| As much as I like this group (it's not too hard). I'm unable to come up with any concrete complaints about their music. Friends of mine may remind me of that, after listening to a couple of the ten-inches that would eventually make up this album, I said, "This is the worst thing I've ever heard." But once I completely abandoned any thoughts of cLOUDDEAD as a hip-hop group (musically, this has more is common with something like Valium Aggelein or very early Appendix Out than it does the Neptunes) and reconciled my initial opposition to the sound of why? and Dose's voices, I really began to enjoy the album. Lines like, "Do you know how many times I thought about writing about the paper I'm writing on," epitomize the stereotypically introspective, nerdy Anticon Aesthetic, but it all fits together really well here. There are a number of more upbeat (although far from danceable) tracks here, but what I really like about the album is the slow, drugged out vibe. The whole album reminds me of a condensed drug trip; everything seems slowed down, sounds echo and come out of nowhere, vivid and muted at the same time. Sometimes things sound a little off, but you can dig it. Then a few sounds scare the hell out of you and you freak out a bit, but you recover. Overall, cLOUDDEAD sound akin to a hip-hop 45 played at 33 RPM, with the vocals sounding like they're sped up. This is definitely not for everyone, but those with a predisposition to lush, atmospheric, experimental sounds (and, uh, getting blazed while listening to those sounds) could really get into this. - Skyscraper |
3XLP/Out Of Print