Pitchfork

Photos by Sanchez and Kitahara

New York MC Aesop Rock brought his rhymes to Chicago's Metro last night, gigging in support of his new LP None Shall Pass on Def Jux. At one point during the show, Aesop called a pint-sized collaborator to the stage, a young boy he said appeared on the record. But the headphone-wearing li'l hip-hop fan quickly got fussy and returned to his mom in the crowd. Aww.

UPDATE: We have identified the boy! He's Hollis Frazier-Herndon, son of Aesop Rock's publicist Kathryn Frazier and Tortoise's John Herndon. And we even have video of his big moment-- click HERE to watch. When Hollis is a huge rock star one day, you can brag about how you saw his first on-stage performance.

If you just can't get enough Aesop Rock right now, tune in to MTV. Yes, regular MTV. They apparently are pretending to care about music again, and they've made Aesop Rock their "Artist of the Week" for this week. That means you get to see a little snippet of the man performing or doing weird stuff every time they go to a commercial break. This somehow involves a call-in talk show called "I'm Trying to Help".

Opening for this leg of the tour is Austin's Octopus Project, who unleashed their unique brand of instrumental miscellany, employing not only guitars, drums and synths, but also a theremin and what appeared to be a giant glowing cat. Their new album, Hello, Avalanche, is due October 9 on Peek-a-Boo.

Photos of Octopus Project's cat, and more, plus a bunch of tour dates, below.

AESOP ROCK

OCTOPUS PROJECT




AESOP ROCK










OCTOPUS PROJECT








Aesop Rock dates:

09-14 Madison, WI - Barrymore *^
09-15 Milwaukee, WI - Pabst Theatre *^
09-16 Minneapolis, MN - First Avenue *^
09-18 Detroit, MI - Magic Stick *^
09-19 Cleveland Heights, OH - Grog Shop *^
09-21 Baltimore, MD - Ottobar *^
09-22 Providence, RI - Living Room *^
09-23 Boston, MA - Middle East *^
09-25 Northampton, MA - Iron Horse *^
09-26 Burlington, MA - Higher Ground *^
10-10 San Francisco, CA - Fillmore *$
10-12 Los Angeles, CA - Henry Fonda Theatre *$
10-13 Phoenix, AZ - Clubhouse *$
10-14 Albuquerque, NM - Sunshine Theatre *$
10-15 Durango, CO - Abbey Theatre *$
10-18 Denver, CO - Cervantes *$
10-19 Boulder, CO - Fox Theatre *$
10-20 Ft. Collins, CO - Aggie Theatre *$
10-22 Salt Lake City, UT - In the Venue *$
10-25 Portland, OR - Wonder Ballroom *$
10-26 Vancouver, British Columbia - Commodore Ballroom *$
10-27 Bellingham, WA - Nightlight *$
10-28 Seattle, WA - Showbox *$
10-30 Eugene, OR - WOW Hall *$
11-07 Asheville, NC - Orange Peel *$
11-09 Orlando, FL - Social Pavilion *$
11-10 Miami, FL - Studio A *$
11-12 Baton Rouge, LA - Spanish Moon *$
11-13 New Orleans, LA - House of Blues *$
11-14 Houston, TX - Warehouse Live *$
11-16 Dallas, TX - The Palladium Ballroom *$
11-17 Austin, TX - Emo's *$
11-19 Nashville, TN - Cannery *$
11-20 Atlanta, GA - MJQ Concourse *$

* with Rob Sonic, Blockhead, DJ Big Wiz, DJ Signify
# with Cage
^ with the Octopus Project
$ with Black Moth Super Rainbow

Octopus Project dates:

09-14 Madison, WI - Barrymore *
09-15 Milwaukee, WI - Pabst Theatre *
09-16 Minneapolis, MN - First Avenue *
09-18 Detroit, MI - Magic Stick *
09-19 Cleveland Heights, OH - Grog Shop *
09-21 Baltimore, MD - Ottobar *
09-22 Providence, RI - Living Room *
09-23 Boston, MA - Middle East *
09-25 Northampton, MA - Iron Horse *
09-26 Burlington, MA - Higher Ground *
10-04 Houston, TX - Numbers
10-05 Baton Rouge, LA - TBA
10-06 New Orleans, LA - House of Blues
10-07 Tallahassee, FL - TBA
10-08 Orlando, FL - Back Booth
10-09 West Palm Beach, FL - City Limits
10-10 Jacksonville, FL - Jack Rabbit's
10-11 Atlanta, GA - Drunken Unicorn
10-12 Knoxville, TN - Pilot Light
10-13 Charlotte, NC - Milestone
10-14 Raleigh, NC - Duke University
10-15 Washington, DC - Rock and Roll Hotel
10-16 Baltimore, MD - Ottobar
10-17 Philadelphia, PA - Johnny Brenda's
10-18 New York, NY - Highline Ballroom #
10-20 Boston, MA - Great Scott #
10-21 Montreal, Quebec - La Sala Rosa #
10-22 Toronto, Ontario - Horseshoe #
10-23 Buffalo, NY - Soundlab #
10-24 Pittsburgh, PA - TBA #
10-25 Cleveland Heights, OH - Grog Shop #
10-26 Chicago, IL - Abbey Pub #!
10-27 Chicago, IL - Abbey Pub #!
10-28 Milwaukee, WI - TBA
10-29 Minneapolis, MN - Entry
10-30 Omaha, NE - Waiting Room
10-31 Norman, OK - Opolis
11-02 Denver, CO - Larimer Lounge
11-03 Salt Lake City, UT - Urban Lounge
11-05 Seattle, WA - Chop Suey
11-06 Vancouver, British Columbia - Richard's on Richards
11-07 Portland, OR - Holocene
11-08 San Francisco, CA - Bottom of the Hill
11-09 Visalia, CA - Howie's
11-10 Los Angeles, CA - The Roxy
11-11 San Diego, CA - Casbah
11-12 Tucson, AZ - Plush
11-13 Phoenix, AZ - Modified
11-14 Albuquerque, NM - Launchpad
11-15 Lubbock, TX - Jake's $
11-16 Austin, TX - Emo's $

* with Aesop Rock, Rob Sonic, Blockhead, DJ Big Wiz, DJ Signify
# with Enon
! with Appleseed Cast
$ with Horse + Donkey, Cue