the great pumpkin

This past weekend was a period of music discovery for me, and not necessarily things I hadn’t heard before.  Studying for the GRE gave me time to give somethings quality playtime, and Saturday morning the mail man brought me a small package from Bridgetown Records.

I was previously unfamiliar with Bridgetown Records, but I have had my eye on Cloud Nothings for a while.  Get Off the Coast and Weekly Tape Deck have both been posting about them…and “Hey Cool Kid” has made it on my iPod at least two different times (and now with this CD three times)…and “Can’t Stay Awake” got stuck on repeat once I heard it week.

Cloud Nothings is the recording project of Dylan Baldi who hails from Cleveland, OH.  Dylan is 18 and has been recoding under the name Cat Killer, but recently shed that name in exchange for Cloud Nothings.  No matter what name he goes under this is one talented young man.   Cloud Nothings played their first show a week or so ago in Brooklyn at Market Hotel opening for Real Estate and Woods, and their second with Coasting.  They also have a couple shows coming up in Ohio:

• 1/12/10- Cleveland, OH @ Believeland w/ Truman Peyote and Many Mansions
• 1/16/10- Columbus, OH @ Skylab w/ Truman Peyote and Many Mansions

Turning On is his first full length as Cloud Nothings…8 songs, and roughly 30 minutes.  While I’ve been one to rant about lo-fi in recent months, but Cloud Nothings are proof that it can feel new and fresh.  While the vocals are muffled, they aren’t fuzzy, and rather than making garage rock he turns out extremely catchy pop that fringes pop punk.

Turning On was pressed in a limited run of 50 CDs and 100 tapes.  When I saw that these were selling for only $5 I couldn’t pass it up, especially with how many times I had listed to “Hey Cool Kid” (which happens to be playing right now as I type this).  I expected this album to be good, but I had no idea that it would be awesome from beginning to end.  Overall Turning On is an extremely impressive debut from this pop mastermind.  “Can’t Stay Awake” very well might be one of my favorite songs of the year.

[mp3] Cloud Nothings- “Can’t Stay Awake”

[mp3] Cloud Nothings- “Old Street”

Both tracks are from Turning On (pictured to the right).  This is a very limited release so get them while you can:

Order Cloud Nothings’ Turning On from Bridgetown Records here.

Cloud Nothings also have three more upcoming releases: an LP on Group Tightener, a cassette on Breakfast of Champs, and a cassette on Bathetic.

I would love to see Turning On get released on vinyl… I would surely buy it again.

Tags: Bathetic, Breakfast of Champs, Bridgetown Records, Cat Killer, Cloud Nothings, Dylan Baldi, Group Tightener, limited press, mp3, Turning On