Tag Archives: hip hop

12.04.20
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East Eden – west nod

Back when Ollie, my son, was a young teenager, we both used to amuse ourselves with the thought of epic road-trips. Travelling across the States would be our ultimate goal taking in the sights and sounds as we made use of motels and canvas to sate our wanderlust. Conversation has gone a bit quiet on this front in recent years though it remains a dream of mine. I guess life just gets in the way. 

So, it’s with the slightest of envy and the utmost of admiration that I watch the journey being made by East Eden as they leave their base in New York to travel west. They pack a portable music studio to write and record as they go and, on the evidence of this single release, west nod, have found much to inspire. 

“Our single ‘west nod’, describes our wanderlust“, say Yori and Carolina, the couple that make up East Eden. “Our goal was to record all over the country with our ‘pop up’ studio, drawing inspiration from our surroundings and experiences. Yori recorded the bass and horns in New York. Carolina laid down the vocals and drums in Virginia. Yori’s verse took form in Tennessee. We pieced it all together in Utah. About a week later we shot the music video in Joshua Tree and L.A.”

East Eden have produced a track that positively bounces with a good-time feel. This is sunshine funk with spirit; the sense of fun that both are having is contagious as they realise their dreams en route. The West Coast remains the destination but much fun is going to be had on the way.

It’s a Friday and the weekend has nearly begun. Sonic Breakfast obliges with some music guaranteed to make your smile broad and your cava quaffable.

 

10.15.20
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Cloudy Clouds – I Wrote You A Love Song

The press release waxes lyrical about Cloudy Clouds comparing him to Eminem, Lupe Fiasco and others of that ilk. But I’ve learnt to pay scant regard for the excessive hyperbole that surrounds new releases and prefer now to just give them a listen. 

In this case I’m glad that I did.

Cloudy Clouds is Claudio Elliston, a young man from Crouch End chiselling away at a very specific crevice of the hip-hop mountain. I hope Claudio doesn’t mind when I compliment by saying that this is a hip-hop for bedroom-based geeks. It’s Jilted John for the misfits of 2020. Eschewing the grandiose, the guns and the fast cars for something altogether more civilised, Cloudy Clouds moralises with modern parables about love and life. 

Take his new single, I Wrote You A Love Song, released alongside his new album, Imprisoned In A Daydream, this week. The humour in the words draws you in before the pathos takes over. “It’s all made up”, confesses Claudio in the last verse, not missing the opportunity to make a point about how we might all be better off if we learn to be honest about our feelings. 

 

It’s when telling a story that Cloudy Clouds really breaks through the Cirrus. The lead single from the album, Your Future Daughter, is absolutely worth five and a half minutes of anybody’s time. A sensible plea for the legalisation of Class A’s is accompanied by a wholly engaging mixed-media video. 

 

 

Geeky, wispy and yet unique enough to steer a clear trail through the humdrum, Cloudy Clouds is a worthy investment for anybody’s precious time. He doesn’t seem as messed up as Eminem and that has to be a good thing.