Asian Dan

Cloud Boat may have only released two tracks but they are two fantastic tracks (Lions on the Beach/Bastion) that I have been listening to all year. Tom and Sam were kind enough to put together a list of their favorite albums of the year, a very eclectic list of releases that highlight Cloud Boat’s taste and define their unique and intoxicating sound.

Asian Dan’s Guest List : Cloud Boat Top 10 of 2011

Bon Iver – Bon Iver
David Lynch – Crazy Clown Time
Grouper – AIA : Alien Observer / Dream Loss
James Blake – James Blake
Klaus – Tusk EP
Kuedo – Severant 
La Dispute – Wildfire
Mastodon – The Hunter
Radiohead – The King of Limbs
Roly Porter – Aftertime

Asian Dan Q&A : Cloud Boat

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Cloud Boat first caught my ear with their tune “Lions on the Beach” which is finally getting its release on R&S Records this fall. Sam & Tom were kind enough to answer some questions about themselves and their music in hopes of painting a clearer picture of Cloud Boat, but I think their blurry and reverb soaked sounds are all you need to understand them.

RS1105 – Cloud Boat by R & S Records

Asian Dan Q&A : Cloud Boat

1. Who is Cloud Boat? How would you describe your music?

We’re Sam Ricketts and Tom Clarke, and we live in North London. Describing music with words is always difficult, even more so when it’s our own. We just try to make emotional music without constraints in a way that feels right.

2. What is your first musical memories?

Sam – My earliest memories include an assortment of children’s TV themes, video game soundtracks and 70s/80s compilation tapes in my Mum’s car. I’d say beginning to listen to and be involved with classical music were the first instances that began to shape who I feel am musically today.

Tom – One is my dad singing Irish songs at parties when I was young, it never embarrased or annoyed me and I always listened intently. Another being me and my sister recording ourselves trying to harmonise nursery rhymes and singing songs in weird accents onto tape with an old knackered stereo that I still have. We’ve both recently realised that we were really fucking weird.
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Cload Boat are currently supporting the internet/post-dubstep golden boy, James Blake. Cloud Boat are a duo that are experimenting with this genre known as “post-dubstep”. They take Mount Kimbie’s live approach with guitars and James Blake’s RnB vocal manipulation mixed in with some of Bon Iver’s introspective crooning and acoustic guitar to create a very delicate and fresh take on this forever mutating genre. I was most surprised by this clip when that voice came out of that man – a heavily processed falsetto.

Hopefully Cloud Boat will supporting James Blake for his upcoming North American tour. Cloud Boat will be releasing music on R&S Records very soon. Till then listen to this clip of “Lions on the Beach”. Beautiful stuff.