Oddisee

Steadily serving up instrumentals for an enthusiastic and ever-expanding fan base, prolific beatsmith/lyricist Oddisee offers one final taster before the summer release of official full-length People Hear What They See. In what could be the beginnings of a very interesting series, Odd Renditions finds the producer flipping and interpolating cuts by artists many of us run through during those quiet moments we spend alone in our rooms, away from hip-hop's beats and rhymes. Opener "Paralyzed" sees Oddisee laying the opening line of Bon Iver's "re: stacks" over a chugging, hi-hat, snare and piano combo that, with his accompanying raps, makes for a song much more upbeat than Vernon's version. While little is done with the borrowed Metronomy source material on "The Gold is Mine," what Oddisee manages with his remix of Marvin Gaye's "Ain't That Peculiar" – its intricate backbeat and swirling synth line forming a perfect marriage of class and face-twisting swagger – by itself is worth the download and some loose change. Fittingly, introspective closer "Man I Used To Be" adds two pensive verses and a subtle dancehall touch to the k-os original for a bit of icing on the cake, wrapping up a short-but-sweet collection that will no doubt have folks looking out for the now obligatory second volume.