WAREHOUSE FIND - LAST COPIES!!!Almost Live From Eli's Live Room was recorded and mixed by Eli Crews at N.I.R., Oakland, in late August 2008, and mastered by Thomas DiMuzio. The cover art is by David Phillip Madson. Studio versions of these songs can be heard on Alopecia, Elephant Eyelash, and the Sanddollars EP. Almost Live From Eli's Live Room was recorded to document the band's live arrangements for 2008 concerts, and sold on their recently-completed tour. Strictly limited to 2,000.
CD $9.50
10/28/2008
MP3 $9.90
10/28/2008
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 Li’l 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 he’d 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...
CD $16.00
10/23/2007
MP3 $9.90
10/23/2007
While past Mansbestfriend projects dwell in a glorious sort of doom, Poly.sci.187 plays ethereal and heavy like a series of ghost dreams drifting through thick Arizona air. The title reads as the foregone conclusion of Sole’s notable ventures, both philosophical and literal, into a world of human strife and dirty politics: “Political Science: This Shit’ll Kill You.” But without true lyrical content, the instrumental Poly.sci.187 occupies a space more reflective than edifying, its songs positing suggestion and sentiment in the mind of the listener about our most current troubled times. It’s political done subtle, and the songs of Mansbestfriend adopt a similar bent, often ending on question marks or drifting out of frame. True, hip-hop’s collagist tendencies are present here, but the songs are freeform—ambient, heavily textured soundscapes that ride a beat out just as easily as they derail it in favor of new ground. “Wilting Onward” is a heady mélange of jungle drums, surging guitars, sampled voice and crystalline static that plays with layers of competing rhythm before mindfully devolving into a three-room houseparty. Conversely, “Allieverwanted” kicks in with the head-nodding fury of a rap banger—think the Wu’s East meets Wild West—all big synth styles, pulsing beat and crunchy organ tones with a Sole sample rattling around the song’s tall halls and Ryan Fritch (from Sole’s recently adopted Skyrider band) playing searing E-bow. From start to finish, Poly.sci.187 is filled with such sonic explorations. The album is an accomplished work that testifies not only to the fine art of...
CD $13.00
05/29/2007
MP3 $9.90
05/29/2007
*** "Iraq ain't lookin' so good-- but the mothafuckin' club is crunk!" (from "atheist jihad") And so sole reemerges roughly two years after the aestheic and critical breakthrough of his second album, Selling Live Water, having moved to Spain, married, and continued to refine his inimitable blurring of sarcasm and bone-dry honesty. The lion's shareof the music is, like Selling Live Water, laid down by odd nosdam and alias, but sole has noticeably changed: the enflamed and verbose jeremiads of Selling Live Water have cooled slightly into a more reflective-- and effortlessly funny-- simmer. Live from Rome, recorded and produced both in Oakland, California, and Barcelona, Spain-- no, it's not a live recording-- has heavier hooks and a noticeably broader palette, moving from upbeat, half-serious vegan anthems to the half-kidding faux Eminem. Though sole still isn't going to peddle a million records to the red states, his effort to place the personal and self-critical in the big and political helps him avoid singing to the choir; Alternative Press has noted that his "willingness to lyrically bust caps in the asses of the left as well as the right make him a fairly revolutionary revolutionary." Live from Rome is a lyric volley of shots taken, but it's thankfully lightened by his humor and ultimately made compelling by the beats-- a rare mixture of the dynamic and the raw. Taken altogether, this very well may be one album worth surviving the future ruins of the new and improved Rome.
CD $13.00
03/01/2005
2XLP $13.00
03/01/2005
MP3 $9.90
03/01/2005
***Fueled by his relocation to Barcelona, Spain, and subsequent touring of war-torn Eastern Europe, sole returns with a new record and a new perspective. Backed by a host of all-star anticon producers, The New Single preps the world for his highly anticipated, third studio album, Live From Rome. The critically acclaimed Selling Live Water turned sole's focus from industry rants and self-deprecation to political observation and social commentary. "Sin Carne" is an odd nosdam-produced classic with a chorus that nods to Bob Dylan. sole cites his targets in the song's intro: "talking shit about the government," "people," "ignorance," "alienation," and "marginalization." Always sure not to take himself too seriously, sole never loses his signature self-deprecating sarcasm. The second track, also from Live From Rome, "every single one of us" is an end-of-the-world anthem with darkness accentuated by alias's production. Of course, it wouldn't be a sole record with out some industry ranting! The New Single also features an exclusive jel-produced track "t.i.m." Hard-hitting jel drums back sole's reflections on his place in the fashion show that is the music industry. The New Single demonstrates once again why sole is one of the most watched and followed trendsetters in indie hip hop. Track listing: 1. sin carne (radio mix) produced & mixed by odd nosdam, from live from rome 2. every single one of us produced by alias, mixed by odd nosdam, from live from rome 3. t.i.m. (unreleased b-side) produced by jel, mixed by jeremy goody 4. sin...
