Hailing from New Jersey, Aesop Rock now finds inspiration for his rhymes in the streets of San Francisco. Rock is bringing the beats of his latest album, Skelethon, to the Observatory April 16 along with w/Rob Sonic & DJ Big Wiz.

The OC Concert Guide was able to talk to Aesop Rock about his new recordings and what inspires his music.

OCCG: What are some of your most memorable experiences playing here in Orange County, CA? What stands out with your fans here that you don’t find anywhere else?

AR: To be honest, a lot of it blurs together. We’ve had a lot of shows in Southern California over the years – it’s always been a great region for us in general.

OCCG: Tell us about your latest album, Skelethon? Who were some of the people you collaborated with on this recording and what made it different from other works?

AR: I guess the main differences people tend to notice are that I produced it entirely myself, and there is only one vocal collaboration – with Kimya Dawson, who wrote/sings an intro/outro on the song Crows 1. I did work with some awesome musicians, Hanni El Khatib plays and does some backup vocals on there. He’s awesome. Allyson Baker of Dirty Ghosts plays some guitar and bass throughout the record. My long time DJ Big Wiz does scratch work throughout the record. Rob Sonic has some backup vocals. The Philly Based band Grimace Federation has some instrumentation on the opening track, Leisureforce. Aside from that help with some of the music, I essentially produced and wrote all the songs myself. I think at some point during the making of the songs, it started feeling necessary for me to really take the driver’s seat on the project, and maybe prove something to myself. I didn’t really feel a desire to share songs vocally with anyone this go-around. I think I just wanted to go in and do my thing without feeling like I needed to have some random collaborations that may not fit the actual vibe of the record. So I kept most of the process as me in a room alone.

OCCG: Who are some of the most memorable producers you have worked with and how do you choose producers you want to work with?

AR: I haven’t worked with all that many producers. The majority of my albums have been done by some combination of my long time friend Blockhead and myself. We kinda came into a lot of this together, and he’s a guy with whom collaboration doesn’t necessarily feel like sticking two things together that might otherwise not be together. We’ve just done so much together since before either of us had records out, so that’s how it happened. I tend to really only work with friends, and I don’t seek out people I don’t know very often. I did a song with Tobacco after we toured together some years back, and he’s a guy I could see doing some more stuff with. I love his beats and he’s a total weirdo – which I like. I like Zavala’s stuff too. He recently did a remix for me.

OCCG: How do you feel you have grown musically since you first started making music? What do you bring to each recording that was different to prior musical works?

AR: I guess there’s some natural growth that’s difficult to define that just occurs in life, and therefore in music. I try to always push myself, so that each thing I do is at a level I am happy with. I think if I slacked off, I would be the first to notice and would just not release it. I feel both my writing and production have improved, and that I can now aim for something instead of just arriving at something randomly. You just kinda live and learn, trial and error, all that. Different things become important, who I am becomes clearer, themes surface that were maybe a little cloudy before, and maybe the biggest thing is that the older I get the less I give a fuck what people think. You’d like to think that’s how it always was, but I think I’ve caved in to some pressure to be a certain way at certain times in my life. I find it a little easier to just say fuck all that shit, fuck being ‘cool.’ I guess I just find myself a little more each year.

OCCG: You are originally from the East Coast and have now spent a lot of time in the West Coast, did that have an effect on your music? Do you feel there is a difference between styles on each coast or is every artist unique regardless of where they start out?

AR: There are of course regional sounds, though that seems to be disappearing a little since the arrival of the Internet – where everyone has immediate access to music from different regions. I don’t think I came to Cali and was affected by the Cali “sound”. I think just uprooting, moving to somewhere I wasn’t familiar with, and sticking it out for a while gives one a ton of food for writing. Just that drastic of a change in environment. Of course there are also individual styles from person to person, or at least that’s something I think one should strive for – being affected by what’s around you, but making sure it all gets filtered through you, so it has your signature on it. As opposed to just regurgitating what’s around you.

OCCG: Which groups, styles of music and artists inspire you most?

AR: This changes daily. I obviously love rap and check out a lot of what’s going on always. I also enjoy some folkier and punkier stuff. Really anything with interesting lyrics. Today in the van I listened to a lot of Jeffrey Lewis and a lot of Danny Brown. When all else fails I put on the EPMD catalog. Some days I hate everything; other days I find a lot of stuff inspiring.

OCCG: Do you work with any new artists as producer or writer? If so, please tell us how that role differs for you personally as an artist?

AR: Not much. I produce for others here and there, but haven’t ever really taken a new artist and produced their sound.

OCCG: How has it been touring with Rob Sonic, DJ Big Wiz, and Bus driver? Has there been any behind-the-scenes that you can share?

AR: Rob and Wiz are people I’ve toured with for many years. They are very close friends and there’s always a lot of laughing to be done. Bus driver is wonderful. He’s a guy I met many years ago when I started traveling to rap. We met in LA and have remained friends. This tour seemed a good opportunity to invite him along, and it’s just been a pleasure. None of us are real party animals or anything, so most of the behind-the-scenes is just talking about life, being old rappers, music in general, etc. We’re all working on projects too, so a lot of the time we’re all sneaking off to work on demos or write something in our own space. I always try to keep my tour group small and low key. I get anxiety pretty easily, so I don’t have some giant entourage of hellions around me on the road.

OCCG: Will you be working on any new recordings, producing or collaborations when the tour finishes? Can we expect any new albums in the near future?

AR: On May 7, my collaborative album with my friend Kimya Dawon is being released on Rhymesayers Entertainment under the group name The Uncluded, and we will tour for that this summer. I also have a bunch of new demos for the next Hail Mary Mallon album – which is my group with Rob Sonic and DJ Big WIz. Once that is wrapped up I’ll probably get going on my next solo effort. There are a couple other things in the works, but it may be too early to say anything.