Crack Cloud - Pain Olympics Review
Pain Olympics has a strong focus on the instrumental side of the music. I enjoy that there are parts of the album dedicated to hearing the skills of the instrumentalists; ‘Ouster Strew’ features an extended drum solo which is both audibly and technically formidable.
Crack Cloud are a Canadian post-punk band made up of seven musicians. I’ve listened to a fair few bands with a large number of members (e.g. The Specials, Slipknot, P-Funk) and none of them sound quite like Crack Cloud. Theirs is unique; elements not only of punk, but also hip-hop, and electronica. It’s quite an interesting, unconventional blend, that they manage to make work. I’ve grown up listening to my dad’s punk records (The Damned, The Sex Pistols, Siouxsie and The Banshees etc.) but I haven’t indulged in anymore “modern-day” punk.
Zack Choy, lead singer and drummer, has the kind of voice that I expected to hear when I first saw that the band was classed as a punk group. His vocals are similar to those heard in older punk bands like The Clash and The Damned - quite loose, with no hint of autotune or pitch correction, yet tight enough to hear the lyrics well. His tone is clean and he puts a lot of emphasis on his words, something I’ve always enjoyed about this genre. But, whilst his voice is genre-conventional, the music itself is refreshing. The instruments are less heavy than those of other punk bands and the complement of synths add a more modern aspect to the music.
Sure, there are heavier parts. For example, ’Post Truth’, the first track on the album, features a strong bass line and sections of rough, jarring guitar chords. This song, though, also has sections of complete contrast. There are floaty and smooth sections with a simple drum beat and sweeping synths and at one point there’s even a brief trumpet solo. The above-average quantity of musicians in this band allows them to add more and more layers and variety to each song, an advantage that a lot of early punk bands never really had. Instrumentation is a key element of Pain Olympics — the variety and blend of contrasting sounds give the music a unique edge. Coupling this with the way the group combines different instruments in different sections, the end product is admirable.
Another specific thing that really impresses me about the album is the frequent use of dissonance. There aren’t a lot of punk groups that I can think of that utilise this kind of thing as a theme but it shows an understanding of contemporary techniques and how using them can create a really distinct, engaging sound. Each track creates a different feeling with its lyrics but the way the band uses different types of harmony, whether it’s functional or dissonant, to portray those feelings is really creative and thoughtful. They manage to convey exactly what they mean while also keeping their ideas fresh and interesting.
Similarly, Crack Cloud’s use of irregular rhythms and time signatures are nice to hear. It’s a fairly common technique found in several rock sub-genres (e.g. math rock) but once again I haven’t really heard much punk music that involves complex rhythms. Specifically, the album’s second track, ‘Bastard Basket’ is in 5/4 - which can be difficult to pull off - but the band does so pretty much flawlessly. Their ability to use unusual musical elements is refreshing and I get the feeling that they really know what they’re doing technically when it comes to writing their music. A lot of the time, when I listen to current popular music it sounds as if many artists aren’t really bothered about making their music particularly individual, using predictable time signatures and harmonies to make things easier for both themselves and their audiences. While this is safe and has wide appeal for a reason, what Crack Cloud seem to want is to put in a conscious effort that will make their sound unique and distinctive
As I mentioned previously, Pain Olympics has a strong focus on the instrumental side of the music. I enjoy that there are parts of the album dedicated to hearing the skills of the instrumentalists; ‘Ouster Strew’ features an extended drum solo which is both audibly and technically formidable. Choy is clearly a skilled drummer which really shows in this solo. The fact that he’s also the band’s lead singer is impressive; I only really listen to one other band for which this is the case (Hail The Sun) but I’ve always been amazed by the level of coordination and utter talent that these kinds of musicians have.
There’s quite a mix of themes and emotions seen in the album’s lyrics. ‘The Next Fix’ is about Choy’s vulnerability, telling his story as a drug user and showing his feelings of despair: he feels as if he’d be “better off dead”. A lot of the album is about pain, whether that’s emotional pain or societal pain. Punk has always had roots in politics and when describing Pain Olympics, Choy stated that “a lot of punk music is steered by broader politics, whereas we approached this album without any stylistic limitations”, inferring that whilst the group does write about society and its problems at times, it’s not a theme that they use to define their music.
On the whole, this post-punk album is really impressive and I admire the personality and themes that it involves. The group are clearly tight-knit and they respect each other’s talents, working to produce a project that they find interesting and enjoyable. I haven’t listened to any of Crack Cloud’s other work, but after listening to Pain Olympics, I can’t wait to hear more.