12" $6.75
02/01/2005
***plutonium, the follow-up 12-inch to sole's acclaimed full length selling live water has finally arrived. The title track remixes the classic, alias-produced sole anthem about searching for truth in left- and right-wing propaganda in the press. alias remixes his own beat down to its teeth, creating a Blade Runner eeriness to sole's already dark ponderings. For the second track, odd nosdam remixes his original contribution to sole's full length, the title track "selling live water." nosdam's remix puts sole's vocals in the forefront, while maintaining that tape-dubbed dirtiness characteristic of nosdam's sound. The A-side finishes off with a previously unreleased bonus track, "the surface," featuring sole over an alias beat. Here sole is at his finest, angry about the world and ranting about it. The B-side contains instrumentals of the remixes of "plutonium" and "selling live water," along with a bonus track of beats by sole and odd nosdam from selling live water. Track listing: 1. plutonium remix (produced by alias) 2. selling live water - dead food remix (produced by odd nosdam. additional production by jel) 3. the surface (produced by alias) 4. plutonium remix instrumental 5. selling live water remix instrumental 6. live water bonus beats (co-produced by sole & odd nosdam) * Follow-up 12-inch to sole's acclaimed selling live water full length * Features brand new beats by alias, odd nosdam and cuts by jel * Contains a previously unreleased bonus track, "the surface," produced by alias
12" $6.75
11/04/2003
***Bottle of Humans, sole's debut full length release on anticon, was originally released in 1999 and quickly became a cult-classic, but by 2001 the record's initial pressing went out of print. Now, the bootlegging is finally over! This highly anticipated CD reissue has been remastered, the record's artwork has been revitalized the way it was originally intended (including the album's lyrics in the liner notes) and its track listing has been slightly altered. Bottle of Humans combines the anger and conviction of early Ice Cube with sole's own brand of self-deprecating honesty. Looking and sounding better than ever, Bottle of Humans is classic, vintage sole. Features production from ALIAS, JEL, DADDY KEV, RAGGITY ANDY, SCOTT MATELIC, ODD NOSDAM, and CONTROLLER 7.
CD $13.00
10/21/2003
MP3 $9.90
10/21/2003
***Twenty-five, bookless, bored, obsessive, hypocritical, barb-witted, full of shit, and horrified by the war machine; what else could this outspoken tangle of contradictions do but make the next classic rap album? sole lives out a perpetual identity crisis so we don't have to, surfacing each of his past lives in his music: the 13-year-old Ice Cube from Maine, the Lord Finesse-styled battle MC who ruled open mics in New England, the hyperactive San Francisco transplant consumed with the idea of anticon, and finally the sagacious mid-twenties writer who hums Dylan and guns for Bush. When the hip hop he loved failed to inspire him further, sole made rap songs that defiantly drove back the border of what could even be considered a rap song. And when the cogs began to click in harmony, he locked himself in for a year and half and authored an album that completely blew away the expectations that have been steadily growing around it. The late American poet Gregory Corso once satirically referred to himself as "an ugly bag of water," and sole elaborates the phrase, suggesting that humans, as "live water," are systematically devalued, that their lives and opinions are to an extent bought and paid for. Rather than lodge heavy-handed attacks, however, sole does the only thing he can do: bare his inner dialogue with all the anger, humor and insecurity that you'd expect from someone who turns the lines "I wanted to be black at age 14 / so when they...
CD $13.00
01/21/2004
2XLP $13.00
01/21/2004
MP3 $9.90
01/21/2003
***It's been two long years since sole's last official release, Bottle of Humans, a ground-breaking underground hip hop cult classic. "salt on everything" is the lead single for sole's full length album selling live water, upcoming in November. Although it might seem impossible, sole has been resurrected from the dead once again and he sounds even more jaded and fed up than ever. sole maintains his complex delivery and original style but this single demonstrates that he has refined everything he does so well. In his signature hoarse voice, sole assaults hard, brooding tracks from anticon producers odd nosdam, alias, and jel with that characteristic honesty, sincerity and a touch of endearing self-pity. Features an exclusive track with Sage Francis. * Deep Puddle Dynamics made URB's "Next 100" in April 1999 * Bottle of Humans sold over 12,000 units with no promotion * Street team promotion in major markets * National college radio servicing * Guest appearance by Sage Francis * Features beatmakers alias and jel of anticon and odd nosdam of cLOUDDEAD and anticon
12" $6.00
09/03/2002
MP3 $5.94
09/03/2002