CLOUD NOTHINGS - S/T (Carpark)

Cloud Nothings was one of 2009's most exciting musical discoveries for me. I could not get enough of "Turning On," an amazing premier collection of singles and eps by the one-man punk-pop tour de force that is Dylan Baldi. "Turning On" hearkened back to the days of SST, Homestead and Twin/Tone Records, while introducing Baldi, a fresh new talent with a deft ear for melody and emotional delivery equal to his uncanny ability to play "loud fast rules" as ferociously as the legendary bands that populated the indie-punk landscape of the late 80s and early 90s. As someone who came of age during that time and considers the music that fell between Hüsker Dü and Archers of Loaf sacred, Cloud Nothings were like mana from musical heaven to my ears, especially in a time when vacuous Reagan-era dance music has become more important to indie "rock" than the sounds that blasted out of Minneapolis during the 80s; sounds that saved so many of us who lived through that horrible decade.

Suffice to say, I was more than a little excited by the release of Cloud Nothings' first proper full length, hoping to hear more of Baldi's melodic ferocity before it became too refined, as is often inevitable in these situations. On this account "Cloud Nothings" does not disappoint. Unfortunately, unlike on "Turning On," Baldi's songwriting suffers from a consistency problem here that makes the whole affair rather hit or miss, although, to be fair, it is more hit than miss.

The record leads off with a string of killer jangle-punk rockers that furiously lurch forward only to stop on a dime just in time for the delirious bridges, breaks and other essential linchpins characteristic of classic punk rock ragers. I promise you that if "Not Important" doesn't have you thrashing about and pogoing as Baldi spits out his lyric sheet, then you probably don't have a pulse, and you certainly aren't punk rock enough to be reading this review. Yet, not all is filth and fury, the song comes to an end with a melodic and even kind of pretty epilogue. "Should Have" follows and vers into pop-punk, a genre very seldom done right, fortunately Baldi makes it work here, with addictive hooks and a chorus that sticks with you, even while it is kind of precious. "Forget You All The Time" slows things down and sounds a little like a long lost Archers Of Loaf demo, which is never a bad thing.

Where the album goes wrong, making it less of a killer listen than "Turning On," is that it suffers from some forgettable tracks in the dead center of the record and at the end. "Nothing's Wrong," is just too fluffy to be memorable after its initial sugar rush. "Heartbeat" also sounds fairly anemic compared to what Baldi is capable of. It's an odd song, because it's actually pretty well constructed, it just lacks the umph behind the best Cloud Nothings songs. "Rock" gets things back on track with a barn burning no-nonsense punk rocker. Baldi breathlessly screeches out the refrain "you loved me, but now we're both dead" like it was 1987 and it's fucking glorious. "You're Not That Good At Anything" grabs onto the energy of "Rock" and keeps it rolling with another furious rocker. Next up is "Been Through." If the album had ended on this track I would have almost forgiven its soft center. It's a natural closer; insanely energetic, melodic, anthematic, and easily one of the record's best tracks. Unfortunately Baldi doesn't stop there, instead he includes two second-rate numbers to close "Cloud Nothings" out on a forgettable note. "On The Radio," and "All The Time," are rote pop-punk and that's about all I can say about them without getting nasty.

In the end, seven of "Cloud Nothings'" eleven tracks are absolute keepers. The other four are weak-ass tracks simply not worthy of Baldi's catalog. This is all to say I love Baldi, I really really love him, and think he has a songwriting talent that precious few have, but he needs to learn to separate the wheat from the chaff. My advice to him is this: if it sounds like Green Day - that is the chaff. Throw it the fuck out and breathlessly focus on "loud fast rules" all the way to 11.

"Should Have"

"Should Have" - Cloud Nothings from John Ryan Manning on Vimeo.

"Rock"