So here's a Cloud Nothings thread

I was surprised to see that Cloud Nothings didn't have a thread, what with the critical love for 2012's "Attack On Memory" (which I discovered here on ILM and really wound up liking a lot once I picked it up).

So here it is, in time for the follow-up:

CLOUD NOTHINGS ANNOUNCE NEW ALBUM
SHARE NEW SINGLE "I'M NOT PART OF ME"
HERE AND NOWHERE ELSE DUE APRIL 1ST VIA CARPARK/MOM + POP

http://ih.constantcontact.com/fs126/1102271303916/img/1058.jpg

On their third full-length, Cleveland-bred outfit Cloud Nothings give joy a hard, sharp edge. "I was feeling pretty good about everything so I just made stuff that made me happy," says founding member and mild-mannered chief songwriter Dylan Baldi of Here and Nowhere Else. "I had nothing to be angry about really so the approach was more positive and less 'fuck everything.' I just sat down and played until I found something that I like, because I was finally in a position to do that."

Utilizing every possible opportunity to write while on the road for 18 consecutive months following the release of 2012's Attack on Memory, Baldi presented an album's worth of new material to his bandmates with just days before they'd enter the studio with esteemed producer John Congleton. "I'm pretty sure every song was written in a different country," he says. "It's the product of only having a couple of minutes here and there." But Cloud Nothings would enjoy a full week with Congleton at Water Music in Hoboken, New Jersey, followed by three days of mixing at his own studio in Dallas shortly thereafter. The result is Cloud Nothings, refined: impossibly melodic, white-knuckle noise-rock that shimmers with sumptuous detail, from Baldi's lone, corkscrewing guitar to his dramatically improved singing to bassist TJ Duke's piledriving bass lines and drummer Jayson Gerycz's volcanic fills.

"It's more subtle," says Baldi. "It's not just an in-your-face rock record. There's more going on. You can listen to a song 20 times and still hear different little things in there that you didn't notice before. Every time I listen I notice something that I didn't even realize we did."

It's yet another staggering show of a progress from a songwriter and band still coming into their own. Here And Nowhere Else will be available in the United States April 1st via Carpark/Mom+Pop (March 26th in Japan [Hostess], March 28th in Australia/New Zealand [Stop Start], March 31st in UK/Europe [Wichita] and April 1st in Taiwan/China/Hong Kong [Hi-Note]) and available for pre-order on January 28th digitally via iTunes physically via cloudnothings.com. Check out first single "I'm Not Part Of Me" along with all album details below.

STREAM: "I'm Not Part Of Me" - https://soundcloud.com/cloudnothings/im-not-part-of-me

http://ih.constantcontact.com/fs126/1102271303916/img/1059.jpg

Cloud Nothings
Here And Nowhere Else
(Carpark/Mom+Pop)
April 1, 2014

1. Now Hear In
2. Quieter Today
3. Psychic Trauma
4. Just See Fear
5. Giving Into Seeing
6. No Thoughts
7. Pattern Walks
8. I'm Not Part Of Me

I like the fact that John Congleton did it. I am a big Paper Chase fan.

I like the track. Straight-forward rocker. Appetite whetted nicely.

Dunno why there isn't more love for this band here. This album is going to be great

https://soundcloud.com/cloudnothings/psychic-trauma/

Attack on Memory was tremendous.

I can't wait for the new album.

cosigned on both counts.

are they worth seeing live ? am visiting new york for the first time and they are playing at the bowery ballroom for 20 dollars a ticket. not sure whether i should commit though i did love attack on memory.

missed this first time around, i really liked the s/t and 'attack' was one of my favorites, i think maybe they have the (songwriting) momentum not to disappoint (like, say, japandroids or the thermals, different but not entirely dissimilar bands w/ recent slumps)

Very good live, definitely worth $20

we've talked about this before, david i'm sure. NO show is worth $25 bucks. not even miles davis' corpse in a daishiki.

― jess, Wednesday, October 31, 2001

course that's 2001 dollars, so . . .

Ha. $20 is probably a little over market value for the band's live show, but not by so much that it's worth missing the show for

The band playing their 2012 Pitchfork set during a lightning storm that cut out their power remains a highlight.

Heh - when I went to see them (at Cargo in London) touring Attack on Memory, the venue's power went out four songs in and they had to stop playing. Maybe that's their shtick

on first listen they sound generic and like a thousand bands before them. what am i missing?

http://www.npr.org/2014/03/23/291167029/first-listen-cloud-nothings-here-and-nowhere-else

A+

ugh what is with npr and celebration rock everybody knows post-nothing was where it was at

drumdrum drumdrum drummmm

I don't like this album :(

alfred have you by any chance been growing your moustache lately into sort of a

http://content.artofmanliness.com/uploads//2010/10/snidely-whiplash.jpg

I loved Attack on Memory – I played it again yesterday. The tunes aren't sticking this time.

dislike or indifference?

