| Nothing impressed me more than Oakland-based trio cLOUDDEAD's seventh EP in little more than a year. On "The Sound of a Handshake" Doseone and why? (who graciously included a lyric sheet) turn a tale of yet another record company "hooker" into a sound collage in which phrases are double-tracked and words are spoken repetitively. Producer odd nosdam tacks on an instrumental at the end that's something of a mindfuck, with the phrase "you must be satisfied" looped over a grungy, ominous beat. Longtime readers will notice that cLOUDDEAD have appeared in this column almost as often as artists who appear on the Stones Throw and Def Jux record labels do. But while I regularly purchase Stones Throw joints because of their dope beats, I listen to cLOUDDEAD because they challenge my preconceptions of what hip-hop is and where it's headed. Years ago I often imagined what would happen if MCs began rapping over abstract beats more akin to alternative rock than funk or soul, and at times, cLOUDDEAD is the unlikely manifestation of those dreams. Of course, they don't rap as much as rhythmically scat over a song, which makes it all the more interesting to me. - San Francisco Bay Guardian |
1X10"/Out Of Print