I love Odd Nosdam. Love him. I love Clouddead. I think Mr. Dave Madson is a visionary musician, far beyond any and all labels ascribed to him. Odd Nosdam is incredibly prolific, and though I’ve loved every album, remix, and collaboration so far, an artist with as expansive of a repertoire as his is, statistically speaking, bound to misstep every now and again (for my taste at least). T.I.M.E. is that misstep… sort of.
Anything from Odd Nosdam that one could consider a “misstep” is still unequivocally an enjoyable listen and decent record, something that cannot be said for 99% of indie rock right now. For me though, when an artist has truly carved a niche, or really mastered an original and brain-burnin’ sound, I hate to see him/her/them deviate too much. Though experimentation is the cure for stagnation, Odd Nosdam’s signature sound is so extraterrestrial that I don’t think he need worry about becoming stale… ever.
Before going any further, it should be mentioned that T.I.M.E. Soundtrack is a collection of instrumentals written specifically for a skateboarding video of the same name. I used to board some in high school, though one trip to the doctor’s office convinced me that this sport might not exactly be my forte. No matter, I still think skateboarding is a rad hobby. However, I think skateboarding videos are profoundly retarded. If you’ve seen one, you’ve seen them all. If you haven’t seen one, all skateboard videos generally feature about ten dudes, usually from southern California, doing typical tricks in multiple camera angle shots, most important of which is the fish-eye lens for all board-centric frames. There’s usually some slam jams in the background at high volume, though the clinks and clangs of the wheels hitting the pavement and/or rail is always quite present in the mix. The tricks are cool, but keep in mind that you only land one out of maybe 100 attempts of any given trick, save from the basic ollie. And that’s your basic skateboard video. EXTREME, DUDE!
Mr. Madson, a.k.a. Odd Nosdam sees you hitting the bong without him,
and he doesn’t appreciate it…
Anyway, I certainly understand the need this change of direction based upon the medium he’s composing for, but I can’t help feeling disappointed that the maestro of slow burning shoegaze-hop lent his music to something that’s essentially an hour-long Mountain Dew commercial. But whatever, I’m an asshole.
T.I.M.E., though decidedly mid-tempo, is the most energetic of Nosdam’s output thus far. The syrupy, decaying beats that defined No More Wig for Ohio, Burner, and Live Level Wires are much more defined and present, and much closer to traditional hip-hop and/or Stones Throw-stype beats and breaks. This is probably a result of the tempo change. T.I.M.E. also lacks the ambient and noise explorations that comprise half of any given Nosdam record, making the soundtrack sound somewhat incomplete by Odd standards. The songs that stand out as high water marks of T.I.M.E. tend to be the ones that most closely resemble material from previous records. “Top Rank” features the classic fuzzed-out, pitch-sliding textures and subtle melodies layered upon subterranean, reverberated beats – not to much plenty of the signature, action-packed, unexpected Anticon breaks. “Ethereal Slap” is gorgeous, balmy, celestial shoegaze / psychedelia very reminiscent of Boards of Canada’s Geogaddi. I’m listening to “Ethereal Slap” right now, actually.
The remainder of the album serves as a collection of concise instrumental tracks that work perfectly in a verse-chorus paradigm. These songs, “Root Bark” and “One For Dallas” in particular, are more ready for vocals that even his compositions for Clouddead, which causes T.I.M.E., at t.i.m.e.s., to sound like an ersatz ambient pop record… like Mum or the like. Not that it’s necessarily a negative aspect, but it’s an approach that gives the record an unbalanced, generally askew feeling.
With all that said, it’s entirely possible that T.I.M.E. will grow on me. I expect it to, actually, as Live Level Wires didn’t floor me on first listen like Burner did (though I currently love both said records). When you get a chance to grip it, be prepared for something that’s only vaguely familiar compared to traditional Dave Madson output, which, in the scheme of things, is still totally hunky dory to me. Normally, my mind’s eye conjures images of technicolor mountains and deep sea explorations when I listen to Odd Nosdam. Hence, I wish I could get the images of fuckin’ skateboard doodz out of my head.
Oh, and if Odd or any of his friends read this – dude, call up Jessica Bailiff and see what she’s up to these days. I’m for real tryin’ to hear more sick collabs like Untitled Sketch. That EP still lays me to waste every time.
Fagen-Becker Rating for Quality:
MP3 :::
Odd Nosdam – Top Rank
Odd Nosdam – Ethereal Slap
