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cLOUDDEAD

Amy McGarrigle - ATL Producer

cLOUDDEAD were a genre hopping alternative hip hop type act... Fairly vague description there as I honestly can't put my finger on exactly what they did. And it's for that reason they intrigued me so much. One album and a compilation CD were the two main releases from them before they prematurely disbanded in 2004. But in many ways, their short lived escapades made them legendary and influential to a whole new generation. The graphic lyrics, distincitve vocals and laid back to strange electronic backing of Doseone (Adam Drucker), Why? (Yoni Wolf), and Odd Nosdam (David Madson) have continued in all their solo works and they're responsible for one of the most refreshing labels in the world today, Anticon. Still, would have loved to have heard another outting as cLOUDDEAD.

The Dismemberment Plan (1993 - 2003)

Steven Rainey - ATL Contributor

When they announced their break-up in 2003, it felt like the world was ending. For the last five years, this Washington DC post-hardcore band had overcome a shaky start to begin re-writing the rulebook on what a band can and cannot do. 1999's Emergency & I was a kaleidoscopic exploration of rock, electronica, folk and pop music, whilst 2001's Change revealed a band at the very height of their powers, perfectly in control of every aspect of what they were doing. Singles like 'The Ice of Boston' and 'Time Bomb' shoulda been massive, but instead it all fell apart, a missed opportunity. The band have subsequently played a one off show for a charity event in 2007, but with their back catalogue languishing in obscurity, The Dismemberment Plan exist only as ancient history, just waiting to be unearthed.

The Debonaires

Rigsy - ATL Presenter

Keeping it local - I never really got over the demise of The Debonaires.

Not just the Debonaires in fact - more the work of songwriter Dave McCullough in general. He'd previously worked under the name Volvograd, who were also all types of awesome. I couldn't get me head round why either or both bands weren't instantly massive - the songs were, without exception, little treats and indie-pop gems. The fact Dave and co didn't rule the world is the single greatest injustice the world has ever seen.

The Basement

Philip Taggart - ATL Content Assistant

I had a mild feeling of gut wrench when Omagh/Liverpool foursome The Basement decided to draw the curtain on their brief career. The fact that they were a band from my hometown of Omagh that hade "made it" set my naïve seventeen year old mind into sensory overload and gave me a sense that maybe it wasn't out of the realms of possibility that maybe I could achieve such success. 

The guys hauled keester from Omagh to Liverpool at the tender ages of 18 and were swiftly signed to Deltasonic. A series of critically acclaimed single releases came through the label and prompted music press frenzy with NME declaring singer John Mullin as the next Bob Dylan. Unfortunately a change in musical direction came with the album and the press were non plussed and it wasn't soon after they split up. In positive news we did get The Lost Brothers out of the split.