Post by Zapp Brannigan on Feb 15, 2011 15:58:14 GMT -5
www.lifessweetbreath.com/reviews/albums/32-cloud-nothings.html
Cloud Nothings - Cloud Nothings
[Carpark]
83%
I spent the majority of my first listen through of Cloud Nothings trying to decide who they sounded like. Obviously some new lo-fi Wavves and some classic pop punk, Get Up Kids style, but it took a couple of spins for me to realize the artist (and incidentally my review’s thesis statement). Cloud Nothings have an awful lot in common with Blink 182.
Not necessarily in the conventional sense. The group from Cleveland, Ohio doesn’t sing about Southern California with as gnarly as a screech as Tom Delonge did in the old days, but the themes and musicality of the two groups definitely Venn’s the diagram. The chord progressions are oftentimes familiar, while the hooks and riffs recall Take Off Your Pants and Jacket. The idea that youth is simultaneously the best and the worst it’s going to get bleeds through every lyric, with a poignancy we all try so hard to forget about.
Cloud Nothings first release Turning On had itches of it but the self titled was a different direction for 18 year old Dylan Bardi. It had its muscles in the rhythm and forceful distortion with underlying vocals. Bardi’s ability to make his voice seem so distant in the landscape of noise he created had in some ways become his greatest strength. In “Been Through” Bardi sings about regret and experience in a completely accessible way, and the universalism of the emotion in his voice carries the track.
The best tracks of the album lie towards the beginning. “Understand At All” kicks things off with a lo-fi punk riff with an almost pop presence in the nonsensical snarl of the lyrics. “Should Have” and “Forget You All The Time” send nostalgia coursing through veins in a way much more established artists wish they could. Age is forgotten, and Bardi sings in such a soulful way, you forget that the songs were recorded in a makeshift studio in a Midwestern basement. The first six tracks are a rush of power-pop-indie punk basically unmatched by the numerous groups that try so hard to do the same thing.
It’s a process to be sure; the album is far from perfect. There are holes in the songwriting, and repetition plays a factor throughout. The pacing of the album sometimes feels uneven, jumping from yelps to croons, but in some ways it enhances the authenticity. There are fillers and forgettables, especially throughout the album’s later track. But when it comes down to it, it almost doesn’t matter at all because the record is truest to itself in its flaws: to be scattered is to be uneven is to be young.
In the same way that Blink did years before, Cloud Nothings’ self-titled reminded me of something I hadn’t thought about in a long time: my age. The riffs and floating melodies throughout recall summer days spent with the windows rolled down all the way, and summer nights spent cruising around dreaming, trying not to think of the future. Cloud Nothings follows up their initial attempt by stepping out lyrically from behind the fuzz, and manages to do so in a painstakingly sincere way. Cloud Nothings plays the underdog perfectly, stumbling but in the end hitting their mark in a triumphant way that would make Mark Hoppus grin from ear to ear.
-Jack McGrew, February 15, 2011
Cloud Nothings - Cloud Nothings
[Carpark]
83%
I spent the majority of my first listen through of Cloud Nothings trying to decide who they sounded like. Obviously some new lo-fi Wavves and some classic pop punk, Get Up Kids style, but it took a couple of spins for me to realize the artist (and incidentally my review’s thesis statement). Cloud Nothings have an awful lot in common with Blink 182.
Not necessarily in the conventional sense. The group from Cleveland, Ohio doesn’t sing about Southern California with as gnarly as a screech as Tom Delonge did in the old days, but the themes and musicality of the two groups definitely Venn’s the diagram. The chord progressions are oftentimes familiar, while the hooks and riffs recall Take Off Your Pants and Jacket. The idea that youth is simultaneously the best and the worst it’s going to get bleeds through every lyric, with a poignancy we all try so hard to forget about.
Cloud Nothings first release Turning On had itches of it but the self titled was a different direction for 18 year old Dylan Bardi. It had its muscles in the rhythm and forceful distortion with underlying vocals. Bardi’s ability to make his voice seem so distant in the landscape of noise he created had in some ways become his greatest strength. In “Been Through” Bardi sings about regret and experience in a completely accessible way, and the universalism of the emotion in his voice carries the track.
The best tracks of the album lie towards the beginning. “Understand At All” kicks things off with a lo-fi punk riff with an almost pop presence in the nonsensical snarl of the lyrics. “Should Have” and “Forget You All The Time” send nostalgia coursing through veins in a way much more established artists wish they could. Age is forgotten, and Bardi sings in such a soulful way, you forget that the songs were recorded in a makeshift studio in a Midwestern basement. The first six tracks are a rush of power-pop-indie punk basically unmatched by the numerous groups that try so hard to do the same thing.
It’s a process to be sure; the album is far from perfect. There are holes in the songwriting, and repetition plays a factor throughout. The pacing of the album sometimes feels uneven, jumping from yelps to croons, but in some ways it enhances the authenticity. There are fillers and forgettables, especially throughout the album’s later track. But when it comes down to it, it almost doesn’t matter at all because the record is truest to itself in its flaws: to be scattered is to be uneven is to be young.
In the same way that Blink did years before, Cloud Nothings’ self-titled reminded me of something I hadn’t thought about in a long time: my age. The riffs and floating melodies throughout recall summer days spent with the windows rolled down all the way, and summer nights spent cruising around dreaming, trying not to think of the future. Cloud Nothings follows up their initial attempt by stepping out lyrically from behind the fuzz, and manages to do so in a painstakingly sincere way. Cloud Nothings plays the underdog perfectly, stumbling but in the end hitting their mark in a triumphant way that would make Mark Hoppus grin from ear to ear.
-Jack McGrew, February 15, 2011
Well done. 
