Apologies for not posting for so long. Yes, an actual human writes and posts this information.
Here’s an item that should have went up two weeks ago — another run by Anticon co-founder Sole & the Skyrider Band. They’ll be accompanied by Fake Four Inc. owner Ceschi Ramos and Oldominion side project Dark Time Sunshine.
This morning, Sole announced in a post on his website, Soleone.org that he is leaving Anticon, the company he co-founded in 1998.
It wasn’t unexpected. Rumors had spread that Sole was leaving Anticon, especially after his last album with the Skyrider Band, Plastique, became his first release to not appear on the label. (It was issued by Fake Four Inc.) In the post, titled “Sole leaves Anticon Records,” he writes, “From now on now all my releases will be made available @ soleone.org via my new label Black Canyon Records and exclusively distributed worldwide via Revolver USA.”
Anticon hasn’t issued a response yet, but will presumably do so in the next few hours and/or days.
“In the early days of the label, anticon was a pet project of mine, a life-long dream. We fulfilled the dream of a collectively run record label and put out many great records and stood as an image of defiance against the music industry,” writes Sole. “Today, with a heavy heart I end 11+ years of working with anticon.”
Ten years ago, when Sole was recording underground classics like Bottle of Humans, few longtime Anticon fans would have anticipated that the crew’s biggest (and most controversial) mouthpiece would someday abandon his “pet project.” If anything, Anticon would cease to exist first, and Sole would proudly go down with it.
“We created anticon as a response to what was going on at the time in the music industry – the indy boom of the late 90’s. There were still a viable music industry then and people bought records. That’s how we built up our empire,” writes Sole.
However, the underground rap world that Sole once led and provoked has long since fractured, unable to find the common ground that catapulted indie-rock — to name a genre/scene it is often compared to — to dominance. The Okayplayer.com scene gets grudging respect (if at all) from the old-school rap audience; so-called “emo rappers” leap onto Warped Tour and other rock package tours to seduce the Hot Topic crowd; and electronic-tinged “beat” makers spend more time remixing indie-rock acts like the XX and mainstream ciphers like Lil Wayne and Gucci Mane than collaborating with their indie-rap counterparts. Too often, these sometimes-oppositional enclaves have split audiences, resulting in neither sustained fan appreciation, critical acclaim nor noteworthy record sales.
Tomorrow, October 13, Anticon icon Sole drops his second album with the Skyrider Band, Plastique. Unlike previous efforts, which all came out via Anticon, this one arrives courtesy of Fake Four Inc.
To promote Plastique, Sole is embarking on a national tour. Check after the jump to see if he’ll reach a town near you.
Here’s a clip for the Battlefields EP, which you can download for free. Directed by Ravi Zupa, it features lots of paramilitary imagery and puppets. Interpret what you will.
Also, Sole has a new album, Plastique, out next week on Fake Four Inc. More on that shortly.
Here’s another late pass courtesy of the illustrious Sole and Awol One. Both are on the Outsiders tour, the former without his group the Skyrider Band, the latter with frequent collaborator Factor. Ceschi and Scotty Six & Cainam fill out this backpacker extravaganza, and Icon the Mic King appears on most of the dates. Look out for Awol One and Factor’s album Owl Hours, which drops July 21 on Fake Four Inc.
On February 3, Sole & the Skyrider Band will release a remix album for 2007’s self-titled debut on Sole’s Black Canyon imprint. It includes remixes from Anticon associates Telephone Jim Jesus, Son Lux, Dosh and Odd Nosdam as well as indie producers Thavius Beck, Astronautalis and Sleeper. Unusually, the group is offering the press advance of the album — the one that often just goes to print critics and established bloggers — as a free download for everyone.
Here’s an explanation:
A year after the release of the self-titled lp from sole & the skyrider band, many of the songs have become prophecy. After 2 world tours as a band, and ten years of touring the globe, sole has witnessed the decline of the the west, from France to america, the first world is becoming the third world, one giant conflict zone where there are no innocent bystanders. The stupid things have indeed begun to implode on themselves, and this year has indeed turned out to be a “sad day for investors.” This is sole’s first major release outside of anticon on his new imprint “black canyon recordings.” The new strategy embraces a shift away from the pay for play politics of the past, inflated publicity budgets and chart infiltration. This marks a return to the DIY guerilla roots, a re-ignition of the culture war, and the clarion call that “the only role of art is to challenge the status quo.”
