Austinist Album Review - Odd Nosdam: Level Live Wires

Part of the Anticon hip-hop collective, Odd Nosdam (a.k.a. David P. Madson) is a DJ and an audio chemist whose credits include work with cLOUDDEAD, remixing Boards of Canada, and five full lengths under his own name.

A label as much as it is consortium of like-minds, Anticon is known for taking a collaborative and fresh approach to hip-hop and turntable-ism, two genres that, despite the many realms of possibility, can often be strikingly homogeneous. With his latest Level Live Wires album, Odd Nosdam stretches his boundaries but only to a point, and the tracks are more mauve and flat than they have the potential to be.

Level Live Wires is an album that never indulges, and while that makes it accessible and imminently listenable, it’s a nearly colorless journey from beginning to end. The splashes of bright, attention-grabbing riffs that pop up here and there are exceptions and not the rule, as Odd Nosdam seems more content to let his jams flow by seamlessly and smoothly, never rocking the boat. Even the misleadingly titled “Freakout 3” is a freak-out only on par to a faux pas at a really relaxed dinner party, like maybe the candied yams were overcooked. One burst of dissonance, and – poof! – it’s over.

The appreciation for Boards of Canada is readily apparent from the start of the album, from the appropriation of free-floating, distorted and almost soft-edged drum beats, to the use of pretty, fluttering loops like auto-harp and a “ganked Serena Maneesh cello” on “Blast.” Odd Nostram experiments with songs in parts by giving the lackadaisical flow of “Kill Tone” a sequel, “The Kill Tone Two,” featuring both Pony Wolf and TV on the Radio’s Tunde Adebimpe. The surprising break from mid-tempo instrumentation is a positive one, and Odd Nosdam would have done well to feature more of his Anticon posse on this record, or at least utilized their vocal skills.

Odd Nosdam is apparently a connoisseur of found sound and sampling, but Level Live Wires isn’t overt about it – maybe he’s just that good. But it calls to mind other cut-up artists like Dallas’ own Rehash DJs High-C and Wilson, who may be less subtle in regard to their work, but whose recordings benefit from striking beats and a collage of different styles that blend in ear-bending, interesting ways.

In his liner notes to “Level Live Wires,” Odd Nosdam writes that the record was recorded “during an emotionally uneven 3 years,” but the music reflects little to none of those tumultuous times. Think of it in terms of a long road trip across West Texas; it’s an unhurried, chill ride, but there’s always the chance that you’ll just drift off and forget that you’re driving at all.

Odd Nosdam MySpace
Odd Nosdam @ Anticon Records