2000s: A Musical Retrospective in Real Time: Nosaj Thing
I imagine I’m a pretty East Coast (of the US) kind of person. And I don’t mean Florida or the Carolinas either. I’m talking about the gloomy Northeast. It might be all the Lovecraft I’m reading or the couple days of rain induced humidity but I figure New Jersey to be quite a gloomy, gray place. So it surprised me to learn that Nosaj Thing, who’s music seems like it was made for rainy Jersey streets, came all the way from sunny California.
The Los Angeles based beatmaker performs live with the help of an Akai MPD32 and Ableton Live to recreate the meticulous subtleties in each of his songs. Faint voices fade in and out while mellow synths wash over the mix. It’s hard to call it ambient because of its definite hip-hop influence. Trip-hop might come close but Nosaj Thing seems to embrace his electronic side with the way he uses synths in lieu of samples.
