He Jams Econo
'Economical' is usually only a positive attribute for mid-sized sedans, but there's a blessed economy to the tunes of Cloud Nothings, the work of 19-year-old Cleveland kid Dylan Baldi.
Routinely two-minutes and a handful of chords, the songs are short and sharp. Lyrically, Baldi finds simple phrases and repeats them, ("I always knew/I'd follow you/and now I know that it's much better," for example). And, having cut his teeth as home-recorded, lo-fi enthusiast, Baldi favors a direct, uncluttered production sound. Call the extraneous what you want —fat, frills, froth— it's absent on the Baldi's longplaying Cloud Nothings debut.
Baldi burst onto the blogosphere, in 2010, as an 18-year-old college dropout. After suffering under an audio-engineering teacher who proselytised Steely Dan as the peak of studio perfection, Baldi holed up in his parents' basement, and authored an awesome punk-rock riposte: a string of bratty two-minute jams recorded in the crappiest fidelity possible. Baldi's home-made tracks found almost instantaneous internet acclaim, eventually collected onto the noisy mini- album Turning On.
His self-titled debut LP marks a step forward: made in an actual studio and approaching 'mid-fi' quality. Baldi's songs have grown snarlier, snottier, punker; the influence of the '80s US hardcore/indie scene growing more and more obvious. Born in 1991, Baldi treats bands like The Minutemen, Hüsker Dü, and The Adolescents as archaeological artifacts, remnants from an ancient-past that hold the same sort of romanticism as the '60s have for prior generations of rockers.
What's His Age Again?
Yet, whilst the '80s-underground influence is the tasteful angle to take on Cloud Nothings, in truth his sound owes more to obnoxious '90s pop-punk. Baldi's first-ever high-school rockband —near history, considering his age— played Green Day covers, and more than one wag has compared Cloud Nothings to early Blink-182.
In this case, it's somehow a compliment: Baldi setting himself apart from lo-fi blog-buzz bands by writing super-fast, super-catchy tunes verily bursting with melody. Jams like "On the Radio," "Nothing's Wrong," and the 69-second rave-up "Heartbeat" are instantly, insistently memorable.
If it came out, like, 16 years ago, the self-titled Cloud Nothings album could've taken Baldi on a path to bona fide kiddie-punk stardom. In 2011, his pop-punk sound sounds weirdly refreshing; like he's the first hipster on the block to revive 1995. Wavves and Best Coast are professed Blink-182 fans, but this is something else entirely: a 19-year-old kid getting nostalgic for a childhood he's barely out of.
So far, we've understood '90s nostalgia (see: the Pavement and Pixies reformations, Pains of Being Pure at Heart's career, etc.) as the sentimentality of those in their 30s; Baldi turns that preconception on its ear.
Record Label: Carpark
Release Date: January 25, 2011
