Soft Money is the second studio album by American hip hop artist Jel. It was released on Anticon on February 20, 2006.[1] "WMD / All Around" was released as a single from the album.[2]

Soft Money
Studio album by
ReleasedFebruary 20, 2006 (2006-02-20)[1]
GenreHip hop
Length40:16
LabelAnticon
ProducerJel
Jel chronology
10 Seconds
(2002)
Soft Money
(2006)
Late Pass
(2013)
Singles from Soft Money
  1. "WMD / All Around"
    Released: January 16, 2006[2]
Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
Metacritic67/100[3]
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[4]
BBC[5]
Cokemachineglow59/100[6]
East Bay Expressfavorable[7]
Exclaim!mixed[8]
Pitchfork6.0/10[9]
Prefix7.0/10[10]
SF Weeklyfavorable[11]
The Skinny[12]
Stylus MagazineC+[13]

Critical reception

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At Metacritic, which assigns a weighted average score out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, Soft Money received an average score of 67% based on 14 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[3]

Brian Howe of Pitchfork gave the album a 6.0 out of 10, describing it as "a murky palimpsest of disembodied samples and dirty beats, incantatory rhymes and live instrumentation, leftist rhetoric and absurdist non sequiturs, breathy female vocals and ephemeral melodies".[9] Martin Longley of BBC said: "There are few dynamic surprises here, and no serrated edges, but this disc's strength lies in its building mass of lumbering, decelerated funk, its textures gluey and thick."[5] Luciana Lopez of XLR8R said: "The album slices and dices genres throughout, and the music sounds all the better for it."[14] Bram Gieben of The Skinny gave the album 4 stars out of 5, calling it "one of the most rewarding Anticon releases so far."[12]

Track listing

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No.TitleLength
1."To Buy a Car"2:55
2."All Day Breakfast"4:18
3."No Solution"3:37
4."All Around"3:21
5."Thrashin"4:03
6."Sweet Cream in It"2:16
7."Soft Money, Dry Bones"3:39
8."Know You Don't"3:34
9."WMD"4:36
10."Mislead"1:56
11."Nice Last"4:25
12."Chipmunk Technique"1:36

Personnel

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Credits adapted from liner notes.

  • Jel – writing, production, performance, recording, arrangement
  • Odd Nosdam – additional recording, mixing, editing, song arrangement, sounds, filter play, drone (8)
  • Yoni Wolf – piano (2), synthesizer (2)
  • Josiah Wolf – bass guitar (2)
  • Andrew Broder – guitar (3)
  • Dosh – Rhodes piano (3), sampler (3)
  • Alexander Kort – cello (3)
  • Stefanie Böhm – words (4), vocals (4, 7), guitar (4)
  • Harvey Salters – synthesizer (4), keyboards (8)
  • Pedestrian – words (7)
  • Wise Intelligent – words (9), vocals (9)
  • Adam Drucker – cover art design, sculpture, photography
  • Erin Perry – cover art design, sculpture, photography
  • Wes Winship – font, layout

References

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  1. ^ a b "Soft Money". Anticon. February 20, 2006. Retrieved April 6, 2018.
  2. ^ a b "WMD / All Around". Anticon. January 16, 2006. Retrieved April 6, 2018.
  3. ^ a b "Soft Money by Jel". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved June 5, 2017.
  4. ^ Jeffries, David. "Soft Money - Jel". AllMusic. Retrieved June 5, 2017.
  5. ^ a b Longley, Martin (March 9, 2006). "Jel 'Soft Money'". BBC. Archived from the original on November 10, 2006. Retrieved April 6, 2018.
  6. ^ Betz, Chet (March 27, 2006). "Jel: Soft Money". Cokemachineglow. Archived from the original on February 3, 2007. Retrieved June 15, 2018.
  7. ^ Arnold, Eric K. (March 1, 2006). "Jel". East Bay Express. Retrieved June 15, 2018.
  8. ^ Quinlan, Thomas (March 1, 2006). "Jel - Soft Money". Exclaim!. Retrieved June 5, 2017.
  9. ^ a b Howe, Brian (May 9, 2006). "Jel: Soft Money". Pitchfork. Retrieved June 5, 2017.
  10. ^ Gasteier, Matthew (February 28, 2006). "Jel - Soft Money". Prefix. Archived from the original on August 18, 2007. Retrieved June 15, 2018.
  11. ^ Dahlen, Chris (February 1, 2006). "Jel - Soft Money". SF Weekly. Retrieved June 5, 2017.
  12. ^ a b Gieben, Bram (February 15, 2006). "Jel - 'Soft Money'". The Skinny. Retrieved April 6, 2018.
  13. ^ Macdonald, Cameron (February 28, 2006). "Jel - Soft Money". Stylus Magazine. Archived from the original on June 30, 2013. Retrieved June 5, 2017.
  14. ^ Lopez, Luciana (March 1, 2006). "Jel: Soft Money". XLR8R. Retrieved April 17, 2018.
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