Aesop Rock's first record since 2012's Skelethon is as brooding and personal as its predecessor. The Impossible Kid is deeply personal, with Rock (aka Ian Matthias Bavitz) exploring his experiences with depression, isolation and turbulence, much of which led him to move from San Francisco to a barn in the middle of woods, where the skeleton of this work was to be found and made.

He finds jazz elements on Mystery Fish, rich percussive beats on Lotta Years, soulful keys on Shrunk, twisted dancehall vocals on Kirby, and is that a Super Mario Bros sample at the beginning of Lazy Eye? But that's the thing with Rock – he leavens things with humour.

As he says amid the ghostly guitar on the brilliant Blood Sandwich: "Yep, steps up to the plate." One of the records of the year. rhymesayers.com