Cloud Nothings. Attack on Memory LP. Two Takes

Cloud Nothings Attack on Memory
2012, Carpark, Stream on Soundcloud

by Justin Bautista

8.7 / 10

College dropout, hook fetishist, and lo-fi darling Dylan Baldi has seldom been a vessel for surprises. His songs have never had a knack for too many words, and remnants of teen hormones ooze out of his shrill pipes, emoting images of living rooms filled with skinny skaters sporting broken hearts, breaking things. The scenery doesn’t change in Attack on Memory. In fact, it’s a whole lot more bitter, and a whole lot better sounding. 


In “Forget You All the Time”, a standout from last year’s self-titled success, we see signs of crisis from a hope-laden teenager as he comes to terms with getting older. Bearing in mind the speaker sounds like he’s singing in a drugstore basement littered with confetti and NOS balloons, we have so much fun that we never really bother wondering if life turns out as peachy as he expects.


As we hear right away from the first track (“No Future No Past”), things aren’t going so well for our sparkly-eyed friend. He’s a little older, still not so wordy, and a whole lot more dirge-y. The uphill drums and spinning needlepoint screams set up a nice, not-so-subtle barebones outline for the rest of the record. That is, a resentful “fuck you” to yesterday, and a drab, sullen mourning of tomorrow. The second track isn’t bashful with its 9-minute rock-out that culminates with the most chilling line of the record: “I thought I would be more than this.” If you’re in your 20’s, starving, and nodding along in stop-and-go traffic, you might need to pick up the pace with the headbanging in order to fight back the tears.


Failing to betray Baldi’s usual pop-punk recipe, even the tastiest hooks have the most gut-wrenching one-liners. Whether you’re commiserating with the self-assuring loser anthem “Stay Useless”, or ruffling the feathers of regret singing “I miss you cause I like damage” to portraits of old lovers, it’s hard to be a futureless self-loathing romantic and not fall in love with Attack. After a couple of dates, you might even consider talking about something more serious and long-term. Besides, it’s never been hard to understand what Baldi’s saying about his feelings. He uses so few words. But this time, for once, you feel with him.

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by Martin White

7.8 / 10

When Cloud Nothings are at their best, Attack on Memory is razor-sharp, violent, and positively exhilarating.  The opening one-two of "No Future / No Past" and "Wasted Days" are immediate but decidedly deliberate.  The band exudes a confidence that allows them to sit back and let these tracks simmer, not unlike the way Slint achieved a similar aesthetic on Spiderland.  The opener builds ominously, stomping and plodding along repetitively, spiked with gut-shots delivered by Dylan Baldi's frayed vocal.  A very subtle quickening of the tempo over the first three quarters of the track is a smart touch that heightens the tension.  "Wasted Days" re-uses the pace shift over the instrumental section that makes up its second movement.  Fortunately, it just happens so slowly and naturally that you don't even realize they've done it again, and the head-rush of searing energy that accompanies the final minute of the track is one of the record's best moments.


Attack on Memory does stumble a bit in its distracted mid-section, which fails to capture the seething, captivating intensity of the record's opening.  "Fall In" and "Stay Useless" aren't necessarily bad songs but they do feel somewhat nondescript and derivative.  The former recalls mid-90's Green Day with its ragged pop-punk, revisiting a sound that was probably better left forgotten.  The latter, on the other hand, sounds straight off of Is This It as Baldi does his best Casablancas.  It's a nervy, catchy tune but it just falls flat a bit toward the end and certainly lacks originality.  


"No Sentiment" is the highlight of the back end, returning to the group's darker, more foreboding side with a song that brings the violence of Shellac and Big Black.  Noisy, feedback-ridden guitars battle for territory and it is impossible not to stop and admire the awesome tone of those towering, heavy riffs.  They hold serious weight, ringing out above the rest and also helping to hold down the low end.  


"I miss you 'cause I like damage / I need something I can't have" Baldi repeats on the coda to closer "Cut You."  It's a direct, unpretentious statement that reflects the conciseness of the LP; a fitting parting shot and one of the album's best lines.  I am left wanting more of the slow-burning tracks like "No Sentiment" and "No Future / No Past" and "Wasted Days," but the record does succeed because it rejects indulgence; it gets to the damn point and doesn't linger on it for too long.