There’s an old saying about the fox and the hedgehog: The fox has many tricks while the hedgehog has only one — but it always works. I think it’s safe to say Odd Nosdam is a fox, but with the hedgehog-ian single-minded purpose of producing always-adventurous electronic sounds. You know you’re hearing Nosdam when you hear Nosdam, and especially over the past few years, no one does progressive paste-up loops like he does, and we love him for it.
The ex-cLOUDDEAD creator and Anticon co-founder born David Madson will release his latest masterclass in ambient-looping, LIF, digitally on July 28 via Burnco Recs, the label he curates (distributed by Daddy Kev’s Alpha Pup Records; limited-edition CD coming out on Greek label Sound In Silence).
We have been graciously gifted the title track from LIF to premiere today (below) AND Nosdam himself has answered a couple of questions put to him. I started by asking about the creation of LIF, whether he had any preconceived ideas about the sort of sound he wanted to achieve going in, and about the inspiration for his sound this time around, and he took it from there.
Naw, no real preconceived ideas other than the desire to do some sorta follow up to my album Music for Raising…LIF is pretty much just me sitting down and fuckin with sound. The album was crafted during a damn near nonstop 3-month rain marathon, an unbelievable amount rain fall that kept me both indoors and inspired to mess around with loops.
Each loop on the album went through the same signal chain: multiple routes through a Tascam 8 track and Space Echo (with all signals kept in check by a Distressor). It’s a very hands-on approach with very little computer processing…actually, it’s a pretty crude and loose approach hence all the hiss and record noise.
William Basinki’s “dlp 6” (from The Disintegration Loops IV) def inspired me during the making of the album (the album and song titles are also inspired by Basinski’s title, “dlp 6”). Something about a beautiful looping loop puts me deep in the zone.
LIF is the most spontaneous album I’ve made. I spent more time on the sequencing and mastering of the album than on the writing and recording. I chose to master the album with minimal limiting to maintain maximum dynamics so, volume-wise, it’s quieter than my other recent releases. The album is also designed to be played on repeat.
About the exclusive premiere of “LIF,” Nosdam says, “The title track is the first tune I made (with the signal chain described above), that really clicked for me. Once the tune “LIF” came to be, it inspired me to use it as a jump off for an album of similar sounding/feeling material.”
Jump and get inspired, you foxy hedgehogs.
“LIF” TRK:
LIF TRX:
01. MIG
02. RAI
03. LIF
04. AIN
05. SES
06. KEL I
07. KEL II
08. REN
09. TRO
10. BOM