Dosh "Um, Circles and Squares"

Over the past ten years, Oakland’s Anticon Records has staked a cultish reputation as the home of avant-garde, tangentially hip-hop and electronic, and decidedly bohemian and white artists like Sole, Alias, Why? and Odd Nosdam (and recently, Mike Patton’s Peeping Tom project, which really shouldn’t be that surprising). Aside from the style of music its been known to push, Anticon’s also known to have a bunch of artists with little to no public identitiy outside of their dense and occasionally inpenetrable (anyone listen to cLOUDDEAD?) output. Not that that’s necessarily a problem, per se, because Anticon’s style doesn’t typically lend itself to notions of stardom. Someone who exemplifies the label’s shadowy reputation is Martin Dosh, more commonly referred to by surname only. Originally self-trained as a drummer, Dosh soon found himself recording, cutting, sampling and reusing his own beats more than playing with bands. Collaborations with likeminded Minneapolites and the development of his own quiet, multilayered, soft aesthetic led to his first record in 2002. His new one, The Lost Take, includes “Um, Circles and Squares” (mp3), which opens with a plangent violin loop courtesy of buddy and tourmate Andrew Bird (Dosh is Bird’s tour drummer). After establishing itself, the song quickly plunges into a whirl of xylophones, bubbling synthesizers and skittering drums, then slowly lets the violin creep back into the mix. The composite effect resembles perhaps how Sufjan Stevens would sound if he were to lose track of his ego and voice (but not his xylophone) and hook up with Kieran Hebden for an afternoon. It’s busy and hectic yet quiet and unassuming, jazz by association, and faceless, it seems, by design.

The Lost Take will drop on Anticon in October. Order other stuff in the meantime here.