Nobody

Beatmaker Elvin Estella, otherwise known as Nobody, made a ripple in the mix-tape underground ten years ago, becoming a frequent Prefuse 73 collaborator and Mars Volta tourmate by the time his second full-length dropped. But where Pacific Drift: Western Water Music Vol. 1 found the mixologist revisiting his hip-hop roots...

By John La Briola

September 8, 2005

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Beatmaker Elvin Estella, otherwise known as Nobody, made a ripple in the mix-tape underground ten years ago, becoming a frequent Prefuse 73 collaborator and Mars Volta tourmate by the time his second full-length dropped. But where Pacific Drift: Western Water Music Vol. 1 found the mixologist revisiting his hip-hop roots and goofing on the Monkees' "Porpoise Song," Nobody's debut with L.A.-based Plug Research takes a more downbeat, hallucinatory approach. And Everything Else... sets a sunny but lethargic mood with crackly vinyl, worldbeat loops, wind-up toys, live psychedelic instrumentation and even field recordings of Puerto Rican frogs chirping in a Belgian castle. A multicultural crate-ologist with a taste for Muzak and '60s pop, Nobody covers the Flaming Lips' "What Is the Light?" faithfully enough (save for the seasick harpsichords), and even lets Spanish rapper and high school pal Xololanxinco play gritar y responder with something that sounds like a Cuban 78 from the Batista era. When it comes to head-nodding beatscapes, Nobody does it better.

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