T.I.M.E. (Soundtrack)

Album Review

For Element Skateboards' 2007 feature-length skate vid T.I.M.E: This Is My Element, Odd Nosdam made a special effort to create music that would complement the specific individual style of each skater on board. In the opening scene, backlit by an orange sunset, dreadlocked child sensation Nyjah Huston kick-flips down two flights of stairs, skyrocketing in time with the grimy, sped-down guitar and dubby breakbeat of "We Bad Apples." The cute "Fly Mode" peppers Brent Atchley's lazily executed skatepark run with twinkly keyboards, while the static-driven, fuzz organ and 808 clapping "Wig Smasher" accents Tony Tave's 360 ollie into a cement ravine. It's actually a surprise that the music fits as well as it does. Instead of raging breathlessly, as a skateboarder might, the 13 songs on T.I.M.E. Soundtrack swirl by in an ethereal Boards of Canada, Panda Bear vibe, giving a dreamlike feel to sliding down rails and gliding through the air. It's a pleasant change from the golden years of Powell and Santa Cruz videos, which usually featured high-octane groups like McRad and fIREHOSE to fuel the intensity of the skate. Rather than trying to hype the mood, the music is used as a cool, rhythmic device, in which drum-machine snares are perfectly sequenced to match the slow-motion cracks of hard rubber wheels stamping concrete. So, it works on film, but even though it's tailored to accompany smooth-wheeling cinematography, it's fantastic as a stand-alone listen too. In fact, out of the seven albums Odd Nosdam released between 2000 and 2009, this is easily his most polished, tightest work. Plan 9: Meat Your Hypnotist and No More Wig for Ohio showed him at his most experimental. Level Live Wires and Pretty Swell Explode found him honing in on his style. T.I.M.E. Soundtrack encapsulates the best of what makes Odd Nosdam tick, filtering his freewheeling spirit into an accomplished and cohesive listen — and a mighty slick one at that.