MP3: Odd Nosdam - “Fly Mode”

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) FLY MODE
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

PLUS, New Tour dates for Au, both bands playing SXSW

MP3: Au - “RR. Vs. D”
MP3: Stars Like Fleas - “I Was Only Dancing”

Think of it as an East Coast vs. West Coast battle between our favorite avant-noise-pop (both probably listed as “unclassifiable” on iTunes) bands - Au, a duo from Portland, OR and Stars Like Fleas, a NYC based group that is more of a living organism than a band and whose numbers can vary from 6 to about 20 depending on the night. Both bands released amazing albums in 2008, Au’s Verbs (Aagoo) was a jubilant, triumphant and all around uplifting listening experience and Stars Like Fleas’ The Ken Burns Effect (Hometapes) was an intense, heady and downright beautiful album. We are proud to have the chance to present this show, our first “Presents” show outside of CMJ events in NYC.

FORCE FIELD PR PRESENTS AU & STARS LIKE FLEAS
Early Show!
Sat. Jan 24
Le Poisson Rouge
158 Bleecker Street
Doors 6pm, Show 7pm
$12 / 18+
Tickets at: www.inticketing.com
Venue website: lepoissonrouge.com

AU TOUR DATES

Jan. 24 New York, NY Le Poisson Rouge (early show)
Jan. 25 New Haven, CT Sundazed @ Bar
Jan. 27 Philadelphia, PA Johnny Brenda’s
Jan. 28 Washington, DC Velvet Lounge
Jan. 29 Richmond, VA Plaza “Duckpin” Bowl
Jan. 30 Knoxville, TN Pilot Light
Jan. 31 Charlotte, NC Yauhaus
Feb. 02 Atlanta, GA The Earl
Feb. 03 Birmingham, AL Bottletree
Feb. 05 Houston, TX The Mink (early show)
Feb. 06 Austin, TX Mohawk
Feb. 07 Dallas, TX The Lounge
Feb. 09 Phoenix, AZ Trunk Space
Feb. 19 Portland, OR Holocene
Mar. 18 - 21 Austin, TX SXSW

STARS LIKE FLEAS TOUR DATES

Jan. 24 New York, NY Le Poisson Rouge (early show)
Mar. 18 - 21 Austin, TX SXSW

AU LINKS:

MySpace: www.myspace.com/peaofthesea

Press Materials: www.aagoo.com/verbs

STARS LIKE FLEAS LINKS:

MySpace: www.myspace.com/starslikefleas

Press Materials: home-tapes.com/The_Ken_Burns_Effect.html

MP3: Max Tundra - “Which Song”

Max Tundra, real name Ben Jacobs, is an English multi-instrumental musician, singer and music producer. He has released two well-received albums for Domino Records: Some Best Friend You Turned Out To Be (2000) and Mastered By Guy At The Exchange (2002). He released his third album, Parallax Error Beheads You on Nov. 18, 2008 in the US. He will play a pair of shows in NYC next week, at Bowery Ballroom and Le Poisson Rouge which mark his first time ever playing New York. He was one of the last ever musicians to record a Peel Session on John Peel’s radio show before Peel’s death. He hosts a weekly radio show on Resonance FM, called “Max Tundra’s Rotogravure.”

About Max Tundra by Owen Pallett
(Final Fantasy, ex-Arcade Fire, Last Shadow Puppets arranger)

Max and I met in Barcelona in 2005 at Primavera Sound. His slot was at 4am. He put on a mask, wrapped himself up in tape, and played forty minutes of music made mostly using Amiga sample tracker software from the late 1980s. There was virtuosic melodica playing, Pointer Sisters-style singing, and an eight-minute version of “So Long, Farewell” from The Sound Of Music. I was wasted and ended up passing out on a beach in my underwear. When the sun rose, I woke up with dried merengue and sand glued to my hair, and in a daze, I realized that I had just witnessed nothing less than the best music performance of my life.

What sets Max Tundra apart from any other band in the world is his attention to detail. This album is impossibly full of ideas, seeking out every imaginable sound in the world and giving each their own curtain call. When you listen to this album, you’d think that it was made by an eccentric millionaire, with every name-brand pop music producer in the world contributing their own two seconds of material. Upon closer inspection, you’d realize that it’s been six years since Mastered By Guy At The Exchange, in that time, Max probably hasn’t had a single good night’s sleep.

I can’t compare this record to any record I’ve ever heard before. Even Max’s previous records are a distant echo. It is dance music, it is discourse, it is teen sex comedy, it is a video game, it is a dance troupe, it is a thirteen course meal with Amontillado. It is shock and awe. Listen and be humbled.

About the Commodore Amiga 500 by Max Tundra

There are no modern-day computers on this record. My PC is strictly for emails and Photoshopping the words Max Tundra into Coldplay line-ups. The main technology behind this and all of my albums has been the Commodore Amiga 500 - bestselling home computer at the time - running a $1 public domain software tracker program. The sounds don’t emerge from the Amiga itself however; the machine is used to control various synths, samplers and the like. I look at columns of numbers all day on the screen of a black and white television; these digits relate to pitches, durations and tones. A lot of the noises on my record are real; the cello, bass guitar, drums, piano, trumpet and others are all rehearsed and played by me, but sometimes I will use realistic fake versions of these noises. Each song is recorded in a different way; drumkits are recorded on mono cassette recorders twice, then stuck together on the left and right of a mix; string arrangements are planned and then layered up; each note of an electric guitar is sampled so that it can be sequenced in ways too complicated for my fat fingers to play at full speed. And then I have a cup of tea and sing my heart out.

MAX TUNDRA TOUR DATES