Odd Nosdam: Pretty Swell Explode

When you get around as much as former Cincinnati lad David P. Madsen, you’re bound to collect a few odds and ends along the way. Since 1998, he has self-released a half dozen beat compilations as well as three proper Anticon records, while contributing instrumentals to and producing the likes of cLOUDDEAD, Sole, Sage Francis, Reaching Quiet, Peeping Tom, and a host of other projects. With the weight of his catalogue against his back, Pretty Swell Explode collects all the b-sides, outtakes, and remixes you can fit onto an album and an EP, but there are no throwaways with Odd. His signature style of mauled tape collage and cinematic shoegaze sampledelica provides nary a dull moment. Even with reworkings of Black Moth Super Rainbow, Thee More Shallows, Boards Of Canada, and Alias, Pretty Swell Explode sounds like an album played start to finish, and that’s a rare intangibility. Basically, it’s as essential as anything else with his name on it.