Cloud Nothings

Cloud Nothings, "Can't Stay Awake" (DOWNLOAD)

There are certain types of music that I am just prone to liking, I guess. It's not hard to figure out that I have a preference for catchy low-fi stuff, the fuzzier sounding & the catchier, the better. This is a thread that you can see running through most of my musical interests -- from Guided By Voices to Liz Phair's Girly Sound tapes to more recent favorites, like Dum Dum Girls and Cloud Nothings.

Cloud Nothings are particularly exciting to me because they're local to Cleveland & who doesn't love being able to see a decent local band play every now and then? In addition to being local, Cloud Nothings are also scoring points for being part of that exciting resurgence of young kids making awesome, lo-fi pop music (see posts on the Fungi Girls & Smith Westerns for more of that.)

Turning On, the debut album from Cloud Nothings, is available on vinyl, cassette, and CD. Their MySpace page has ordering information. The album is short, just 9 songs, and clocks in at just over half an hour. And you know what? It's a really good 30 minutes and 42 seconds.

My favorite song on the album is the first track, "Can't Stay Awake." It's just 1 minute and 58 seconds long, but I can't get over how good it is. I want to listen to it forever. I want it to be full-on summer so that I can drive around listening to this song with the windows open (some songs are bike songs -- songs like "My Valuable Hunting Knife" by Guided by Voices and "Never Forget, Eve" by Defiance, OH -- other songs are definite car songs, this song is a car song.) I want my friends to learn the words to this so that we can sing along with it together on the way to some place great, some place we have always wanted to go.

If you live in Ohio, Cloud Nothings are playing a number of dates in Ohio and neighboring states. You can see their tour schedule on their MySpace page. If you live in Cleveland, you have two upcoming chances to see them! They're playing a show at the Grog Shop on April 4th and they're playing a free Record Store Day show at Music Saves on April 17th.

Cloud Nothings, "Can't Stay Awake" (DOWNLOAD)