Clouddead (almost always stylized cLOUDDEAD) was an experimental/Hip-Hop group consisting of rappers Doseone (Adam Drucker), Why (now known by his real name, Yoni Wolf) and DJ Odd Nosdam (David Madson), although all three take turns on production and mic duty.
To put it in very simple terms, cLOUDDEAD are a bunch of weirdos, making music for weirdos. But that's not necessarily a bad thing, influences as far-flung as 60's psychadelia, indie rock, and ambient electronica can be heard in their music, making the whole ordeal sound like a trippy mish-mash of styles. Upon the release of their debut album -cLOUDDEAD- (which was itself a compilation album of six separate two-track EPs) was alternately hailed as a work of genius and "smartass surrealism"; the truth is probably somewhere in the middle. The group released one more album -Ten- and a split EP with Boards of Canada before disbanding, though the members reunited for the Themselves song "Rapping4Money" in 2009.
They are considered the Ur-Example of Cloud Rap.
Discography
- Albums
- cLOUDDEAD (2001) (a compilation of six two-track EPs.)
- Ten (2004)
- Singles (Bold font indicates the singles compiled to make cLOUDDEAD)
- Apt. A: Parts 1 & 2 (2000)
- And All You Can Do Is Laugh: Parts 1 & 2 (2000)
- I Promise Never To Get Paint on My Glasses Again: Parts 1 & 2 [featuring Sole] (2001)
- JimmyBreeze: Parts 1 & 2 (2001)
- (Cloud Dead Number Five): Parts 1 & 2 (2001)(usually called this for lack of a proper title)
- Bike: Parts 1 & 2 (2001)
- The Sound of a Handshake / This About The City (2002)
- EPs
- Dead Dogs Two (featuring Boards of Canada) (2004)
- Other Releases
- The Peel Session (2001)
- Collaged at Mom's (2007) (limited edition instrumentals of all their songs)
Tropes that apply to cLOUDDEAD and its members
- Creepy Monotone: Yoni Wolf, who says everything, including some very disturbing lines in total monotone.
- Mind Screw: Another thing featured in pretty much all their songs, only "Dead Dogs Two" has ever had a confirmed meaning (it's a metaphor for fame). "Rifle Eyes" is supposedly about 9/11, but it's not obvious if it is.
- Motormouth: Doseone, for a prime example listen to the first few bars of Rifle Eyes.
- Sampling: Usually of very odd sources, including a children's show at one point.
- Stealth Parody: Some have theorized that the entire project is a parody of pretentious "art music" in general. If it is, it's working spectacularly thus far.
- Subverted Rhyme Every Occasion: Sorta, some of their songs use incredibly strange rhyme schemes that are barely even detectable when listened to.
- Wild Mass Guessing: With everything from song meanings to theories about the group's ties to the Illuminati, no really.
- Word Salad Lyrics: The lyrics more often than not sound like schizophrenic ramblings than actual songs.
