Sole & The Skyrider Band – Plastique, CD

Sole, one of the founding members of the Anticon collective and key fi gure in the experimental hip hop movement, returns with his Skyrider Band on the album Plastique. After nearly 2 years of touring relentlessly and playing concerts with everyone from Genghis Tron and Enon to Myka 9 and Aceyalone, Sole and company have recorded their best work yet.

The follow-up LP to Sole & the Skyrider Band’s eponymous debut is Sole’s most cohesive, dynamic, listenable and interesting record to date. In contrast to the apocalyptic imagery of the first record, this album adopts the Jean Beaudrillard idea that “when the spectacle took over, man ceased to be man.” What’s more, Skyrider’s music finds itself more sparse and deliberate on this record, showcasing the talents of all three musicians: Bud Berning (producer), John Wagner (drums), and William Ryan Fritch (multi-instrumentalist).

Plastique is an album full of reflections on the postmodern mess that is the “me” generation. Sole bounces from the ironic to the iconoclastic, from the worldly to the deeply personal. Unlike many of his previous recordings, Sole’s rapping is at the forefront and his sharp lyrics are clearer than ever. This is partly thanks to more immaculately composed music, and partly to Son Lux collaborator Doc Harril on the mixing boards.

“Battlefields”, a collaboration with Markus Acher – lead singer of German electronic indie rock band The Notwist, is possibly the catchiest of all tunes to come out of Sole’s arsenal while tunes such as Longshots and Pissing In The Wind present Sole’s biting sarcasm in classic form. Plastique is a musically mature prog-hop album with a nearly punk-bitter attitude built around the ferocity and intelligence that listeners have grown to expect from Sole.

 

Track Listing:

 

1. Children of Privilege
2. Battlefields (feat. Markus Acher (The Notwist))
3. Longshots
4. Nothing Pt. 2
5. More
6. Pissing In The Wind
7. Bait
8. Mr. Insurgent
9. Black