Disappointment.

That NPR piece is horrible.

The new Cloud Nothings, on the other hand, is nice. Their first record was in my top 5 of the year, I believe. I was hoping for the same with this one, but I'm not feeling it as much. I think it's a grower, though.

i like its character. i don't know what it is yet. it's not a stunner. it sounds like it belongs in the catalog of a band with a healthy catalog. or in the memories of a listener with a healthy record habit.

http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/19075-cloud-nothings-here-and-nowhere-else/

their music isn't really my thing so i can't comment on its quality, but i'm grew up in cleveland and i'm always happy to see a cleveland band get some praise

Listening to the new album and this band have about as much personality as their name suggests. Struggling to think of a single individual or distinctive thing about them.

Which bands are making music like this but better?

"They have no personality or distinctive qualities" is not the same as saying "I can think of loads of bands who do this sort of thing better".

I'm pretty sure I've heard this band before but can't think of what they sound like. My instinct is to say "guys playing guitars."

xp isn't their distinctive quality, then, that they're making this kind of poppy as hell, snotty as hell guitar-punk better than anybody else is right now? That makes them pretty distinguished in my book.

I don't find it particularly catchy or snotty for that matter, although I accept that's an eye of the beholder thing, this just sounds like the most obvious and rote aggregation of late 90s alt-rock moves imaginable. There's just something very half-way-down-the-bill-at-ATP about them.

yeah kinda weird how much love this band is getting considering how much this sounds like half the post-Nirvana grungie bands languishing in dollar bins nationwide

buzz·kill
noun \ˈbəz-ˌkil\
Definition of BUZZKILL
: one that has a depressing or negative effect
First Known Use of BUZZKILL
1992

I listened to this a few times on NPR and I'm having a similar reaction that I did to Attack on Memory. There's one single that I'm crazy about (then "Stay Useless," now "I'm Not Part of Me") and other tracks that are competent, but tend to blend together.

the songs on this record do not seem to be remarkable, the performances of the songs might be though. the band just sounds really really good.

i think the 'attack' songs are much more papery—the dramatic structures seem composed, the coordination between the players planned out. on the new songs the playing is a lot more plaintive, singy, and the songs feel more like the s/t songs even though they're more extensive like the 'attack' songs.

I was wrong about this album.

It's definitely a grower.

Can't wait to see them live

Not a grower -- I was just wrong because I was hearing a track here or there instead of together. In sequence it's a killer.

It definitely grew on me. It kind of all clicked when I was listening to Pattern Walks, but before that I was listening to individual tracks.

the songs on this record do not seem to be remarkable, the performances of the songs might be though. the band just sounds really really good.

― call all destroyer, Thursday, April 3, 2014 6:04 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

otm. I also found myself describing this band to someone as "early Spoon meets Hot Snakes" and I think I should win some sort of prize for that one

yeah that's not half bad

dude has really found his singing voice too

This record is pretty good
Speaking of Hot Snakes there was an Obits record last year that no one cared about that totally slays

obits are ok but whenever i listen to them i think i could just listen to hot snakes for the millionth time

Now THIS is a rock record. I am very very excited.

I love it now.

I liked a couple songs on the one before this, Stay Useless and Fall In. I was hoping they'd take the next step and they certainly have.

this makes me pine for a college radio show

or really just a college station, to hang around in

Just discovered this band. The new album really is comfort food for a grizzled old post-punk like me with its Paul Westerberg-fronting-Husker Du vibe. Listening to "Attack On Memory" now and it's solid as well.

So I love this album.

CLOUD NOTHINGS ANNOUNCES NEW ALBUM
SHARES LEAD SINGLE "MODERN ACT"
LIFE WITHOUT SOUND DUE JANUARY 27TH VIA CARPARK

http://files.constantcontact.com/ce05d74a001/99044bc4-5183-4227-b541-b6bd11c576bc.jpg

LISTEN: "Modern Act" - https://soundcloud.com/cloudnothings/modern-act-2

After recently hinting at an imminent new album in recent interviews, Cloud Nothings is back today to announce its followup to 2014's Here And Nowhere Else. Due January 27th for Carpark Records, Life Without Sound is the band's new 9-song LP. To celebrate its announcement, the band is sharing lead single "Modern Act", which can be heard above now.

While supplies last, fans can head to cloudnothings.com to pre-order a limited edition t-shirt & deluxe LP, LP or CD bundle directly from Carpark or Wichita.

http://files.constantcontact.com/ce05d74a001/c407e2c2-ca4b-4794-9cab-7e42dbad1bd6.jpg

Cloud Nothings
Life Without Sound
(Carpark)
January 27, 2017

1. Up To The Surface
2. Things Are Right With You
3. Internal World
4. Darkened Rings
5. Enter Entirely
6. Modern Act
7. Sight Unseen
8. Strange Year
9. Realize My Fate

out

https://cloudnothings.bandcamp.com/album/life-without-sound

First impression: not immediately hitting me like the previous album, sounds slightly more Weezer-y in places, but this is one of a small handful of current rock bands I actually like so I plan to buy this and get to know it

also, this

it sounds like it belongs...in the memories of a listener with a healthy record habit.

