Search - Odd Nosdam :: Burner

Like sigur ros, but with beats

BLuTT | Chicago, Illinois United States | 08/12/2005

(4 out of 5 stars)

"you have to be in the mood for something like this, i think. it borders on being "ambient" at times, and i hate the word "ambient", so that's actually a good thing here. i was not familiar with this guy beforehand, but knowing the anticon collective/label, i expected the experimental factor would be through the roof.

it was not as offbeat as i thought it might be, and that's a good thing. i was afraid it'd get too arty and i'd lose interest, but this has enough happening to keep you hooked. some songs are merely interludes, others are quuite lengthy, and this is, more or less, an instrumental record. there are sampled voices, and there may even be some genuine vocals, but all are used more as instruments, and less as tool to deliver a story, so make of that what you will.

the only thing this kept reminding me of was the icelandic band Sigur Ros. there are similar sounds alot of the time, and the tempo is about the same. this strikes me as a record that is as close to hiphop as most sigur ros fans would get. that said, this certainly isn't what i'd call a hiphop record, no matter how far one might stretch the definition to avoid pidgeonholing hiphop. it's more a view into a dj's cluttered, collaged, dark heart. i get the feeling that this guy could take any sound he was a fan of and incorporate it into his work, and it would all feel at home. and that honesty alone is plenty refreshing."

Www.undressmerobot.com review

Yurij Lojko | Boston, Ma USA | 06/22/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Loopy Goodness!



Odd Nosdam, former member of the crazy experimental atmospheric hip-hop group cLOUDEAD, gives us yet another solo album. His third try finally hits the mark, molding lotsa sounds together to create one great sound.



If you are at all familiar with Anticon Records releases, you won't really be surprised by this album's sound. However, if you've never heard of cLOUDEAD, Why? or Themselves, then boy are you in for a treat.



What these guys do is they make hip-hop really weird and atmospheric-like. They fill in the spaces between the beats with fuzz and loops. They use really random samples to enhance their music. Etc. This album gives a great example of these random samples being used correctly.



Other Nosdam solo albums were good, but just like Why? and cLOUDEAD, they could get kinda too weird sometimes. Thankfully, both Nosdam and Why? made their albums more cohesive and accessible in 2005. They also made a bunch of songs on each album catchy as hell.



You'll see what I'm saying when youre listening to Burner and you get the the songs "Untitled 1," "Untitled 3," and "11th Ave. Freakout pt. 2." My gosh, these are GREAT songs. Especially Freakout. It's got to be one of my favorite songs of last year...(sorry, can't talk now...am listening to Freakout pt 2...)



Ahem. It's over.



Not to say that the music doesn't get kinda freaky on this album (try "Cloudead" or "Gun") - it just gets less freaky less frequently, that's all. It's also kind of cool that he brings people like Dosh (electronica/atmosphere), Jessica Bailiff (slow and dark music), and Andrew Broder (guy from Fog, similar to the Anticons) into the production of this album. It paid off.



I'll end this by saying the album can get quite mezmorizing at times. So if you want to get mezmorized by at least 4 songs, buy Burner."