Cloud Nothings – Here and Nowhere Else | Manik Music
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4/1/2014 Cloud Nothings – Here and Nowhere Else | Manik Music About Us Album Rating Contact Us Staff For the musically obsessed… Reviews Features Manik Newswire Manik Baltimore Manik Tumblr Home » Featured Slider » Cloud Nothings – Here and Nowhere Else Cloud Nothings – Here and Nowhere Else Posted by Manik Music on Apr 1, 2014 in Featured Slider, Reviews | 0 comments A- http://www.manikmusic.net/reviews/cloud-nothings-here-and-nowhere-else/ 1/6 4/1/2014 Cloud Nothings – Here and Nowhere Else | Manik Music Dylan Baldi’s music is beautifully outdated, ignoring all recent trends in contemporary independent music in favor of 90’s indie and punk a la Archers of Loaf, Fugazi and Sebadoh, and that’s a good thing – few songwriters can capture scrappy punk as well nowadays, so it seems, as he does. On Attack on Memory, Cloud Nothings’ release from 2012, Baldi unleashed a rush of brooding burners and glistening pop punk. Here and Nowhere Else builds off of it, though it’s stronger by leaps and bounds, both punchier and catchier than its predecessor without losing any of its edge. The first discernable difference between the two albums is in the tone of the opening tracks. Unlike “No Future/No Past” off Attack on Memory, “Now Hear In” is an upbeat song that’s spared of its predecessor’s slow-churning and maudlin negativity. Baldi sings, “I can feel your pain, and I feel alright about it,” though there’s something uplifting in those words – these are lyrics destined to resonate with people and be shouted back from the crowd. Throw a fist in the air and welcome the tinnitus – this is catharsis through volume. Here and Nowhere Else manages remain just as stirring, phenomenally noisy and at moments, surprisingly positive throughout. Baldi commented on his recent paradigm shift in a recent Pitchfork interview, saying, “I still have no direction, but now I’m more comfortable with it.” Essentially, he’s having a cozier existential crisis than the one he’s used to, and it shows. The album’s lead single, “I’m Not Part of Me” is a piece of polished punk that wouldn’t feel too out of place on an early Green Day album – hooky and heavy on the guitar side. “Psychic Trauma,” which starts off straight forward enough, kicks into double time at about 45 seconds in. As the song careens, Baldi shreds his voice and the whole thing implodes on itself (in the best way imaginable). “Giving Into Seeing” sounds like a late Nirvana song, especially as Baldi repeatedly shouts “swallow,” sounding Cobain-like with his howling cadence. This is the best Cloud Nothings has ever sounded, and part of the reason is because they finally feel like a band. Lest we forget that CN started out as a bedroom project, Baldi assembled the band to help play his compositions live. Though they did plenty well on Attack on Memory, Baldi was undoubtedly the star of the show. Whittled down to a trio, they now feel coherent as a unit, and it’s the closest punk has been to virtuosity in a long time (since The Argument, at least). Each bass line, each fill, fleshes out each song and gives Here and Nowhere Else the finishing touch that all of Baldi’s other albums have been missing. What’s most striking about this album, apart from its singles, is its immediacy. Though certain songs like “Just See Fear,” and “Pattern Walks” aren’t as hummable as some others, they still hit you in the way all good punk songs do. They’re visceral and energetic, making you wish Cloud Nothings wasn’t nearly as big as they’re getting – the transcendental experience in hearing songs like these in a cramped, sweaty club (or in a basement, better yet) would be incomparable. Cloud Nothings has outdone everything in their career to date in the space of a 32- minute album. And here I was, thinking that that they’d take a similar career path to that of Tokyo Police Club – buzzed about one day, unable to follow up on the hype the http://www.manikmusic.net/reviews/cloud-nothings-here-and-nowhere-else/ 2/6 4/1/2014 Cloud Nothings – Here and Nowhere Else | Manik Music next. Dylan Baldi has positioned himself as one of our generation’s greatest punk figures, a title no one saw coming a few years ago, though one thoroughly deserved. -Anthony Landi Share/Bookmark Leave a Reply Enter your comment here... Tracks of the Week: http://www.manikmusic.net/reviews/cloud-nothings-here-and-nowhere-else/ 3/6 4/1/2014 Cloud Nothings – Here and Nowhere Else | Manik Music Recent Comments The Grammys 2014: The (only) Three Worthwhile Moments | Manik Music on Five reasons why it was worth watching the Grammys Sac Vanessa Bruno on Happy Birthday, Kurt. 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