Selling live water is Sole’s second full-length under his own name. The first one, Bottle of Humans, was some sort of an underground hit (and it will be re-released over the summer).  High-profile rappers usually enlist big name producers for their albums: The Neptunes, Dre, Timbaland among others. Sole does not rap in the same league, his music is very different and he won’t appear on MTV any time soon. However, his producer are the best in their area: Jel (behind Themselves genius The no music album - review here), Odd Nosdam (from ambient idm hiphop anticon outfit cLOUDDEAD), Alias (“godfather of goth-hop”, check  his own album The other side of the looking glass - review here) and Telephone Jim Jesus (from Restiform Bodies) .

Let’s talk a bit about Sole’s past for a few sec as it is of some interest. Originally from Maine, where he met Alias, Sole rapped in Live Poets and So called artists before being one of the founding members of Anticon. He is now considered as the “CEO” of the crew. More surprisingly, it seems that, aged 15, Sole was very very close to sign a contract with no less than Jermain Dupri. For a family row preventing him to sign the contract, Sole might have turned out as a white version of Kriss Kross, easy come, easy go... And that would have been a shame for I’m pretty sure that he would not have done better music under Dupri guidance than he is now...

The album opener is Da baddest poet, which Sole defines as his poor attempt at writing a folk song. I don’t know if it’s a poor attempt, but it’s certainly not a folk song, at least not in the common sense of the word.  The only “folk” element is the guitar. Other than that, the beat sounds like a rock drummer influenced by Drum’n’Bass and on the chorus it’s a punk rocker attempt at Drum’n’Bass. Might not seem exactly thrilling at first but it works wonderfully. Seems that there is an Anticon tradition of opening albums with a track hinting at Jungle elements (check Alias first track). The single Salt on everything, an Odd Nosdam production, is a slow-paced track, pretty dark, hinting more towards an hybrid of industrial and pastoral  IDM than hiphop. Which makes it all the more interesting.... Respect pt 3 is a melancholic, beautiful track seemingly about writer’s block. Plutonium gets the award for the best chorus on the whole album. If you get the chance, read the lyrics, politically-inspired, influenced by the work of Howard Zinn and Noam Chomsky. Speaking of lyrics, Sebago is about a mushroom trip (no, I’m not talking about going in the woods to pick up some...), which might not be much interesting. However Jel’s production is excellent (how odd...). Pawn in the game pt 2 will catch you off-guard: it sounds exactly like a late 80’s, early 90’s  rapper ballad. The sound is there, the vibe, the melody and even Sole’s voice echo that cheesy kind of songs.  Surprisingly, it’s a beautiful track, very  moving. Plastic tepee on a highway blues is about Native Americans and benefits from a really nice sample of what might be a song from a long forgotten drama. Nice acoustic guitar, vinyl’s cracks included. Selling live water (the song, not the album) is some sort of an Ennio Morricone tune played by a caring and subtle rock band. By the way, it’s the first time I mention the word “rock” since I talked about the first track of the album... True, it might not be shocking when talking about a hiphop record. But I would be forgetting an essential thing if I didn’t say that this album, in its overall vibe, owes a lot to rock. The album closes with Ode to the war on terrorism. No comment needed.

Important: the tracks I haven’t talked about are good too, you know...

Sole’s rapping might not be the most consistent, the best around, but his enthusiasm easily makes up for it. Combine great lyrics, great production, great sounds, DIY attitude and passion and you get a wonderful album, a mix between ambient, IDM, rock and hiphop. Not as out-there as Themselves, much more interesting than 98% of today’s musical output.

In the coming month, Anticon will release albums from Odd Nosdam, Why?, an Alias instrumental CD, Themselves’ The no music remix album (featuring remixes from Hrvatski, Hood, Tortoise’s John Hendon, Fog and Notwist a.o.).  Sooner or later, those Anticon dudes MUST put one foot wrong... If I were you, I wouldn’t bet a penny on it...