Youth is so great. At some point in the near future, I’m sure, Cloud Nothings (or whatever moniker Dylan Baldi is recording under) will record something boring, or a ill-fated concept album, or just run out of ideas (ala Conor Oberst), but at the moment, he’s breathlessly racing through his ideas like there isn’t enough tape to capture them. And that’s why we get a third full-length in as many years, this one spilling over with new ways to distill his love for hooks. Continue reading
So 2011 wasn’t like 2010, when Titus Andronicus worked its way inside my head and wouldn’t leave and LCD Soundsystem continued to be, by a number of measurements, the best band in the world. And it wasn’t like 2009, when Japandroids and Pains of Being Pure at Heart and Telekinesis exploded into the world and Dan Boeckner and Spencer Krug released their finest moments (so far) respectively, as Handsome Furs and Sunset Rubdown. Instead, 2011 had a different kind of satisfaction – mostly steadily great bands releasing solid records, up and down the list. There are notable exceptions (Weekend, Big Troubles, Cloud Nothings), but for the most part, music in 2011 seemed to me a bit like comfort food – nothing to challenge you too much, but it never lets you down.
With that said – here’s Part 1 of Song-o-Matic’s end of year list:
One of my favorite records this year is the Cloud Nothings’ self-titled debut. It’s a scrappy blast of poppy guitars and hooks that’s over almost as soon as it starts, and despite its studied amateurism, it gets by on an almost insane blast of sugar and charisma.
The reason I mention this is that Male Bonding just came out with its second album, and it reads kind of like a more bloated, less hooky version of the Cloud Nothings record. There’s nothing wrong with it – it’s a perfectly pleasant listen, but if Cloud Nothings is an A, the Male Bonding record is a solid B-.
BUT! The lead single (haha) off it is called “Bones,” and, to continue the comparison, it’s better than anything on the Cloud Nothings record other than “Heartbeat,” because almost nothing is better than “Heartbeat.” And I know all the blogs have already blogged this song, but I don’t give a blog. Listen:
I feel like Cloud Nothings is what I keep hoping I’ll hear when I listen to the Vivian Girls, or Wavves, Blood on the Wall, or Smith Westerns, or whatever other throwback pop-punk thing is being touted any given week. Mostly, I find those bands to be serviceable but kind of dull – they know what they’re going for, but the tunes just aren’t there.
This new Cloud Nothings record, on the other hand, is front to back fun - great songs stuffed with joyful hooks that reminds me alternately of Rocket from the Crypt (while, admittedly, not sounding really all that much like them) and Hazel, both of which are very good things. The highlights of their sophomore record are myriad, but my first-listen favorite is this 1:10 minute banger, of which the first half is verse and the second chorus, to excellent effect.
