After two tours and an instrumental album under the name mansbestfriend, Tim Holland is ready again to reprise the role of Sole, ranting, rambling rapper extraordinaire. Ever the picture of unorthodoxy, Sole reappears this time accompanied by Orlando three-piece Skyrider and a record he calls his “comeback.”
“But where did he go?” you wonder. As if you didn’t know. Sole went where anyone goes when he’s feeling bored and blocked: abroad.
Holland spent his time traveling around Europe, un-learning the oversimplified techniques of the hip-hop production process he had garnered since his debut in 1998 with Banquet of Sarcasm and ensuing co-creation of Anticon Records. He withdrew from the traditional three-step method (make a beat, add rhymes, stir and let cool) in favor of a more organic process, and experimented with improv groups in Barcelona, leading to his latest instrumental album from mansbestfriend, POLI-SCI.187.
After meeting Skyrider in Arizona, Holland took up permanent residence in Flagstaff to make music and live with the band. The friends spent their time improvising and scouring the material for anything usable. Holland would then blend in his lyrics, the other members of the band improvised over that, and then all four would come together to form a song out of those elements.
Finally, Skyrider‘s Bud Berning leant his detail-oriented ear to the album with tweaks here and there, and it was mixed by Anticon‘s Alias to become the final, polished product — thirteen stellar tracks from Sole and The Skyrider Band.
Don’t let a knee-jerk interpretation of the word “comeback” fool you. This self-titled album isn’t just Sole‘s return to the U.S. or from his instrumental work. This album has him coming back to much more. Sole and The Skyrider Band is the first time Sole has recorded with a live band, and this promises a return to the lyrical innovation, stylistic creativity, and musicality of his older releases.
If that doesn’t get you excited, nothing will. But don’t get too riled up — you’ve still got three whole months to wait. The album drops October 23 on Anticon and Sole and The Skyrider Band will be on tour this Fall.
Sole: “Salt on Everything”