Search Results for:

CLOUD NOTHINGS

Cloud Nothings

Final Summer

    Cloud Nothings are back! Cleveland's loudest export with their new album, Final Summer via Pure Noise Records. Over the past 15 years Cloud Nothings have become part of the fabric of modern indie rock with a steady run of reliably fantastic records, and this streak continues unabated with Final Summer – an album that’s so assured, so instantly satisfying, that it forces you to pause and realize you’re listening to one of the great American rock bands in their prime.

    TRACK LISTING

    1. Final Summer
    2. Daggers Of Light
    3. I'd Get Along
    4. Mouse Policy
    5. Silence
    6. Running Through The Campus
    7. The Golden Halo
    8. Thank Me For Playing
    9. On The Chain
    10. Common Mistake

    Cloud Nothings

    Attack On Memory - 10th Anniversary Edition

      To celebrate the 10th anniversary of Cloud Nothings' seminal album, Attack On Memory, the band has announced a very special limited edition vinyl pressing. 3000 copies worldwide.

      It’s housed in a foil jacket with all new colorized artwork, is pressed on Sky Blue vinyl, and includes two bonus flexi 7"s with two never-before-released tracks, "You Will Turn" and "Jambalaya" from the original sessions at Steve Albini's Electrical Audio.

      In 2009, Cleveland’s Dylan Baldi began writing and recording lo-fi power-pop songs in his parents’ basement, dubbing the project Cloud Nothings. His music quickly started making the Internet rounds, and fans and critics alike took note of his pithy songcraft, infectiously catchy melodies, and youthful enthusiasm. Baldi soon released a string of 7”s, a split cassette, and an EP before putting out Turning On—a compilation spanning about a year’s worth of work—on Carpark in 2010. January 2011 saw the release of Cloud Nothings’ self- titled debut LP, which, put next to Turning On, found Baldi cleaning up his lo-fi aesthetic, pairing his tales of affinitive confusion with a more pristine aural clarity. In the interval since the release of Cloud Nothings, Baldi has toured widely and put a great deal of focus on his live show, a detail that heavily shapes the music of his follow-up album, Attack on Memory.

      After playing the same sets nightly for months on end, Baldi saw the rigidity of his early work, and he wanted to create arrangements that would allow for more improvisation and variability when played on the road. To accomplish this desired malleability, the entire band decamped to Chicago—where the album was recorded with Steve Albini—and all lent a hand in the songwriting process. The product of these sessions is a record boasting features that, even at a glance, mark a sea change in the band’s sound: higher fidelity, a track clocking in at almost nine minutes, an instrumental, and an overall more plaintive air. The songs move along fluidly, and Baldi sounds assured as he brings his vocals up in the mix, allowing himself to hold out long notes and put some grain into his voice. Minor key melodies abound, drums emphatically contribute much more than mere timekeeping, and the guitar work is much more adventurous than that of previous releases.

      For all of early Cloud Nothings’ fun and fervor, Baldi admits that it never sounded like most of the music he listens to. With Attack on Memory, he wanted to remedy this anomaly, and in setting out to do so, Baldi and co. created an album that showed vast growth for a very young band.


      TRACK LISTING

      1. No Future/No Past
      2. Wasted Days
      3. Fall In
      4. Stay Useless
      5. Separation
      6. No Sentiment
      7. Our Plans
      8. Cut You
      9. Jambalaya
      10. You Will Turn

      Cloud Nothings

      The Shadow I Remember

        For a band that resists repeating itself, picking up lessons from a decade prior is the strange route Cloud Nothings took to create their most fully-realized album. Their new record, The Shadow I Remember, marks eleven years of touring, a return to early songwriting practices, and revisiting the studio where they first recorded together.

        In a way not previously captured, this album expertly combines the group’s pummeling, aggressive approach with singer-songwriter Dylan Baldi’s extraordinary talent for perfect pop. To document this newly realized maturity, the group returned to producer Steve Albini and his Electrical Audio studios in Chicago, where the band famously destroyed its initial reputation as a bedroom solo project with the release of 2012 album Attack on Memory.

