It's funny because when I reviewed Turning On a couple of years ago, I tried to trace the chronological development of Cloud Nothings so far, and ended by saying that it would be interesting to see what Dylan Baldi does next. Interesting, hah, that's an understatement. Attack on Memory is radically different -- and much better -- than anything Cloud Nothings has done so far. My review from Blurt yesterday...
Cloud Nothings
Attack on Memory
(Carpark)
"I thought...I would...be more...than this," shouts Dylan Baldi towards the end of the nine minute freakery of "Wasted Days." It's like the end of a war, this last minute of the song. Baldi's voice is a shredded, disintegrated mess, splattering bloody polyps of angst, stray spit and undiluted aggression over the verse. The guitars are just back from an excursion into effects-altered ecstasies, an extended experiment in chaotic groove and tone. And the drum and bass player who have held the whole thing together must be exhausted, yet continue to batter and thump, a pureness of purpose in their clashing, pounding forward movement. The whole thing is so far removed from Baldi's previous staticky clouds of lo-fi cotton candy that you have to wonder what happened. A tour with Fucked Up might account for the increased aggression, a visit to Steve Albini's studio the raw and brutal clarity, yet how Cloud Nothings got here is still something of a mystery. A year ago, it looked like the band might turn into the next Real Estate. Now it seems they're on the way to becoming their generation's Nirvana.
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"Stay Useless"
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