Cloud Nothings // No Future No Past

The conclusion we came to after our rant a couple of days ago was that cool music does still happen some places but that it is becoming increasingly hard to locate. It sounds counter intuitive but the ease with which shitty musicians can disseminate their materials via the internet rivals that of tenured bands leading to a glut in the marketplace and making it all the more difficult to -- as our friend Emmitt Smith would say-- see the diamonds in the poo-poo.

Some quick hints for those who don't listen to music and write about it for a living and may not have hours to spend looking for credible new tunes to enjoy, there are a few fail safe shortcuts to aid in this process.

For one, keep an eye on bands Parade of Flesh brings to town. In many cases John Iskander has done this hours-of-work part for you and only brings in top notch acts. The truest thing we've ever read about PoF is that they have "...a way of bringing buzzworthy indie acts to town -- and, in many cases, [they] even book them before they're buzzworthy."

Similarly keep an eye venues like the Canton Co-Op and the Phoenix Project and who they let play there. More often than not they are more concerned with promoting good art and fellowship than in lining their pockets, and as we discussed previously, the less likely your mom is to show up at a venue typically the more likely that venue is to host good music.

And lastly find a few labels (like Carpark or Burger Records) that you trust or producers like Steve "Don't Call Me a Producer" Albini or John Congleton, who as a general rule have good taste, and check out bands that they work with.

Had you done any of those things lately you'd know about Cloud Nothing's upcoming Steve Albini-recorded EP, Attack on Memory, coming out Jan. 24th via Carpark Records. Or at least about their PoF-booked show tommorow night at Canton Co-Cop with our BFFs Sealion and Soviet. See what we did there?

MP3: Cloud Nothings - No Future No Past

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