West – we love our space, our vast parking lots, our own houses, our fences between houses. The contrast is astounding.

I turned 30 on Friday and I wonder if my window of opportunity to do the New York thing has passed. I don’t even know how I’d handle living there – the hustle of it all is both awe-inspiring and anxiety-inducing. I’m pretty sure I’d be in excellent shape, though. Walking everywhere, scaling subway steps. For anyone who lives or grew up in a big city, this will sound ridiculous, but the ability to use public transportation is empowering. In Phoenix, mass transit is a bit of a joke, though the coming light rail could fix that.

Still, as much as I loved New York – and the thrill of being around good friends for a wedding helped – it was a relief to come home. Now I much catch up on sleep. A post with actual music is forthcoming.

Greetings, Jeff Weiss here again, filling in while Kevin re-enacts the classic film, The Muppets Take Manhattan. As of this morning, he has already stopped three muggings, disrupted two Broadway musicals with what patrons described as “boorish, drunken” behavior, and beaten up several Williamsburg residents for being a bit too hirsute for their own good. Rumor has it, Bloomberg is preparing him a medal of honor.

So you’re probably thinking, when did So Much Silence become a Def Jux fan-boy blog? Good question. But a wrong-headed one as the Blockhead album wasn’t released on Def Jux, it was released on Ninja Tune. I believe the word you’re looking for is “touche.”

Let’s talk Aesop Rock for a moment. Specifically, his latest and arguably greatest album None Shall Pass. I reviewed it for Stylus so if you’re looking for a more in-depth analysis, it can be found over there. But in short, it’s an outstanding, complex record from one of the most unsung and interesting artists making music in the 21st Century. Even if you disliked Aesop in the past, it’s worth checking for, considering it’s his most accessible work yet, a record that simultaneously manages to be avant-garde while staying true to the roots of hip-hop. Whatever that means in 2007.

Last week, None Shall Pass debuted at #50 on the charts, moving 13,200 units, making it perhaps the highest a Def Jux record has ever charted. Either way, it’s an incredible achievement for a guy who has paid his dues And in honor of the record’s release, I thought I’d leave some MP3’s from the new album for you guys to download, as well as a video retrospective of Aesop’s decade making music

Download:
MP3: Aesop Rock-“None Shall Pass” (right-click)
MP3: Aesop Rock-“Citronella” (right-click)

“Abandon All Hope” from Music for Earthworms (1997)

“Basic Cable” from Float (2000) (Not an Official Video, But a Good One)

“Freeze” from Bazooka Tooth (2003)

“No Jumper Cables” from Bazooka Tooth (2003)

“Fast Cars, Danger, Fire & Knives” from Fast Cars, Danger, Fire & Knives EP (2005)

“None Shall Pass” from None Shall Pass (2007)

Greetings y’all. This is Jeff Weiss, you might remember me from such blogs as The Passion of the Weiss, and my lesser known work on the True Secrets of the Pirates of the Carribbean blog and my work curating the Drew Carey fan-page (take that Bob Barker). I’ll be filling in here for the next few days while Kevin traipses and/or gallivants through New York City. I hope you enjoy my ramblings

see also the long-winded encomium to it that I wrote on Stylus).

Last week, Blockhead dropped another very strong effort, Uncle Tony’s Coloring Book, his third album of hip-hop instrumentals. Like its predecessors, Music By Cavelight and Downtown Science, UTCB is mostly wordless, save for the occasional inserted patch of cinematic dialogue. Blockhead once said that judging from the more spooky, brooding tone of his first two records, people think he sits in his room in the dark, lighting candles and burning incense.

In that vein, UTCB is a lighter affair than his previous efforts, more airy and organic, filled with patches of bright, twinkling keys and jazzy horn samples. At times it feels like a cross between the recent Black Moth Super Rainbow record crossed with RJD2’s Deadringer. If you like guys like Madlib, Wax Tailor, or RJD2, I highly recommend picking up a copy of this record and checking out the rest of his discography.

Buy Uncle Tony’s Coloring Book

Download:
MP3: Blockhead-“The Strain” (left-click)
MP3: Blockhead-“Grape Nuts and Chalk Sauce” (left-click)

By the time you’re reading this I am either en route to or in New York. It’s my first trip there in about more than 10 years. We’re going for a wedding, but (shameless plug) I’ll also be turning 30 on Friday. We may even take in a Yankees game on Wednesday night.

In my absence, Jeff from Passion of the Weiss will drop by in his little free time to post. We’re also bringing the laptop, so it’s possibly I’ll bore you from New York.

In the meantime, I suppose I’m obliged to post a few odes to NYC, eh?

• Nas | N.Y. State of Mind
• Digable Planets | Borough Check
• Interpol | NYC
• 3rd Bass | Brooklyn Queens
• Camp Lo | Posse from the Bronx

I’ve been pretty smitten with this single from the Cave Singers’ forthcoming album Invitation Songs (out Sept. 25 on Matador).

In fact, I sent the link for the mp3 to a co-worker, who, much to my dismay, was not into it. She said she “didn’t get it.” I’m not sure what there is to get, really, other than it being a pretty gorgeous piece of indie folk – and not in that sad/sappy sucker kind of way. Something compels me to invoke a Jayhawks comparison, though I’m not confident that’s entirely accurate.

Anyway, I also got my hands on the 7-inch that contains the unreleased B-side After the First Baptism. You can buy it here for $3.

The Cave Singers are opening for Black Mountain on Oct. 21 at Modified in Phoenix.

• The Cave Singers | Seeds of Night