LICE (Aesop Rock & Homeboy Sandman) Share “Catfish” & Announce Repress Of Entire Catalog

Back in 2015, rappers Aesop Rock and Homeboy Sandman came together to self-release a 5-song EP titled LICE, which featured production from DJ Spinna, Optiks, Alex “Apex” Gale, Fort Miner, and frequent Aesop collaborator, Blockhead. A digital version of the release was offered as a free download with a limited edition vinyl pressing being made available in the merch booth during their joint tour dates. Initially, the only way to grab the vinyl was to catch them live, but I think I scooped mine when a select number of leftover copies appeared on the Stones Throw Records website. The following year, the second installment arrived with, pretty much, the same formula. LICE TWO: Still Buggin was another 5-song EP free to download with the artists suggesting a couple of charities fans could donate to instead. A limited edition run of vinyl would later appear online through their respective labels Stones Throw (Sandman) and Rhymesayers Entertainment (Aesop). Production on this one was handled by a small handful of lesser-known producers (Dan Hayden, Mondae, Sobermindedmusic, RTNC) with one track produced by Aesop, himself. Like clockwork, Triple Fat Lice popped up in 2017 as another 5-song EP with free download and some suggested charities for donation. Five completely different producers graced the tracklist again, but this one could tout contributions from both Oh No and Quelle Chris. Limited edition vinyl was made available through Stones Throw and the now-defunct Rhymesayers shop, Fifth Element. As with the first pair of EPs, the cover art was tackled admirably by Bay Area icon and longtime Aesop associate, Jeremy Fish. Despite having a different producer for each of the 15 tracks, this collaboration proved incredibly consistent throughout and the chemistry between Aes and Sandman is undeniable. These didn’t seem like little throwaway side projects; LICE felt like a legitimate rap duo complete with their own unique aesthetic and theme. Unfortunately, nothing ever officially showed up again under the collective LICE moniker, until early 2021, when the pair came together for a 7-inch single paying tribute to the late MF DOOM. As for physical copies of the EPs, if you didn’t grab the vinyl during that small window when they were made available, your only option has been to drop crazy money on the secondary market…. until now.

We caught news of a brand new LICE track, yesterday when Aesop posted about it on his personal Instagram account. The caption was fairly straightforward:

Lice – “Catfish”

New song tonight.

Art by @mrjeremyfish (*this spot featured a cat and a fishing emoji)

I expected to see something this morning about it, but I wasn’t sure if a whole new album was on the way, or if they would simply be releasing a single, as the cover art with the duo rendered as lice riding a massive green catfish jetski is fairly track-specific. As for now, it seems to be just another one-off track, but the real news is that all of the LICE material has finally been available to stream through the service provider of your choice. Furthermore, all 3 of the EPs are being repressed to vinyl and are currently available for preorder alongside T-shirts featuring the respective cover art. I’m unsure if Stones Throw will have any further involvement, seeing as Homeboy Sandman is now on Mello Music Group, but you download “Catfish” and preorder physical copies of the LICE EPs right now through both the Aesop Rock store and Rhymesayers website.

Listen to “Catfish” produced by Cess Less, below