Cloudkicker. One-man band.
May 21, 2014 6:56 PM Subscribe
Cloudkicker is Ben Sharp and he releases his instrumental rock/prog-metal project at ‘name your own price’ through the website Bandcamp.
"It costs me absolutely nothing to create the music. Zero dollars. I record all the guitars and bass straight into my laptop and program the drums using this one sequencing program, then I mix and master everything myself. The only thing that costs money are guitar strings, but I have a full-time job so it’s no big deal."
Cloudkicker has numerous releases, big and small. Subsume is the latest, and is as good a place as any to start. You may also check out Fade, Beacons, and The Discovery.
This past January, he announced on his blog the plans for an April tour with Tesseract and Intronaut (doubling as his backing band) and touched on the challenges of booking a tour during a very defined leave of absence from his job. The tour had many sold out dates and resulted in an abundance of video footage:
Here, Wait A Minute, Damn It! / We're Goin' In, We're Going Down (multi-camera footage)
Cloudkicker Full Set @ The Barbary 4/29/14
CLOUDKICKER - 4/13/14 @ DNA Lounge, SF, CA - FULL SET
Cloudkicker Live Full Set 2014 Backbooth, Orlando 04/03/14 HD Ben Sharp
And much more documented at the unofficial Cloudkicker Facebook page.
"It costs me absolutely nothing to create the music. Zero dollars. I record all the guitars and bass straight into my laptop and program the drums using this one sequencing program, then I mix and master everything myself. The only thing that costs money are guitar strings, but I have a full-time job so it’s no big deal."
Cloudkicker has numerous releases, big and small. Subsume is the latest, and is as good a place as any to start. You may also check out Fade, Beacons, and The Discovery.
This past January, he announced on his blog the plans for an April tour with Tesseract and Intronaut (doubling as his backing band) and touched on the challenges of booking a tour during a very defined leave of absence from his job. The tour had many sold out dates and resulted in an abundance of video footage:
Here, Wait A Minute, Damn It! / We're Goin' In, We're Going Down (multi-camera footage)
Cloudkicker Full Set @ The Barbary 4/29/14
CLOUDKICKER - 4/13/14 @ DNA Lounge, SF, CA - FULL SET
Cloudkicker Live Full Set 2014 Backbooth, Orlando 04/03/14 HD Ben Sharp
And much more documented at the unofficial Cloudkicker Facebook page.
Listening to Subsume now - it's great!
Lots going on in this.
posted by awfurby at 8:39 PM on May 21, 2014
Lots going on in this.
posted by awfurby at 8:39 PM on May 21, 2014
I'm still gutted that the Cloudkicker+Intronaut show never made it to Toronto. I hope that the results were such that he feels inclined to take that show on the road again. Brilliant, brilliant music.
posted by Schlimmbesserung at 9:55 PM on May 21, 2014
posted by Schlimmbesserung at 9:55 PM on May 21, 2014
Oh this is nice. Reminds me of another (I believe) one-man band I discovered recently, Miroist. A co-worker and I termed it "ambidjent".
posted by jklaiho at 9:59 PM on May 21, 2014
posted by jklaiho at 9:59 PM on May 21, 2014
Hell yes Miroist. I was sure that The Pledge was all we'd get and when I heard recently that CURVE was coming out I flipped.
The only other Bandcamp find I have that is even vaguely related to Cloudkicker in terms of being wandery and introspective like his album Let Yourself Be Huge is Kasper Rosa. Well, Pelican and Russian Circles are on Bandcamp as well but they're not exactly unknowns.
Aaaanyway point is that I wish I could remember how I came across Cloudkicker but that memory is lost. What isn't lost is the hours spent afterward combing Bandcamp for more exciting artists and that's a direct result of being so enamored of what Cloudkicker has released there.
posted by komara at 10:10 PM on May 21, 2014
The only other Bandcamp find I have that is even vaguely related to Cloudkicker in terms of being wandery and introspective like his album Let Yourself Be Huge is Kasper Rosa. Well, Pelican and Russian Circles are on Bandcamp as well but they're not exactly unknowns.
Aaaanyway point is that I wish I could remember how I came across Cloudkicker but that memory is lost. What isn't lost is the hours spent afterward combing Bandcamp for more exciting artists and that's a direct result of being so enamored of what Cloudkicker has released there.
posted by komara at 10:10 PM on May 21, 2014
hell yes.
found out about cloudkicker (and bought one of his "light" hoodies!) through Riley Breckenridge's* Tumblr. lot of other great stuff there.
*=drummer for Thrice.
posted by raihan_ at 11:08 PM on May 21, 2014
found out about cloudkicker (and bought one of his "light" hoodies!) through Riley Breckenridge's* Tumblr. lot of other great stuff there.
*=drummer for Thrice.
posted by raihan_ at 11:08 PM on May 21, 2014
komara: "Aaaanyway point is that I wish I could remember how I came across Cloudkicker but that memory is lost. "
I remember how!
posted by vanar sena at 11:26 PM on May 21, 2014 [1 favorite]
I remember how!
posted by vanar sena at 11:26 PM on May 21, 2014 [1 favorite]
wtf intronaut is going to be his backing band?! that's insane! I've been listening to him forever, I can't believe this!
posted by gucci mane at 12:54 AM on May 22, 2014
posted by gucci mane at 12:54 AM on May 22, 2014
I've been following him for awhile. I think musically and expressively he's grown quite a bit. That said I still find myself going back to ]]][[[, one of his earlier works. I like the way it unfolds. If there was a genre called "meditative metalcore" ]]][[[ would certainly be a prime example.
posted by bionic.junkie at 8:08 AM on May 22, 2014
posted by bionic.junkie at 8:08 AM on May 22, 2014
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I was crazy excited when I heard there'd be some form of live Cloudkicker and was subsequently disappointed as hell when I found out that none of the tour stops were anywhere near me.
Anyway, I wish Ben Sharp all sorts of luck from here into the future and I look forward to buying whatever it is he puts out.
posted by komara at 7:51 PM on May 21, 2014