Music for Earthworms

Music for Earthworms is the debut studio album by American hip hop artist Aesop Rock. It is a compilation of tracks recorded during summers and other occasions on which he would return home to New York City from college at Boston University. The packaging states "This is not an album. It is merely a chance for heads to hear some of the music we've been making." The featured material was mostly recorded in a Manhattan studio where Dub-L and Plain Pat were working as interns. Although the studio was not typically used as a recording studio, it was equipped with impressive technology for the time, including Digital Audio Tape machines, ADAT machines and CD drives capable of burning discs. Aesop Rock's vocals were recorded on an SM58 microphone.

Music for Earthworms was ultimately self-distributed. As an unsigned artist, Aesop Rock was responsible for cutting out the album covers and burning the album onto CD-Rs himself. The tracks are organized under three subheadings: "Some recent tracks," "The Controls featuring Aesop Rock," and "Some dusty oldies from a few years back."

Aesop Rock references the project and its rarity on his 2002 EP Daylight in the track "Alchemy." Blueprint asks:

"'So why they blaming you for the cats that sleep while the earth turns?'"

Aesop Rock responds:

"'Yeah I had em' up all night praying I'd re-release Music For Earthworms.'"