h, concept album: the most delicious sweet candy for the cavity-filled mouth of a music reviewer. And ever since Pet Sounds, indie frotteurs have been rubbing themselves against their concept albums and hoping some of that inspiration will rub off. Bazooka Tooth is Aesop Rock’s concept album on Def Jux. Such sweet sweet candy.

Aesop has penned a web here. I’m not going to cut his lyrical knot at this time. I will say that it’s a waste of time to download one or two of these tracks; each is part of a multifaceted whole. The lyrics have something to do with a William S. Burroughs landscape. Remember that part in Pink Floyd’s The Wall where the rock star guy was in his trailer arranging all those little cigarette packages and toys and assorted pieces of garbage into a big quasi-religious tapestry thing that meant something to him because he was all, like, on acid, and shit? The lyrics are like that. You have to take the time to digest them yourself and see what they mean to you. So: no spoilers from me.

And beats? We got beats. The beats are good. They are adequate. They will not blow your mind. But they are still good. You can nod your head. My favorite beats were “N.Y. Electric” and “The Greatest Pac-Man Victory in History.”

Perhaps the producers have toned themselves down a bit just so Aesop can rock harder. Maybe they don’t want to steal his thunder. Whatever their motivation, the beats feel somewhat restrained, lethargic and lazy. But they are perfectly suited to Aesop’s limpid down-tempo rhymes.

All in all, this is quite the package. Definitive Jux are in no danger of becoming Derivative Jux anytime soon. This disc is about the web of rhymes that Aesop lays down. Get caught up in it. The pH balance is just about right.