Customer Reviews

Selling Live Water

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

Reading reviews for "Selling Live Water", my cynical opinion for individuals' lack of critical thinking is constantly being fueled. When people complain about music from Sole, it's usually to convey their opinion that it's too simple (stating he doesn't rhyme his lyrics), or that he is some parading pseudo-intellectual. Both assumptions are ****ing ridiculous. What I feel people are omitting to realize here is that music is the canvass, distress is the expression, and art is the result. He's not trying to be overly intelligent, nor feels the brevity to rhyme every sentence. When you buy a Sole album, what you are getting is basically the journal of a man expressed with a hip hop subtext (hip hop beats, flowing lyrics, etc). It's all opinions here. Sole's may be arrogant and mine may be no more significant than the naysayers--whatever. If you consider yourself too intellectually superior (therefore, hypocritical) to respect this music, you should stick to your MP3 bootleg Noam Chomsky speeches. If you consider this inferior due to lack of rhyming sentences, you should stick to public radio. Another note is that reviewers here assume Sole "can't" rhyme sentences because he ignores the implied notion to, which is incorrect. It's not lack of `ability', it's lack of unnecessary purpose. With that said, time to review the album.

"Selling Live Water" in my opinion is an excellent album. In a simplified analogy, it carries the torch that "Bottle Of Humans" lit. When listening to this album you should expect nothing more than the conveyance of one man's journalistic ramblings over hip hop beats. Starting with "Da Baddest Poet", which has the best beat of the album, and lyrics, as a white male, I can partially relate to. It gets my vote for best of show. "Respect, Pt. 3" is another song with the same formula and result: great beat + great lyrics = great song. "The Priziest Horse" has a great beat and lightening fast flow from Sole along with a looped trumpet that at first deterred me, but I eventually came to bear. "Tokyo" emits an atmospheric sound that is just beautiful, and as usual, Sole is on point. Some other minor notes go to "Selling Live Water" with music that sounds optigan laced; "Sebago" is another song with just an amazing beat; and "Shoot The Messenger" has an even balance of great production and lyrics.

Overall, this is a stellar release. And to end this, rather than tell you what you should think of Sole's lyrics, I'll leave you with a verse from "The Priziest Horse" to demonstrate what you should expect and analyze how you please.

"Shaking the hands that never trembles and always land on my feet.
At this present elevation, I can't see past my feet.
Between God's bald spots where the sky stops I'm one of the Earth's latest gallstones despite all the America going on, it's all Rome.
Go get unstuck, don't lose sleep 'til you cant find solace in the fact that you can barely control yourself.
Let alone we're all tied down; since our wings got clipped, and lately can't sing enough in the party that never ends, 'cause no one knows how to clean up the mess.
What's up with all the gags?
Everyone around me has these holes drilled through 'em and someone on the other side is trying to figure it out.
Dying to be someone, killing to be recognized as something that you're not.
Well since we're all so into introductions, don't forget your names
Since you love yourself so much, keep it away from me.
'Cause I've baked under artificial lights with artificial girls and that sinking feeling there's someone sleeping inside my sleepless body.
Quit playing kid games with your old tongue 'til you can find someone to buy future epiphanies from.
Here's one:
I live in the city and leave everything alone, yesterday it was all TV
After all is said and done, we barely have memories so I write what I feel.
Sue me if it's empty
Imagine that, I'm barely human, I'm barely human.."

-Second verse, "The Priziest Horse"

In clear contrast: this isn't your convential hip hop music, if you even considered hip hop.

I have a feeling that this album might end up on a few critics "Best Of" lists at the end of the year. This is a brilliant album.

It's really upsetting to hear the stuff that's passing for hip-hop these days. The emcees all sound the same (why is it en vogue now for emcess to sound like they are constipated? i.e. DMX, JaRule). The beats are stale, boring and anything but original, producers are so caught up in using the newest of technologies that too often the tracks are overproduced. And the absolute worst thing about commercial hip-hop....P. Diddy (VOMIT, VOMIT, VOMIT), the most overrated, unoriginal procucer to have ever existed and also an absolutely horrible emcee.

Enter Sole, the "head figure" of the DIY Anticon label. He's just what hip-hop needs. Just like punk helped evolve rock and roll, the hip-hop that Sole and his Anticon co-horts (and others, like Buck 65) are producing is the next step in the evolution of hip-hop. Maybe what these guys produce should be called "post hip-hop".

With tracks that deal with the so-called "war on terrorism", Sole's personal inadequacy and his "hip-hop identity crisis" this album is refreshing, intelligent, confrontational, and personal. With the inclusions of procucers such as alias, telephone jim jesus, jell and odd nosdam this album is also very well produced.

The writting is amazing, even his incoroporation of text that isn't of his own desgin is great. On the track "Tokyo" he thows in a line from "Watership Down" that's just brilliant.

As an emcee Sole is undeniably good. His rhythm is anything but straigthforward and never sounds forced (and thankfully, he doesn't sound anything like Ja Rule or DMX).

(the following is from the press release regarding the album)

The title "Selling Live Water" was elaboration on a statement made by the late poet "Gregory Corsco" who reffered to himself as "an ugly bag of water". It is a suggestion that humans as "live water" are systematically devalued, that their lives and opinions are, to an extent, bought and paid.

Man, all these cats are reprinting their own bad reviews for each sole album and posting them just to bring down the rating. I'm sure if they had a little talent they'd find something better to do with their time. Look, I love traditional hip hop and I love this innovative stuff. This music is what it is, take it or leave it. The words are very good but very unorthodox. Much of Sole's stuff doesn't even rhyme, or rhymes in unusual places. Sole is doing his own thing and I doubt he cares in the slightest what his critics say.

