Cloud Nothings: Keeping Rock Alive
Cloud Nothings, an indie-rock band from Cleveland, Ohio, seem to be one of the very few bands that keep alive genuine rock’n’roll music. No electronics, no auto-tune, just pure rock’n’roll. While we’re surrounded by dubstep, twerking, and boy bands, it’s refreshing to see alternative bands like these sprout from underneath the rubble that is today’s music industry.
The year was 2009, and frontman, Dylan Baldi, was a freshman at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland where he majored in saxaphone performance. On the weekends, he would venture to his parents’ home to go and fiddle around with GarageBand and record music. He would create fake bands and post original music onto each of the band’s Myspace pages when the social media site was still in it’s prime. Bridgetown Records, a small label run by only one music enthusiast, had a special interest in one of the bands in particular that Baldi had featured on Myspace. This band was called "Cloud Nothings." This label enabled Baldi to release his first low quality, but impressive EP, "Turning On." Later that year, Baldi’s new independent band, Cloud Nothings, had now caught the eye of indie-rock promoter Todd Patrick from New York City. When Patrick informed him that he would be playing at Market Hotel, Baldi was prompted to get together a live band. With a new bassist, guitarist, drummer, some sugar, some spice, and everything nice, the Cloud Nothings crew that we see today came to be.
With the potential success of his new formed band in mind, Baldi got his parent’s consent to drop out of college to focus on his non-saxophone oriented musical career. This is when Baldi’s band made one final change in 2010, when he signed a contract with D.C.’s own Carpark Records as a one-man band where he released his second and final solo album, self-titled, in January 2011. With no review less than 7 out of 10, things were looking great for Baldi’s Cloud Nothings, even catching attention from indie music haven, Pitchfork Media.
It wasn’t until the the band’s third album, "Attack On Memory," released in January 2012, where Baldi’s live band finally, together, produced a high quality, 8 track record, following their single, "No Future/ No Past." "Attack On Memory" demonstrated Baldi’s new and improved vocals, sounding like they almost had 90’s grunge rock roots. His groany, almost painful sounding voice is what makes Cloud Nothings’ distinctive, unique sound. On tracks like "Stay Useless" and "Our Plans," you can’t help but nod your head along to the steady, fast paced drum beat played by drummer Jayson Gerycz. The whole record is relatable to any lonely guy that just feels, well, useless.
It was a little more than two years later, April 2014 to be exact, when Cloud Nothings released their 4th, and most recent album, "Here and Nowhere Else." This record almost sounded as if the 8 tracks featured were designated for their previous album. While most bands, by 2014, have adapted their style and conformed to the repetitive, new wave style of music striking radio stations everywhere, Cloud Nothings have somehow done what very, and I mean very few bands have ever done nowadays and stuck to their roots! That’s why we applaud you, Cloud Nothings, for staying true to yourselves and not letting the most important ingredient to your music, your fans, down. They’ve been called hard-core, they’ve been called grunge, they’ve been called punk, and they’ve even been called emo. No matter what they are, they are a great example of what a decent band should look like. Thank you, Cloud Nothings. Keep doing what you’re doing and enjoy yourselves.