Pain Olympics is the debut studio album by Canadian musical collective, Crack Cloud, released July 17, 2020 via Meat Machine Records.[1] The album was preceded by three singles, "The Next Fix", "Ouster Stew" and "Tunnel Vision" released between May 2019 until June 2020 respectively.[2][3][4]
| Pain Olympics | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | July 17, 2020 | |||
| Recorded | 2017–2019 | |||
| Genre | Post-rock, post-punk, new wave, experimental, art-punk, industrial hip hop | |||
| Length | 29:11 | |||
| Label | Meat Machine | |||
| Producer | Crack Cloud | |||
| Crack Cloud chronology | ||||
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| Singles from Pain Olympics | ||||
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Promotion and release
editPrior to any album announcement, Crack Cloud kicked off the campaign for Pain Olympics, with the release of the album's first single, The Next Fix on May 3, 2019, along with the self-produced music video, a series of stylishly, interconnected vignettes focused on each individual member of the collective functioning through daily life in the city, amid struggles with drug use, mental health and depression.[5] The group's drummer and lead vocalist, Zach Choy explained the single was made as tribute "to remember the people we’ve lost to suicide and drug overdose". The single was cryptically referred to as "Part One of the PAIN OLYMPICS series" upon its release.[6][7]
The following month, the group premiered the music video for Crackin Up, a commercially unreleased, b-side on June 27, 2019.[8][9][10] Described by the collective as "a stylized portrait" of consumerism within a "predatory media landscape", the video touches on those themes in an abstract and surrealist nature, while featuring brief pop culture references to the Dark web, Malcolm X, The Seventh Seal and Muchmusic. Despite being referred to as "Part Two" of the series, Crackin Up ultimately would be left off of the album and treated as a video only, non-album single. Following those two singles, new music would not be released from the collective until the following year.
On May 13, 2020, the group announced and confirmed the album's title as "Pain Olympics",[11] alongside the release of the official second and lead single, Ouster Stew.[12][13] The album's third single, Tunnel Vision was released June 25, 2020, along with an ambitious CGI music video produced by the collective.[14]
Pain Olympics was released July 17, 2020. Due to the COVID-19 global pandemic, no touring could be done to promote the album. The fourth and final single, Favour Your Fortune[15] was released October 16, 2020 with an overwhelmingly, dystopian music video, starring Cree-Canadian professional skateboarder, Joe Buffalo.[16]
Critical reception
editAt Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, Pain Olympics received an average score of 87 from 8 reviews, indicating "universal acclaim".[17]
In his review for NME, Will Richards praised the album, saying it's "a disturbing, joyous, cataclysmic listen that travels from claustrophobia and fear into wide-eyed expressions of joy." Richards also commends the group's ability to channel and reflect their shared experience with drug rehabilitation and harm reduction throughout the entirety of the project, further stating, "it also feels like an extension of their work on the frontline against Canada's opioid crisis, and a testament to the power of strength in numbers[18]
Track listing
edit| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Post Truth (Birth of a Nation)" | 5:41 |
| 2. | "Bastard Basket" | 4:29 |
| 3. | "Somethings Gotta Give" | 2:04 |
| 4. | "The Next Fix" | 3:24 |
| 5. | "Favour Your Fortune" | 2:06 |
| 6. | "Ouster Stew" | 2:21 |
| 7. | "Tunnel Vision" | 4:37 |
| 8. | "Angel Dust (Eternal Peace)" | 4:26 |
| Total length: | 29:11 | |
Personnel
edit- Zack Choy – lead vocals, drums, percussion, production, writing, lyrics,
- Mohammad Ali Sharar – guitar, backing vocals, production, visual formatting, editing
- Will Choy – lead guitar, bass, backing vocals
- Bryce Cloghesy – saxophone, guitar
- Jon Varley – lead guitar, backing vocals
- Noah Varley – bass
- Paulina Cantoral – vocals (track 1)
- Missy Donaldson – vocals (track 1,4,8)
- Caton Diab – trumpet, vocals (track 1,4)
- Clarice Scop – strings (track 1)
- Kristina Hedlund – strings (track 1)
- David Novotny – guitar, lap steel, flute (track 1)
- Mackenzie Cruse – vocals (track 1,4)
- Kelsie Hjorliefson – vocals (track 4)
- Crystal Coleman – vocals (track 4)
- Jesse Atkey – vocals (track 1,4)
- E.H Alley – voice (track 5,8)
- Garnet Aroynk – bass (track 3)
- Eden Solomon – choreographer
- Scotty Alva – assistant choreographer
- Isabelle Anderson – assistant choreographer
- Kaylee Cumming – assistant choreographer
- Hannah McCuley – assistant choreographer
- Jing Wang – assistant choreographer
Technical
- Nicolas Dirksen – arrangements, engineering, additional mixing (track 1,5), effects, strings, woodwinds, additional percussion, additional synths, organs
- John Paul Stewart – engineering, mixing, effects, processing
- Christian Wright – mastering
- Jennilee Marigomen – photography
- Marc Gabbana – cover art
- Wei Huang – lettering [19]
References
edit- ^ "Crack Cloud: Pain Olympics Album Review - Pitchfork". Pitchfork.
- ^ "Crack Cloud's video for "The Next Fix" is enrapturing and urgent". The FADER.
- ^ "Canadian Post-Punk Collective Crack Cloud Announce Debut Album PAIN OLYMPICS, Share New Single "Ouster Stew"". Paste.
- ^ "CRACK CLOUD UNLEASH NEW TRACK 'TUNNEL VISION' - DIY Magazine". DIY Magazine.
- ^ "CRACK CLOUD - THE NEXT FIX (Official Video)". YouTube. Retrieved 2019-05-03.
- ^ "Crack Cloud Release 'The Next Fix' Music Video". Neon Waste. Retrieved 2019-05-03.
- ^ "Crack Cloud's video for "The Next Fix" is enrapturing and urgent"". The FADER. Retrieved 2019-05-03.
- ^ "CRACK CLOUD - CRACKIN UP". YouTube.
- ^ "WATCH: New Crack Cloud Video". The Quietus. Retrieved 2019-06-27.
- ^ "Crack Cloud get enticingly insane on "CRACKIN UP"". High Clouds. Retrieved 2019-07-27.
- ^ "Canadian Post-Punk Collective Crack Cloud Announce Debut Album PAIN OLYMPICS, Share New Single "Ouster Stew"". Paste. Retrieved 2020-05-13.
- ^ "VIDEO PREMIERE: EMBRACE YOUR INNER (OR OUTER) ANARCHIST WITH CRACK CLOUD'S VIDEO FOR 'OUSTER STEW". FBI Radio. Retrieved 2020-05-14.
- ^ "CRACK CLOUD - OUSTER STEW". YouTube. Retrieved 2020-05-14.
- ^ "CRACK CLOUD UNLEASH NEW TRACK 'TUNNEL VISION'". DIY Magazine. Retrieved 2020-06-27.
- ^ "Crack Cloud share video for 'Favour Your Fortune', taken from debut album, Pain Olympics". Darkus. Retrieved 2020-10-16.
- ^ "Now Watching: Crack Cloud – 'Favour Your Fortune'". Wickedd Childd. Retrieved 2020-10-21.
- ^ "Pain Olympics by Crack Cloud". Metacritic. Retrieved 15 August 2020.
- ^ Richards, Will. "Crack Cloud – 'Pain Olympics' review: an electrifying sonic barrage fuelled by communal spirit". NME (July 2020 ed.).
- ^ "Pain Olympics - Crack Cloud - AllMusic". AllMusic.