Sole is one of the most ferociously intelligent and honest artists out there making music, and this record is evidence that he's simply getting better. This album has so much energy that it sounds like its ready to explode.

The lyrics are beautiful, (and his flow is ridiculously fluid), and the lo-fi production is excellent. Sometimes I have a problem getting into undergroud hip-hop because of sub-par production... but on this record, (along with every other Anticon record), the music is gorgeous.

My favorite tracks are: Respect Pt.3, Plutonium, Pawn in the Game Pt.2, and Selling Live Water.

I'd recommend this album to anyone. Whenever I sneak this into a CD player at a party, people start asking who it is. It doesn't matter what kind of music you like, if sincerity and melody turn you on, then you'll love this CD.

This album leaves me breathless...physically and emotionally. Sole is able to bring a frentic energy akin to Zack De La Rocha to the meditative production and lyrics of Anticon and (dare I say) Def Jux. His only serious peer is Aesop Rock and after hearing this album, Aesop has a lot to live up to on his next release. Touching on just about every damn issue facing our modern existence, Sole ingests and spews the violence around him and tries to find a path of most resistance upon which to wage his, and our, fight against IT ALL. The beats and music behind him are some of the darkest and most exquisite I have ever heard in hip hop, a perfect complement to his rapid fire delivery of multi-layered lyrics.

A fellow reviewer said this would probably be on many critics "best of" lists. I couldn't agree more. Right now it is jockying for number one on mine (along with Ted Leo and Will Oldham...how is that for variety?). Sole has shown that hip hop is a constantly evolving art-form and that it has a lot left to contribute and say. For all of those critics who salivated over the "post-modern narrative" of Eminem, they would do well to introduce themselves to the real deal in the form of Sole (or, for that matter, Aesop, Mr. Lif, Alias, Sage Francis, or Buck 65 for that matter) and see that hip hop really is the most vital art form in American music today, but that folks like Eminem are hardly its savior...

look What we have here..
i got ahold of selling live water right when it was released, well aware of what i was getting into. I have been an anticon supporter for a good 4 years and ive been amazed at the persistance and elevation of all the members..sole really puts all his being into his music and it definately shows. Its been a good while since this record has been released and i have to admit i keep comming back to it. From production to lyrical content i would be appauled to hear anyone put down this release..
Anticon is definately on its own level and its not for everyone, But you'd be a fool to sleep on them never the less.. especially this album..with out a doubt top 5 on my list.

I would giv this record a 5 if i loved the rapping, which is ok, but kindof hard to understand and very mumbled at times. The AMAZING thing about this record is the prodution!!! The beats are all thick and super warm. The samples and music on all of these songs are very unique, creative, and have alot of feeling. Alot of hip hop/rap songs dont really go anywhere musically, have a great beat, but just have the same music and beat throughout the entire song, but not on here. Most of the songs start out with a really basic, simple beat that progresses into heavier beats, dark bass lines and Radiohead'esque keyboard and guitar samples.

I love the music on this record, but i feel like it totally outshines the voice and the rapping, making the vocals just seem like something you have to put up with to be able to enjoy the tunes.

I admire the Anticon camp for their experimentation. The Clouddead and new Themselves releases were my two favorites from the crew. After reading some rave reviews of the new Sole, I picked it up. While I admire Sole's honesty and vulnerabilty, (and much of the album's production is good too), all-in-all I'm not really feeling Sole's mic skills. It's just hard to listen to an album full of raps that don't rhyme. It's cool if you're influenced by spoken word, or if you're just into rule-breaking....but man, at least drop a few tracks that rhyme. Maybe he should write a book of poetry instead. It's a good record if you're looking for something really different, and somewhat original, but it's nowhere near a 5-star album IMHO.

Don't over think this. Sole has done a beautiful thing here.
Everything he says is how I see life. This, in itself, is an example of how pathetic we all are. He doesn't care what we think - why do you think he would make something so strange? He could've done it any way he wanted, but instead he put music to a personal conversation between you, him, and himself.
Sole just takes imagery from every day living in this perpetual apathy machine and hands it to you, bare, naked. No glory or guts or unique poetic thought. That's what makes this so amazing to hear. He's not trying to put any type of spin on it.
He's just speaking from that dark place in all of us, that tired and lonely spot we escape to every time we let our minds wander.
He thrives there, and he shows that to you. This hopelessness in life, the terrible truth that people are selfish and hollow but we keep trusting them.

If anything, just read. You don't have to listen to the music, although the visceral sounds and erratic beats help convey the same hysteria that precludes anything genuine in this generation of electronic masturbation.
It's just... feeling. Raw thought and emotion flowing.

"i can't complain
And can't believe i'm still
Waiting for people, waiting for people
Who overextend themselves by saying "hello"
I underestimated greediness "
- Teepee On a Highway Blues

Perfect example of how he conveys a simple human action. We are all lonely,
we all want something for ourselves. Ever wonder what people want when they just say "hello?"

As fresh as Atmosphere (also a stellar band) but very dark and disturbed, Sole is near the top of my list. Artistic, bold, strange and true, Sole defines the uncharted territory beyond hip hop.

By the way, why is nobody reviewing "Bottle of Humans"? For all the fire that burns on this page, the only review on that other album is mine!

Hypocrisy, people. Hypocrisy and duality. Open your ears, there's more music!