What better way to celebrate such an occasion than a remix album with old and new friends? Featuring up and coming artists and indy stalwarts alike, the record features; Dosh, Andrew Broder of Fog, Electric President, Astronautalis, Son Lux, Sleeper, Telephone Jim Jesus, Odd Nosdam, Thavius Beck, Subtitle , Bit tuner, DJ Egadz, Otem Rellik and pictureplane.
This record is a departure from the post-rock influenced lp that came last year and is re-visited in a more IDM/electronic fashion. Song structures are destroyed, but the theme remains, whether it’s Pictureplane calling for a return to 68, Dosh’s re-emphasis of “to know thy enemy is to know thyself” or Son Lux recalling “everyone you know is on a tiny blue dot,” in this rapidly changing world these aren’t empty songs of protest, love, or gluttony, they are calls to arms. Sole & the skyrider band go where no one else in hip-hop or indy rock dare to go, stock up on guns, grains, and ammo; fill your library, you won’t be needing your i-phone much longer. Strange days are upon us yet there is no need to fear, the burning plastic smell can’t last forever…
For the next two months, you can find Tim “Sole” Holland and his Skyrider Band on the Red Carpet Tour. It’s just for kicks, although there’s a remix album of the band’s self-titled album coming shortly.
As the first release on my new imprint “black canyon records” we’re dropping a remix lp of the highly acclaimed self titled lp. Contributors include son lux, thavius beck, subtitle, jim jesus, radical face, the fog, dosh, odd nosdam, the apes, sleeper, bit tuner & bleubird, dj egadz, astronautalis, & sj esau.
We will release it as an official “leak” when we establish a release date, in hopes that those who wish to support our new business venture, our mental health & our musical efforts will do so by preordering the release here at soleone.org.
Just to add on, Tim is still down with Anticon.
It might seem crazy now, but way back in 1999 Anticon Records was the Animal Collective of the indie world. Nerdy backpackers studied the label’s output like paint studies a wall. And none of the sprawling crew generated as much controversy as Tim “Sole” Holland. He took on Company Flow in a classic war on wax, issued the brilliantly bitter Selling Live Water, and became the prototypical angry white “emo” rapper (alongside Slug, of course), paving the way for dozens of others to follow.
Today, whenever I mention the word Anticon to people, they kinda turn up their nose, like, “Ugh! That’s so over.” (And then they go back to studying their Lil Wayne mixtapes.) But Sole’s career isn’t done by a longshot. Last year he formed a new ensemble, the Skyrider Band, and the crew issued a self-titled album. He also issued an instrumental album as Mansbestfriend, Poly.sci.187.
In January, he’s confronting his skeptics with a two month tour, and he’s taking the Skyrider Band with him. Guests include Anticon associate Telephone Jim Jesus and, on select dates, Washington, D.C. rockers the Apes. He also dropped a new video for the track “Stupid Things Implode on Themselves.” Directed by Ravi Zupa, it finds a group of people wandering around the Arizona desert. Good stuff.
The tour schedule and the video is posted below.
1/16-3/07: w/Telephone Jim Jesus
2/12, 2/15-2/16, 2/22: w/the Apes
And here’s the video link to “Stupid People Implode on Themselves”:
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www.soleone.org
www.myspace.com/timholland
www.myspace.com/soleandtheskyriderband
Photo by Yasamin Holland.
Bad boy icon Tim “Sole” Holland has kept a low profile over the past few years. He lived in Spain, issued an album in 2005 (Live from Rome), and nurtured his Anticon emblem from a pioneer for underground hip-hop into an outpost for indie-pop mordancy.
He’s back in the States, living in Flagstaff, Ariz., collaborating with Skyrider and preparing to issue a new album. First, though, comes a instrumental joint under his pseudonym, Mansbestfriend. On May 29 he’ll issue Poly.sci.187, which translates to Political Science 187: “Political Science: This Shit’ll Kill You.”
A press release from Anticon describes it as “filled with such sonic explorations. The album is an accomplished work that testifies not only to the fine art of experimentation, but to the aural abilities of Tim Holland, instrumentalist?may he be loud even in silence.”
And what about the album project with Skyrider? “This album is going to be far less sample based than my other music,” he writes on his new website. “It’s a mature, raw sound, i feel like i’ve finally hit the nail on the head. I can’t remember being this excited about a sole project, so far we have completed 10 songs, and i expect the project to be completed in a month or so, but we’re not rushing this, we want it to be a classic.”
While you wait for that one to hit the streets, check out Poly.sci.187. Here’s the track listing.
Also, here’s a short documentary on Sole that aired on Current TV last month. It’s directed by Chris Row.
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www.soleone.org
www.myspace.com/timholland
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