        Another throwback was Baldi’s return to constant songwriting à la the early solo days, which led to the nearly 30 demos that became the 11 songs on The Shadow I Remember. Instead of sticking to a tried-but-true formula, his songwriting stretched out while digging deeper into his melodic talents. “I felt like I was locked in a character,” Baldi says of becoming a reliable supplier of heavy, hook-filled rock songs. “I felt like I was playing a role and not myself. I really didn’t like that role.” More frequent writing led to the freedom in form heard on The Shadow I Remember. What he can’t do alone is get loud and play noisily, which is exactly what happened when the entire band— bassist TJ Duke, guitarist Chris Brown, and drummer Jayson Gerycz—convened.

        The band had more fun in the studio than they’ve had in years, playing in their signature, pulverizing way, while also trying new things. The absurdly catchy “Nothing Without You” includes a first for the band: Macie Stewart of Ohmme contributes guest vocals. Elsewhere, celebrated electronic composer Brett Naucke adds subtle synthesizer parts.

        The songs are kept trim, mostly around the three-minute mark, while being gleefully overstuffed. Almost every musical part turns into at least two parts, with guitar and drums opening up and the bass switching gears. “That’s the goal—I want the three-minute song to be an epic,” Baldi says. “That’s the short version of the long-ass jam.”

        Lyrically, Baldi delivers an aching exploration of tortured existence, punishing self-doubt, and the familiar pangs of oppressive mystery. “Am I something?” Baldi screams on the song of the same name. “Does anybody living out there really need me?” It’s a heartbreaking admission of existential confusion, delivered hoarsely, with an instantly relatable melody.

        “Is this the end/ of the life I've known?” he asks on lead single and album opener “Oslo.” “Am I older now/ or am I just another age?” Despite the questioning lyrics, the band plays with more assurance and joy than ever before. The Shadow I Remember announces Cloud Nothings’ second decade and it sounds like a new beginning.


        TRACK LISTING

        1 Oslo
        2 Nothing Without You
        3 The Spirit Of
        4 Only Light
        5 Nara
        6 Open Rain
        7 Sound Of Alarm
        8 Am I Something
        9 It's Love
        10 A Longer Moon
        11 The Room It Was

        Cloud Nothings

        Turning On (10th Anniversary Edition)

          It’s been 10 years since the release of Turning On, Cloud Nothings’ debut album. Singer-songwriter Dylan Baldi was just 18 years old when he began recording the album, creating each track in his parents’ basement in Cleveland, Ohio. Over one winter, Baldi produced an album of taut, lo-fi guitar-pop songs, playing each instrument himself. His music gained traction in the increasingly popular music blog circuit, allowing Baldi to book his first shows in new places, like New York City. He gathered a band together to play live, and Cloud Nothings were on their way.

          The band has accomplished a great deal since Turning On, signing to Carpark Records, releasing seven albums, and headlining numerous international tours. Yet, their debut isn’t dusted over in the band’s history. Turning On still remains the stripped-back core of Cloud Nothings style: raw and grungy, filled with catchy earworms that are surprisingly pop. The album carries all the stored potential of someone ready to venture off into the world, a feeling that bursts with energy even 10 years later.

          All the tracks on Turning On are eruptive and restless, its lo-fi quality embodying the desperate need to record an idea by any means necessary. Songs like “Hey Cool Kid” encapsulate Baldi’s talent for churning, hook-filled guitar. The vocals on songs like “Can’t Stay Awake” are distorted, with scattered lyrics that echo the angst of a teenage diary. As a whole, the album delivers dissonance and edge, without sacrificing the authentic romanticism of someone who is on the verge of something big and doesn’t know it yet. 


          TRACK LISTING

          1 Can't Stay Awake
          2 Old Street
          3 You Are Opening
          4 Turning On
          5 Hey Cool Kid
          6 Water Turns Back
          7 Whaddya Wanna Know
          8 Real Thing
          9 Stummin

          Cleveland, OH’s Cloud Nothings return with their loudest record to date. Undeniably one of the finest and most captivating live acts on the face of the planet, this record goes further towards capturing that power and intensity than any of their previous releases.

