Crack by Philipp Condrau

cloud

Music

nothings

Despite the majority of people living in this country not being American by nationality, the American teen dream is something to which we Brits have a huge fascination. High-school America has been the subject of successful Hollywood films in the UK. We dream of frat parties to American Football games to the highschool dances - we gaze over pond in wonderment at this idyllic teenage playground. American rock has always played a huge part in this dream from the pre-pubescent and frankly awful (Blink 182, Sum 41), to the intelligent (Weezer), to a list of skater punk bands as long as your arm, the youth of America will always be linked to this sound. While countless bands have sounded like a re-hashed pastiche of the skater sound, when Crack heard Turning On - the first release by Cloud Nothings - just over a few months ago, our ears were pricked to the unpolished nature of the record. Dusty, raw and, as it turns out, recorded on one microphone, this was pop music with an edge and a recorded indifference. It’s a gloriously ramshackle blast. Fronted by 20 year-old college drop out, Dylan Baldi, Cloud Nothings have gone from this self-recorded, selfpromoted release, to self-titled album in just under a year.

Dylan explains this progression: “When I recorded Turning On it was recorded on one microphone. Recording Cloud Nothings in a Baltimore studio and going in there for nine hours at a time for a few days was very different. Before, in nine hours I think I could have probably recorded a whole album. Baldi’s new record is a more polished and hardened affair. These are a series of two and a-half minute blasts of American escapist rock, with a firm footing in fun. The first record was created as a pre-cursor to this full length debut and even though it’s a harder sound, Baldi stays true to what he established on his first record. “The difference is Cloud Nothings is recorded a little better and it isn’t as lo-fi as Turning On. It’s also more energetic. It’s probably what the songs on Turning On would sound like if I recorded them a little faster. It’s an improved version of Turning On, or at least that’s how I think of it.” Baldi’s youth hasn’t stopped him delving into the past for much of his influences: “My main inspiration is Husker Du and also a band called The Replacements. I’ve always been quite inspired by early 90’s skater punk and a lot of classic punk like The Germs.” In reality, their debut album has been mapped out and informed by a much wider variety of influences; most notably The Pixies and The Buzzcocks at their poppy best.

The formation of Cloud Nothings as a band dates back to Dylan’s time in college when all he wanted to do was get away from the classroom in order to play music. “I started Cloud Nothings when I got really bored and used to use all my free time to write and record music. My school was close to home so I’d just get back and spend every waking hour recording. I put some of the songs online and this small label called Bridgetown Records in California contacted me and ended up putting out my first record - Turning On. I then ended up signing with Car Park in the US and Witchita in the UK. So much of this was because they heard the songs online.” “I found the rest of the band from going to shows and playing shows in and around Cleveland. I had never played in a band with anyone prior to that. Cloud Nothings represent another band that have experienced the whirlwind of success releasing your music on the internet can bring. Dylan has been able to release the record he wanted to make, and an extremely receptive UK audience has taken to it with aplomb. This has resulted in a full UK tour and being picked up by one of the UK’s most respected independent record labels – Witchita. The UK is certainly somewhere where Dylan feels Cloud Nothings work. “We were over almost the whole month of November

when the band was playing shows and we are coming again in February. The fans seem a lot more knowledgeable and people come up to you and talk to you at the end of a show. Everyone seems a lot nicer. “It all happened really quickly, but not so fast to the point where I can’t deal with this or control what’s going on. It’s all been in the last year really, so it’s not been so fast I can’t handle it.” So from basement recording, to being signed and doing a full UK tour, in just under a year. The answer how this has happened so fast comes when Crack asks Dylan: When you’re not with Cloud Nothings what would we find you doing? “Working on other music. Playing music all the time. That’s what I do. I just play.”

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Tune: Can’t Stay Awake

http://www.myspace.com/cloudnothings