CLOUDDEAD

How best to describe the sounds of Clouddead? A group composed of Odd Nosdam, Why? and Dose One. Well, it's not your normal hip-hop album, that's for sure. In fact, its closest comparisons are previous Dose projects like Boom Bip & Dose One's Circle, the Greenthink releases, or Them (now Themselves). Originally released as six ten-inch records, each six or seven-minute side is now represented as one track on the CD release. Clouddead follows more along the lines of Frank Zappa or Captain Beefheart than it does hip-hop, but it remains rooted at all times in beats and samples. Similarly, they are messing around with music in brilliant ways. This is best demonstrated with "Bike (1)" and "Bike (2)." Over the 7 minutes that is "Bike (1)," there is a humorous beatbox intro, then an indecipherable rap, followed by a song with the vocals played in reverse, a moment of public washroom harmonising, and then pretty much ends a bit more straightforward (for Clouddead, anyway), and that's all on just one track. "Bike (2)," and every other song for that matter, is pretty much similar. However, Clouddead also breaks from the norm by playing things like wine glasses and even a solo on the seven-speed Blendmaster on "liquefy" for "And All You Can Do Is Laugh (2)." The self-titled album is perfect if you want some freaky background music that doesn't remain in any one groove too long, or if you want to sit down and analyse the lyrics (which are thankfully supplied). Either way, it's an album for atmosphere, not getting your booty shaking. We'll leave that task to the flavour of the minute.