Odd Nosdam

Anticon co-founder Odd Nosdam is a prolific beatmaker known for his atmospheric, pastoral productions that draw from shoegaze and ambient as well as hip-hop and dub. Initially surfacing at the end of the 1990s with a series of self-released beat tapes, he first earned recognition for his work as part of psychedelic hip-hop trio cLOUDDEAD during the early 2000s. Continuing to produce hazy, tape-saturated beats for rappers like Sole and Sage Francis, he released ambitious, collaboration-heavy albums like Burner (2005) and Level Live Wires (2007) through Anticon before issuing music through other labels beginning in 2009. His work during the 2010s drifted between beat-driven material (Sisters, 2016) and ambient works (LIF, 2017). Born David Madson in Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1976, he started experimenting with looping as a teenager, which eventually led to the purchase of a Dr. Sample and eight-track player while he was a student at the Art Academy of Cincinnati. He began issuing limited cassettes (and eventually CD-Rs) of material recorded at his mother's house, starting with 1998's Anecdoticselfportrait. Soon he was working with future labelmates Doseone and Why?, co-producing the latter's Slow Death (The Permanent Cry), and collaborating with both MCs as avant-rap trio cLOUDDEAD. The group signed to Mush Records and began releasing a series of groundbreaking 10" EPs in 2000, which were compiled as a well-received self-titled full-length in 2001. That same year, the label also reissued Odd Nosdam's Plan 9: Meat Your Hypnotist, originally a self-released tape from 1999. Odd Nosdam then moved to California to become part of the Anticon team, producing albums for many of its members, sharing a split EP with Why? in 2001, and self-releasing his own No More Wig for Ohio in 2002 (with a more widely available Anticon reissue in 2003). His next album, Burner, appeared in 2005, and was far more focused than his previous scattered, collage-like releases, featuring guest musicians and vocalists including Mike Patton, Jessica Bailiff, Martin Dosh, and others. The dreamy "Untitled Three" with Bailiff was released as a single from the album. Level Live Wires followed two years later, with returning guest Bailiff as well as TV on the Radio's Tunde Adebimpe. Pretty Swell Explode, an album of remixes and rarities, followed in 2008, containing remixed versions of Boards of Canada, Serena Maneesh, and Black Moth Super Rainbow, as well as some of his own unreleased work. In 2009, Anticon reissued T.I.M.E. Soundtrack, a CD of Odd Nosdam compositions used to score a 2007 Element skateboarding video. Following this release, Odd Nosdam continued working with some Anticon artists, particularly Serengeti (as part of the rapper's Kenny Dennis series of releases), but he no longer issued his own music on the label. Instead, he continued self-releasing digital mixtapes as well as cassettes on smaller labels like Sanity Muffin and Baro Records. Swedish Fish, a split tape with Matthewdavid, arrived on the latter's Leaving Records in 2011. Trish, a tape dedicated to the late Trish Keenan of Broadcast, appeared on Baro in 2013 (with a vinyl release on Sonic Cathedral Recordings three years later). Following several more low-key digital releases and remixes for artists ranging from El Ten Eleven to Teebs to Harold Budd, Odd Nosdam returned to Leaving Records in 2016 with Sisters, released as a VHS tape as well as a vinyl LP. A subsequent EP featured a remix by Boards of Canada. Ambient tape Music for Raising appeared on Baro the same year, and 2017 release LIF (on Sound in Silence) continued in this vein. He returned to beat-driven productions with 2018's Like When You Ain't. Mirrors was released by Alien Transistor in 2019, and double LP Flippies Best Tape, compiled from a series of beat tapes, was issued by Home Assembly Music. ~ Marisa Brown & Paul Simpson