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***Though Sole's last album, Live From Rome, came out only two and a half years ago, and Sole has been busy in the meantime, recently releasing a solo instrumental LP under the moniker mansbestfriend, and twice touring the US and Europe, he nonetheless refers to the self-titled Sole & Skyrider record as a "comeback." In some ways, Sole & Skyrider is a record of return-- a return to rhyming, for one, particularly the complicated rhyme schemes that marked Sole's early work, a return driven by his seemingly, but not actually, discordant love of both Lord Byron and Liil Wayne. It also represents a return to the musical consistency and coherence that made the Alias-produced Selling Live Water a critical triumph. It is also, though, more than a mere return. Even before he'd finished Live From Rome, Sole had become disenchanted with the process by which heid been making music: get a beat, spit a rap, mix it down. Fortunately, a series of events led him into the arms of Skyrider. The Orlando three-piece soon relocated to Flagstaff, Arizona, where Sole's been living since his return from abroad, and all of a sudden, music-making became a warmer, richer thing. And you can hear it in the music: these songs feel lived-in, composed but not cold or calculated, and fierce yet not angsty. The improvisational songwriting process produced a musicality new to Sole's discography, and also furnished a number of stunning juxtapositions. The lovely analog of "Shipwreckers" (where Sole jacks the hook from the Guy Debord film, Refutation of All Judgements) comfortably cohabits with the grinding, anthemic opening track, where Sole promises, when the last buzzard eats the last candy bar from the last body on the San Andreas, it'll be a sad day for investors. 30-second MP3 excerpts: A Sad Day For Investors
Ghost, Assassinating Other Ghosts
Nothing Is Free
The Bridges, Let Us Down
A Hundred Light Years And Running
The Shipwreckers
Sounds Of Head On Concrete
Magnum
The Bones Of My Pets
In Paradise
One Egg Short Of The Omelette
On Cavalry
Stupid Things Implode On Themselves If you have a recent version of iTunes software on your computer, clicking on the link immediately below should open the iTunes application and take you to that album's iTunes page-- where you can listen to samples and buy this album, or individual tracks: Go to iTunes to browse downloads for Sole and the Skyrider Band s/t For a complete listing of Midheaven exclusive albums available for download from the iTunes Music Service and emusic, please visit the Midheaven Mailorder/Revolver USA Downloadables page. |
