Odd Nosdam

Anticon co-founder Odd Nosdam stands out as a prolific beatmaker whose atmospheric and pastoral productions draw inspiration from shoegaze, ambient music, hip-hop, and dub. He first appeared in the late 1990s through a run of self-released beat tapes before gaining attention in the early 2000s as a member of psychedelic hip-hop trio cLOUDDEAD. He kept creating hazy, tape-saturated beats for artists such as Sole and Sage Francis, then issued ambitious, collaboration-heavy albums including Burner (2005) and Level Live Wires (2007) on Anticon until he began releasing material on other labels starting in 2009. During the 2010s his output shifted between beat-driven projects such as Sisters (2016) and ambient releases like LIF (2017).

Born David Madson in Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1976, he began experimenting with looping techniques as a teenager, which prompted him to acquire a Dr. Sample and an eight-track player while attending the Art Academy of Cincinnati. He started putting out limited cassettes—and later CD-Rs—of material recorded at his mother’s house, beginning with 1998’s Anecdoticselfportrait. He soon collaborated with future labelmates Doseone and Why?, co-produced the latter’s Slow Death (The Permanent Cry), and joined both MCs in avant-rap trio cLOUDDEAD. The group signed to Mush Records and launched a series of groundbreaking 10" EPs in 2000 that were later compiled into a well-received self-titled full-length in 2001. The same year, the label also reissued Odd Nosdam’s Plan 9: Meat Your Hypnotist, which had originally appeared as a self-released tape in 1999.

Odd Nosdam relocated to California to join the Anticon collective, where he produced albums for numerous members, shared a split EP with Why? in 2001, and self-released No More Wig for Ohio in 2002 (followed by a wider Anticon reissue in 2003). His subsequent album, Burner, arrived in 2005 and adopted a more focused approach than his earlier scattered, collage-style releases, incorporating guest musicians and vocalists such as Mike Patton, Jessica Bailiff, Martin Dosh, and others. The dreamy “Untitled Three” featuring Bailiff came out as a single from the album. Level Live Wires appeared two years later and again featured returning guest Bailiff along with TV on the Radio’s Tunde Adebimpe. Pretty Swell Explode, a collection of remixes and rarities, followed in 2008 and included reworked versions of tracks by Boards of Canada, Serena Maneesh, and Black Moth Super Rainbow as well as some of his own previously unreleased material. In 2009 Anticon reissued T.I.M.E. Soundtrack, a CD of Odd Nosdam compositions created for the 2007 Element skateboarding video.

After that release, Odd Nosdam continued collaborating with certain Anticon artists, notably Serengeti on the rapper’s Kenny Dennis series of projects, yet he ceased issuing his own music on the label. He instead kept self-releasing digital mixtapes and cassettes on smaller imprints such as Sanity Muffin and Baro Records. Swedish Fish, a split tape with Matthewdavid, appeared on the latter’s Leaving Records in 2011. Trish, a tape honoring the late Trish Keenan of Broadcast, surfaced on Baro in 2013 and received a vinyl edition on Sonic Cathedral Recordings three years later. Following several additional low-profile digital releases and remixes for artists including El Ten Eleven, Teebs, and Harold Budd, Odd Nosdam returned to Leaving Records in 2016 with Sisters, issued on both VHS tape and vinyl LP; a follow-up EP included a remix by Boards of Canada. Ambient tape Music for Raising came out on Baro the same year, and the 2017 release LIF on Sound in Silence extended that ambient direction. He revisited beat-driven productions with 2018’s Like When You Ain’t. Mirrors appeared on Alien Transistor in 2019, and the double LP Flippies Best Tape, drawn from a series of beat tapes, was released by Home Assembly Music.