Tuesday, September 6, 2016

Recording: Cloud Nothings

Artist: Cloud Nothings

Songs: Cut You + unknown*

Recorded at Artscape Gibraltar Point (Camp Wavelength), August 20, 2016.

Cloud Nothings - Cut You

Cloud Nothings - unknown

Following and expanding on the template of last year's successful festival, Wavelength returned to the island with a meticulously-executed event that included an exciting range of music and a beach full of art beside festival headliner Lake Ontario. It also managed to be a stress-reducing rather than a stress-inducing time — rather like a weekend at the cottage, even if the city was just out of view.

Unlike the predominantly-local roster in the rest of the day, I wasn't familiar with the night's American headliners. (In fact, I must confess, right until shortly before they went on stage I realized I was confusing them with The Cloud Room, another American band that was briefly indie-buzzy-famous a decade ago.) This Cleveland quartet has a quartet of albums under their belts, as well as a collaborative effort with Wavves. There was a punk/post-hardcore sensibility at play (sometimes the band sounded a bit like a Titus Andronicus for people who wanted three minute songs and no high-concept baggage) and occasional intriguing hints that frontman Dylan Baldi has listened to some Hüsker Dü and Guided By Voices. Harnessing the power of intense volume, some of the songs merged together in a haze, but as the set went on, more interesting variations began to emerge.

* Does anyone know the title to this one? Please leave a comment!

No comments:

Post a Comment