          The album was produced by legend of heavy music Randall Dunn (Sunn O))), Earth, Oren Ambarchi, Marissa Nadler, Black Mountain) at Sonic Ranch in El Paso, TX.

          Weighing in at just over thirty minutes it’s a singular listen that reflects the band’s live tenacity - one that sees them surge through the tracks at a speed hitherto unseen on previous outings - the perfect antidote to 2017’s ‘Life Without Sound’.

          STAFF COMMENTS

          Barry says: Brilliantly dynamic thrashing punky riffs, angular math-rocky riffing and snarling vox, all brought together into Cloud Nothings' newest outing. Richly melodic but filled with unexpected twists and turns, forging an interesting and rewarding listen. Definitely one for blasting out at the skate park.

          TRACK LISTING

          On An Edge
          Leave Him Now
          In Shame
          Offer An End
          The Echo Of The World
          Dissolution
          So Right So Clean
          Another Way Of Life

          Cloud Nothings

          Life Without Sound

            Cloud Nothings are back with ‘Life Without Sound’, the follow up to 2014’s ‘Here And Nowhere Else’, on Wichita Recordings.

            Lead singer and guitarist Dylan Baldi maintains simple, admirable standards in quality. “A thing I like to do with all of my records is drive around with them,” the 25-year-old Cloud Nothings frontman says. “In high school, I would listen to music for hours like that: just driving through the suburbs of Cleveland. And if it sounds good to me in that context and I can think of high school me listening to it and saying, ‘That’s okay,’ I feel good about the record. This is the one that’s felt best.”

            ‘Life Without Sound’ is the radiant fourth full length Cloud Nothings have recorded since Baldi began writing and releasing songs on his own under the Cloud Nothings alias in 2008. While its highly acclaimed predecessor, 2014’s ‘Here And Nowhere Else’, came together spontaneously in the little time that touring allowed, ‘Life Without Sound’ took shape under far less frenetic circumstances.

            For more than a year, Baldi was able to write these songs and flesh out them out with his bandmates - drummer Jayson Gerycz and bassist TJ Duke - before they finally joined producer John Goodmanson (Sleater Kinney, Death Cab For Cutie) at Sonic Ranch in El Paso, Texas for three weeks in March of 2016. The result is Baldi’s most polished and considered work to date, an album that speaks to his evolving gift with melody while also betraying the sort of perspective that time provides.

            STAFF COMMENTS

            Barry says: I used to listen to quite a lot of skate-punk and hardcore in my youth, whilst this is definitely not that, it has a similar sort of Loud-less loud-loud vibe going on. 'Modern Act' is a perfectly balanced slice of anthemic punky rock, inc. semi-snarled vocals and youthful exhuberance, punctuated with almost clean-cut interludes before breaking forth into another bombastic energetic exaltation. Peppered with moments of pure energetic brilliance, and bulked out with even more moments of bracing and dynamic expertise.

            Wavves / Cloud Nothings

            No Life For Me

            No Life For Me is the highly anticipated collaborative album between Nathan Williams of Wavves and Dylan Baldi of Cloud Nothings via Williams’s own imprint, Ghost Ramp. The album was recorded at Williams’s home during sessions in March and June of 2014, with production from Sweet Valley.

            “For all their differences, a Wavves / Cloud Nothings collaboration makes a good deal of sense, and fans have been eagerly anticipating an album since it was officially announced back in March…. [The album] is a summery slice of punk that’s more SoCal than Ohio, even if Baldi can’t help but smear his unique brand of melancholy all over standout tracks like ‘Nervous’ and ‘Nothing Hurts’…. “No Life For Me is deeply indebted to early 1980s Southern California punk, a scene that’s probably buried deep in the soil of Williams’ mind by this point…. This is pop music executed with the no-frills precision of hardcore….” - Consequence of Sound.


            Latest Pre-Sales

            158 NEW ITEMS

            E-newsletter —
            Sign up
            Back to top