― j., Saturday, March 29, 2014 2:09 PM (two years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

though written about a specific album, is totally otm about the band in general

I like this record and "Modern Act" is a new peak.

this is a catchy little number

Excited to hear this, I love this band to death

just listened to this for the first time. i was distracted but liked what i absorbed so i'll have to make more time for it soon. the last track definitely caught my attention though

polish is real shiny on this one, not that attractive

I thought they were from Cleveland.

I didn't love this as much as I wanted to, except "Enter Entirely," I am a sucker for songs where the opening sounds like you're listening to somebody messing around in the guitar store

the chorus of "Enter Entirely" is outstanding. feels most like the previous album of anything here.

Cover of Coldplay's "Clocks"
http://www.avclub.com/video/cloud-nothings-deliver-polarizing-take-coldplays-c-257497

lol

So!

No discussion about the new one?

Heard it once while driving. It went by in a flash, which I guess is the idea. Happy he's dropped some of the Weezer-isms of the last album, which I ddn't care for, but need to make some time to give this new one a proper listen. This is one of the last indie / guitar bands I still kinda root for, so their albums are usually buy on sight for me

His singing on the new one reminds me of joe strummer, pretty frequently. Anyone else hear that? I haven’t really listened to cloud nothings for a few years, so I’m not sure if that’s a new development, something that’s always been there, or something I’m totally making up

For some reason I used to think I didn't like them? The advance tracks off of the new one have convinced me I was wrong.

i didn't even know there was a last one

oh i guess i did i just never played it more than once

I really loved the kind of vaguely Swedish garagey-pop of "All The Time" and have just never got on board with the heavier thing they're going for now.

this guy is really indecisive about how he sings

I hear Strummer but also Westerberg (circa Sorry Ma)

I really loved the kind of vaguely Swedish garagey-pop of "All The Time" and have just never got on board with the heavier thing they're going for now.

― Guayaquil (eephus!), Sunday, October 21, 2018 10:19 PM (yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I feel almost exactly the opposite. The closer this band gets to sounding like Hot Snakes and the less they sound like Weezer, the more I like 'em

Damn! If I'd heard Weezer on the first four albums I would've vomited on my stash a long time ago.

new one just made me want to revisit Life Without Sound which i definitely did not spend enough time with last year

Attack On Memory is also still great but Here And Nowhere Else still does nothing for me, not hooky enough for me and i think the lack of the second guitarist on it hurt it a fair bit

The hooks don't seem as strong on this one, but there's a higher intensity to it than the last couple. It'll me more of a grower for me I think.

i've never gotten into these guys even though i just know i'll love them

anyway holy shit this new record

the drummer in this band is a fucking monster

lol we're just fated to disagree this month, aren't we?

idk what's wrong with this

I'd rank them:

Attack on Memory
Life Without Sound
Last Building Burning
Here and Nowhere Else

I love the noise -- it's their loudest album since the debut -- but I'm having trouble hearing tunes besides “Leave Him Now" and "So Right So Clean."

uh "another way of life" though

also "dissolution" is a real trip

The drumming is amazing but I'm with Alfred the tunes aren't quite as strong. I need to give it more time.

alfred's ranking otm

i think i like the direction they went on Life Without Sound more than the direction they went on this one, which, afaict, is as simple as "airier and poppier last time" vs. "punkier and less tuneful this time"

i do like the energy on the new one. they sound pissed ... as any sane person should be.

i love "dissolution" so much wow

quarantine album

https://cloudnothings.bandcamp.com/album/the-black-hole-understands

this band sneakily rules

most recent post itt (by me) makes me laugh, cuz today i can't decide if Cloud Nothings is a really good band that's kinda boring or a mediocre band that has more than its share of killer moments

they're the war on drugs of poppy punk rock

A good band.

The new album is good.

they're really remarkably consistent at this point

I didn't like anything since "Attack On Memory" as much as that album but I do like the new one so far.

"Nothing Without You" sounds like a heartfelt Westerbergian screed which is never a bad thing.

Yeah I never don't like Cloud Nothings but I also don't think anything is ever going to jump into my brain the way "All The Time" did.

Yep can’t make up my mind whether they’re too samey in their tuneful, speedy way or impassioned and special

Digging this a lot, Albini is a good fit for these dudes.

I didn't realize I'd missed so many albums since Life Without Sound! Which of the three after that are worth checking out?

this good band's new album is good

for another side of this good band's good drummer i love this tape: https://gardenportal.bandcamp.com/album/beacon

Seeing the band for the first time Friday here in Philly. Only my second show back after COVID (and kind of my first since I saw Korn last week only because my son wanted to see them; I didn't hate it but I went primarily for him).