Artist

Cloud Nothings

In late 2009, 18-year-old Dylan Baldi of Cleveland, Ohio, was suffering through his first semester of college, studying audio recording and sometimes going home on the weekends to record in his parents' basement. When he was bored, Baldi was prone to making new MySpace pages with random band names and posting whatever he was working on to them; Cloud Nothings happened to be the name under which he debuted two songs called "Hey Cool Kid" and "Can't Stay Alive."

A couple of well-chosen MySpace adds later, Baldi found himself with both a record deal (via Bridgewater) and, more important, the unbroken attention of the notoriously fickle blogosphere. This wave of attention led to an offer to play his very first show -- in New York City, opening for Real Estate. Only problem was, the show fell on the same night as his college course's big recital: If he was going to do the New York City show, he was also going to fail his class.

So, Baldi dropped out. And it may have actually been a move: 2010 saw Cloud Nothings -- recently fleshed out into a full live band -- play with acts like Wavves and Fucked Up, and release 7-inches and EPs on True Panther Sounds and Carpark. It's the latter label that will give Turning On -- Cloud Nothing's debut EP, first released on cassette by Bridgewater and then on vinyl by Speakertree -- its third proper release, this time built out with some newer tracks.

Turning On, recorded into one microphone in Baldi's basement, has the lo-fi noise pop sound that happens to be in vogue. But as Baldi has said, and as later releases -- notably the "Didn't You" 7-inch -- have proven, that was more out of necessity that out of any affinity for lo-fi sounds. Cloud Nothing's debut LP is set to come out on Carpark in late 2011.

 

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