Crack Cloud: Red Mile
Crack Cloud: Red Mile
Format: VINYL LP
Wanting to order from us over the holiday period but need some more information. We are here to help! Please see our Christmas Shipping page for more information.
On average, orders containing available-to-ship items are processed and dispatched within 1-2 business days, although this is not guaranteed.
Orders containing preorder items will ship as 1 fulfillment once all items in the order are available to ship.
Please note, Tower Records Merchandise and Exclusives are dispatched separately. On average, these items take 3-4 business days to dispatch, although this is not guaranteed.
The estimated shipping times that are displayed at checkout are from the point of dispatch.
See our shipping policy for more information.
We have a 30-day return policy, which means you have 30 days after receiving your item(s) to make a return.
For orders created between November 20th 2024 and December 31st 2024, we have extended our normal return period. For orders made between this period, customers have up to 60 days from the receipt of goods to return an item. Please see our Christmas Returns page for more information.
To be eligible for a return of an unwanted item, your item must be in the same condition that you received it and in its original packaging.
In the unfortunate situation that a product is damaged/faulty/incorrect, let us know and we will endeavor to correct any issue as soon as possible.
Please see our refund policy for more information.
Artist: Crack Cloud
Label: Jagjaguwar
Product Type: VINYL LP
UPC: 656605246338
Genre: Rock
Crack Cloud has always been something beyond a rock band: bothprofound and grand, vaporous and elusive.The first iteration of Crack Cloud was formed nearly a decade ago as aproxy-rehab outlet on the fringes of Calgary. Over time, two EPs andaccompanying visual pieces were produced out of the residence knownas Red Mile. By 2017, several members had relocated to Vancouver,working out of harm reduction centers and low-barrier shelters. Sobriety,self-reformation and the idealism of their work further formed an ethosfor Crack Cloud. It was during these years that the band produced theirastounding 2020 album Pain Olympics. At once, their vision becameexpansive, cinematic.Now, Red Mile is a bit of a homecoming. Members have returned toCalgary. But Calgary/home has become a liminal space, a place of flux.After a decade of personal and collective growth, what does home evenmean? Red Mile is, for them, something like samsara: a return and arebirth.Red Mile's sound breathes expansive energy into the circuitous, streetbound sonics of Crack Cloud's prior material. Fizzling synths intertwinewith chiming pianos. Songs layer like Russian nesting dolls; one may finda Ramones chorus set within a desolate Western prog soundtrack only towatch it erupt into a joyous anthem. Real-ass guitars - alternately lilting,scuzzy and soaring - ring out across wide sun-bleached spaces. In 2024,the cumulative effect is (in rock instrumentation terms) naturalistic. Anywhiff of embalmed nostalgia is absent. Even the close of the album - awinding, alllllmost Jerry Garcia guitar noodle that leads us out of Red Mile- is delivered without sentimentality. Principal songwriter Zach Choy'slyrics are cutting but merciful, with a sharp self awareness that neverslides into self-satisfaction. Crack Cloud as artists are critical - andultimately as forgiving - of themselves as they are the melting worldaround them. The songs balance an easy charm and cathartic power:affirming life without denying death.Recorded predominantly between the outskirts of Joshua Tree California,and Calgary, Alberta, this record is informed by a bittersweet mélange ofold and new. The sprawling, novelistic structures of their previous albumsare condensed and sharpened, while maintaining their refusal to delveinto superficiality. Through playful melodies and elliptical guitar soliloquy,they deliver a final product of exceptional depth and distinctlyunprecious warmth. Crack Cloud have produced a mature, vital work thatinterrogates the platitudes of the rock-n-roll lifestyle, but ultimately exaltsit's sacredness.Red Mile's de facto thesis statement "The Medium" is itself a rock songmeditation: an ode to the form and it's practitioners. This genre that -typical, repeatable, corporatized as it can be - somehow still has thepower to help us live through life. We see the dusty sentiment of "I loverock and roll" exhumed, taken apart, and stitched back together. It's asong guided by faith - if the medium helps us proclaim our love today,it's worth protecting from derision tomorrow. We live in an era wheremusic seems to love hitting it's head against the wall. Crack Cloud's RedMile is the sound - the feeling! - of the bricks giving way.
Tracks:
1.1 Crack Of Life
1.2 The Medium
1.3 Blue Kite
1.4 Lack Of Lack
1.5 Epitaph
1.6 I Am (I Was)
1.7 Ballad Of Billy
1.8 Lost On The Red Mile
