Odd Nosdam: Level Live Wires

Label: Anticon

Oakland’s Odd Nosdam has long been one of the most creative (and underrecognized) forces in experimental electronic music today. I didn’t think the band could top their last record, 2005’s Burner, but with the haunting and beautiful Level Live Wires, they have done just that. Perhaps “they” is not the appropriate pronoun; the band is really the work of Clouddead’s David P. Madson, who creates the music out of fuzz, distortion, found sounds, loops, hypnotic rhythms, field recordings and anything else he can come up with. But this is no noisefest; Madson finds beauty in everything, and he also ties together the tracks with strong and plaintive melodies, almost Satie-like in their tranquil loveliness. With contributions from Tunde Adembimpe (TV on the Radio), Jessica Bailiff, Doug McDiarmid (Why) and Chris Adams (Bracken), Level Live Wires is a shimmering, gorgeous record, easily one of the year’s finest electronic records. And: The first pressing comes with a limited bonus CD of “isolated sonics”; in effect, the album’s template. (James)