''Clouddead'' (stylized as ''cLOUDDEAD'') is the debut album by American hip hop trio

Clouddead Clouddead (styled as cLOUDDEAD) was an American experimental hip hop group, consisting of Doseone (Adam Drucker), Why? (Yoni Wolf) and Odd Nosdam (David Madson). The group's name came from a nonsensical knock-knock joke Drucker's sister told hi ...

. It was released on May 1, 2001 on

Big Dada Big Dada is a British independent record label imprint distributed by Ninja Tune. It was started by reputed hip hop journalist Will Ashon in 1997. It is best known for marketing of prominent British hip hop artist Roots Manuva, poet and play ...

in the United Kingdom and on May 8, 2001 on

Mush Records Mush Records is an American independent record label. It was founded by Robert Curcio and Cindy Roché in 1997. History Originally known as Dirty Loop Music, Mush Records started out as a recording studio in Cincinnati, Ohio, with the label for ...

in the United States. It features guest appearances from

Illogic Jawhar Glass (born January 18, 1980), better known by his stage name Illogic, is an American indie hip hop artist from Columbus, Ohio.Mills, BradIllogic Biography, Allmusic, retrieved 2011-06-05 He has collaborated with many artists—particu ...

DJ Signify DJ Signify is an underground hip hop producer from Brooklyn, New York. History DJ Signify's first album '' Sleep No More'', featuring collaborations with Sage Francis and Buck 65, was described as "hip-hop at its darkest and most chilling" and ...

, Sole, the Wolf Bros.,

Mr. Dibbs Mr. Dibbs (born Brad Forste) is an American DJ and hip hop producer. He is the Founder of 1200 HOBOS j/graff collective He was also one of the founders of Scribble Jam. Early life Born in Cincinnati, Ohio, Forste was introduced to DJing aroun ...

, and the Bay Area Animals.

Critical reception

Stevie Chick of ''

NME ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming, and culture website and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a 'rock inkie', the NME would become a magazine that ended up as a f ...

'' wrote, "This music takes the most abstract fallout of

trip-hop Trip hop (sometimes used synonymously with "downtempo") is a musical genre that originated in the early 1990s in the United Kingdom, especially Bristol. It has been described as a psychedelic fusion of hip hop and electronica with slow tempos ...

as its starting point, working in white noise, telephone pranks and

post-rock Post-rock is a form of experimental rock characterized by a focus on exploring textures and timbre over traditional rock song structures, chords, or riffs. Post-rock artists are often instrumental, typically combining rock instrumentation with ...

textures to create a disorientating mush you'll spend weeks getting lost in." Thomas Quinlan of ''

Exclaim! ''Exclaim!'' is a Canadian music and entertainment publisher based in Toronto, which features in-depth coverage of new music across all genres with a special focus on Canadian and emerging artists. The monthly Exclaim! print magazine publishes 7 ...

'' stated that "Clouddead follows more along the lines of

Frank Zappa Frank Vincent Zappa (December 21, 1940 – December 4, 1993) was an American musician, composer, and bandleader. His work is characterized by wikt:nonconformity, nonconformity, Free improvisation, free-form improvisation, sound experimen ...

Captain Beefheart Don Van Vliet (; born Don Glen Vliet; January 15, 1941 – December 17, 2010) was an American singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and visual artist best known by the stage name Captain Beefheart. Conducting a rotating ensemble known as Th ...

than it does hip-hop, but it remains rooted at all times in beats and samples." Clay Jarvis of ''

Stylus Magazine ''Stylus Magazine'' was an American online music and film magazine, launched in 2002 and co-founded by Todd L. Burns. It featured long-form music journalism, four daily music reviews, movie reviews, podcasts, an MP3 blog, and a text blog. Addi ...

'' gave the album a grade of A, commenting that "No combination of adjectives could accurately portray what you'll hear and no second-hand gushing will prepare you for the immense pleasure that is sure to wash over you when you put this album on." Mark Pytlik of

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

gave the album 4 stars out of 5, saying, "It's menacing, it's enthralling, and it's one of few modern-day records (hip-hop or otherwise) that honestly doesn't sound like anything -- or anyone -- else." In 2014, it was described by Arron Merat of ''

Fact A fact is a datum about one or more aspects of a circumstance, which, if accepted as true and proven true, allows a logical conclusion to be reached on a true–false evaluation. Standard reference works are often used to check facts. Scient ...

'' as "a key touchstone for the North American hip-hop underground."

Track listing

Personnel

Credits adapted from liner notes. *

Yoni Wolf Jonathan Avram "Yoni" Wolf (born April 30, 1979) is an American alternative hip hop and indie rock musician and co-founder of the record label Anticon. From 1997 until 2004, Wolf released music under the stage name Why?. In 2004 he transferred t ...

(Why?) – vocals * Adam Drucker (

Doseone Adam Drucker (born April 21, 1977), better known by his stage name Doseone, is an American rapping, rapper, hip hop producer, producer, poet and artist. He is a co-founder of the indie hip hop record label Anticon. He has also been a member of n ...

) – vocals * David Madson (

Odd Nosdam David P. Madson (born 1976), better known by his stage name Odd Nosdam, is an American underground hip hop producer, DJ and visual artist. He is co-founder of the record label Anticon. He has remixed tracks by a variety of bands and artists in ...

) – production *

– guest appearance (1) *

– guest appearance (4) * Sole – guest appearance (5) * The Wolf Bros. – guest appearance (7) *

– guest appearance (9, 10) * The Bay Area Animals – guest appearance (11, 12)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Clouddead 2001 debut albums Clouddead albums Big Dada albums Mush Records albums Albums produced by Odd Nosdam