My initial exposure to the underground hip-hop collective Anticon was cLOUDDEAD's self-titled full-length, released in 2001. The abstract, atmospheric sonics were undeniably intriguing, pushing rap's parameters to their utmost edge, but then there was the rapping. More specifically, the nerd rapping. The lack of flow was never an issue for me (ahem, Kanye); instead, it was hard to understand the motivation. If these guys were trying to be comical, then you could conceivably spin the pocket protector rhymesaying as being part of the shtick, but no one was really cracking wise. Instead, the rapping undermined the project's potential power and made it seem like a bunch of stoned-ass self-indulgence.
While I've subsequently failed to be stirred by anything Doseone or Why? have undertaken aside from 2005's pretty good 13 & God experiment (and those kudos overwhelmingly belong to the Notwist), Odd Nosdam, the collective's primary producer (and occasional rapper), has fashioned an impressive run as an experimental, chiefly instrumental artist, perceptibly maturing over the course of his brief career. Born David Madson, his first widely-released record, 2003's No More Wig For Ohio, was an occasionally inspired but overwhelmingly scattered collection; it consisted mostly of miniature pieces that were little more than a single languid melody looped over predictable drum breaks and augmented with random spoken word samples. Burner, from 2005, was a marked improvement and a welcome move towards long-form composition, though it may have played things a little too loosely, hitting a number of staticky dead patches in its longer tracks and mostly failing to cohere.
Madson finally strikes an equitable balance with Level Live Wires, a tightly constructed soundscape that hangs together more cogently than anything he's conceived to date. Following the swirling, woozy opening track, "On", Madson introduces the record's theme on "Kill Tone", a snippet built from damaged harp that he revisits throughout the record. Here, the harp rests beneath piano runs and atop drums, tortured vocal blips, and generous layers of static.
We're not too far removed from Four Tet territory, but Madson is far too restless to settle for long in one folktronic pocket. "Freakout 3" throws swelling strings and atmospheric guitar squalls over fat, lugubrious bass before earning its title with a second-long detonation at the piece's end. "Fat Hooks" is even more of a revelation, full of gently rising and falling tones that perform Moby's once-great trick of flirting with new age without slipping into mawkishness.
Regrettably, Madson does get wordier as Level Live Wires unfolds, rapping with predictably negligible effect (though thankfully little distraction) on "The Kill Tone Two", though he nicely layers in a female voice in the lovingly-built "Up in Flames". The latter is probably the record's highlight, with its plump and subtly manipulated bass, ample sounds of mechanical malfunction, and ghostly hints of steel drums. Madson makes a slightly gratuitous farewell with the stretched-out closer, "Off", but the busily flitting bliss of the preceding 37 minutes earns him a respite. Little on Level Live Wires may be as distinctive as the nasal nerdlinger flows that have become Anticon's trademark, but Madson seems to be figuring out that it can be a thin line between singularity and self-subversion.
