Odd Nosdam - Lif [Sound In Silence 040]

Incoming from the Greek Sound In Silence-imprint only recently is "Lif", the latest album outing by Abstract HipHop / Beatmaker-artist Odd Nosdam, also known and loved for co-founding the beloved and popular Anticon.-label back in the days which raised awareness for quite a lot of leftfield, yet somehow HipHop-related artists throughout its heydays. Inspired by a three months stretch of nonstop rain occuring in the Bay Area in early 2017 we see Odd Nosdam turning his head away from beats with this album, exploring new realms somewhere in the grey area in between Ambient and Electronica starting with the bleak, yet ever moving metallic waft of "MIG" which caters a feel of a cold, scientific future before "RAI" contrasts the filtered background movements with elements of DubTechno and small, bell-like sounds whereas the title track "LIF" is more of a dark'ish, intense and droning affair for those caught deep within the darkest depths of their own Ambient soul. Within the 82 seconds of "AIN" rainy melancholia shows off in full with beautifully processed piano sounds, "SES" continues on a basically similar path and the sequels "KEL I" / "KEL II" come up with echoes of a deep, heartfelt Post-PostRock attitude due to their use of plucked guitar strings. Furthermore "REN" presents a masterly arranged array of what seem to be slow motion accordion chords, "TRO" serves more of a classic Ambient vibe garnished with quite a bit of vintage surface noise and the final cut "HOM" fuses the soft pads usually found in DubTechno with complex, blurred and captivating melodic layers of an abstract kind for all those floating through hyperrealms and multi-dimensional thought bubbles. Recommended!