Oh my god, journalists across the globe are officially critiquing my first eight bars! Aesop may call out the critics in the first verse of his third album, Bazooka Tooth, but he needn’t worry as he delivers a stunning follow-up to Labor Days. Fans of his Long Island drawl will celebrate this return to form and addicts of his amazing vocabulary will get to dust off their dictionaries as Aesop contorts words and phrases into a symphony of lyrical anarchy. Aesop made most of his own beats on this record, creating dark and dense soundscapes from the not-so-distant future, perfect for popping in the Walkman as you roam a deserted New York City as the sole survivor of a nuclear holocaust. His drums compliment his words perfectly. Aesop’s label boss and frequent collaborator El-P offers production and verbally hijacks the exquisite “We’re Famous,” singling out fake indie rappers: “They been failing for years and calling themselves vets/that’s bold/motherfucker you’re not a vet, you’re just old,” and Mr. Lif joins him for back and forth storytelling on “11:35.” Bazooka Tooth reveals another side of Aesop: darker and denser. Gone are the sweet melodies and sing-a-long choruses of 2001’s “Daylight”-enter the ominous refrain of “Superfluke”: “Please don’t feed the Bazooka Tooth!” Dirty hardcore hip-hop at its finest, done the Def Jux”