Sometime in 2002
FIRST OFF: JESUS CHRIST WHO CARE’S IF THEY’RE HIP HOP, THEY MAKE GOOD MUSIC
SECOND: Alright, by now, you should know the story. Their first record isn’t really a record at all, but a compilation of six 10″s the trio recorded while still living in godforsaken Cincinatti, OH. But the sound that comes out of the speakers when you throw on cLOUDDEAD can’t be pinned to any geographic location. And it can’t really be pinned to any genre either (the discussion over which I mentioned earlier).
What the three can make with just a sampler and some Dust Devils is quite earth-shattering. Each track (each track corresponds to a side on one of the 10″s) is a little world of its own, with probably three or four movements to each one. This album was a great one for the first eight tracks, until I hit the compiled Cloud Dead Number Five, their second to last EP. My god, the waves of sound that burst forth from the speakers, breaking on the shore, but still surging straight at you. Odd Nosdam’s production really outdoes itself, launching cLOUDDEAD from some terrestrial domain right into the heavens. This album is one of those where, when it’s all good and done with, after the out-of-nowhere group singalong on “Bike”, you are frozen in your seat, wondering what you can do next.
And that’s how I know this is one of those albums that will always stick with you.
-mp
