| First things first, this is an extraordinary album and a must-buy for anyone who expects their music to hold surprises, humour and innovation. cLOUDDEAD are Doseone, why? and odd nosdam, and Big Dada has licensed this collection of their six ten-inch EPs released over the last eighteen months on the avant US hip-hop label Mush. Each ten-inch sees cLOUDDEAD collaborating with a different artist - Illogic, Dj Signify, Sole, the Wolf Bros., Mr. Dibbs and the Bay Area Animals. Is it hip-hop? Well, in places it is, but in others the music draws on alternative lo-fi (Silver Jews, Sebadoh), post-rock drones (Godspeed You Black Emperor), Harry Smith collectables (some of the singing/rapping could be 30's hillbilly sing-a-longs) and Beach Boys harmonies. The latter makes me think that their nearest equivalents could be Scotland's Beta Band. When cLOUDDEAD are definitely on hip-hop terrain, the quirky rap styles, Eastern melodies and dredged breakbeat sounds recall the early illbient releases on New York's Wordsound and Asphodel labels - particularly Hawd Gankstuh Rappuh Emsees. cLOUDDEAD do not present this eclecticism as consciously as say Beck does, the whole thing seems to stack-up coherently despite it sounding a mish-mash of half ideas on its first listen. Highlights on the album are difficult to describe due to the lack of track information, but each of the six EP releases are presented as a side of vinyl in a triple-vinyl set. The apt. A ten-inch, which perhaps the most conventionally-structured with songs, opens with the three emcees rapping over an Arabic horn and a heavy breakbeat. One of emcee's nasal raps reminds me of John Lydon or even Frank Sidebottom faking an American accent. and all you can do is laugh reminds us that all the great US presidents are, like cLOUDDEAD, "underground" before moving into some Vadim-style beats and film samples. The highlight of the third ten-inch, I promise never to get paint on my glasses again is the track segueing samples from the Moody Blues and Gary Newman, although the unusual Nordic chanting that closes that ten-inch is equally amusing. JimmyBreeze combines some telephone crank calls, Jad Fair whining, surreal rhymes, while the (cloud dead number five) ten-inch sees cLOUDDEAD turn their hand at last-days-of-the-world drones and atmospheric beats which they do excellently. Finally the Bike ten-inch has the greatest pick-n-mix approach, where Brian Wilson harmonies are juxtaposed with minidisk-found-moments and some choral nonsense. If all this sounds a little disorientating, well, it's meant to be, and it's probably nothing compared to the dizziness you will experience by actually hearing the record. Go investigate - probably my favourite record of 2001 so far. - Motion |
3XLP/Out Of Print