Created for the Element Skateboards film, This Is My Element, the T.I.M.E. Soundtrack is the first of its kind: an original, artist-composed score crafted to the beat of polyurethane pounding pavement. Here, Anticon’s veteran producer and beatsmith Odd Nosdam conceives an album where each song is tailored to fit the style and cadence of the Element rider it accompanies. And on its own, quite simply, this album is a banger.
From its opening moments, the T.I.M.E. Soundtrack menaces thump-driven destruction. “T.I.M.E. In” sports an ominous SP1200-crunched beat that stomps into the fore like Godzilla into Nagasaki, while Nosdam’s trademark pops and quirks flit overhead. The Chad Muska-inspired “Trunk Bomb” aggressively boom-baps its way to rhythmic bliss via chopped breaks and arpeggiated synth, while “Fly Mode” (co-produced by Jel and fashioned after the fluid stylings of Brent Atchley) is a loping, folksy instrumental that blows through like a summer breeze. Throughout the T.I.M.E. Soundtrack, Nosdam’s approach is decidedly upbeat, mobile and spontaneous; it’s the glue that cements the guitar-driven rollick of “We Bad Apples” to the funky minimalism of “Zone Coaster” to the sweet toughness of “Ethereal Slap,” seamless despite their fundamental differences in style.
Elsewhere Nosdam proves his hand at big and grimey (“Cop Crush” for Bam Margera), melodic and gorgeous (“Root Bark,” for Mike Barker, also co-produced by Jel), and heaving and stoney (“One For Dallas,” for Levi Brown). “Top Rank” leaks in like steam over lo-bit guitars and a warm dubby bounce designed for child prodigy Nyjah Huston, then morphs into a slow-pulsing, textured epic just as apt for rolling-by board or by car-through any concrete jungle. But it’s second-to-last track “Wig Smasher,” conceived for Tony Tave, that sends the T.I.M.E. Soundtrack soaring to the stratosphere. The slow burn of steady organ builds and builds from a bedrock of record static, ambient fuzz, skittering drums and 808 bass, culminating in a five-alarm blaze of beat-driven sound collage. It’s an anthemic near-end to a larger-than-life song cycle.
ODD NOSDAM
Jan 15 Berkeley, CA Missouri (DJ Set)
Jan 28 San Francisco, CA Rickshaw Stop (DJ Set)
Feb 05 San Francisco, CA Holy Thursday live set @ Underground SF
Odd Nosdam
T.I.M.E. Soundtrack
(Anticon)
Street date: March 10, 2009
01) ZONE COASTER
02) T.I.M.E. IN
03) COP CRUSH
04) WE BAD APPLES
05) TRUNK BOMB
06) TOP RANK
07)
08) ETHEREAL SLAP
09) ROOT BARK
10) ONE FOR DALLAS
11) ROOT LOOP
12) WIG SMASHER
13) T.I.M.E. OUT
ODD NOSDAM LINKS:
MySpace – www.myspace.com/nosdam
Press Materials – www.anticon.com/pr/oddnosdam.htm