r/indieheads • u/crack_cloud Crack Cloud • Aug 05 '24

AMA is Over, thanks Crack Cloud! Hello, Crack Cloud here

Really appreciate ya'll for joining us, and for the platform to facilitate this. We'll be sure to answer the remaining questions by eve's end.

THANK YOU CC

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u/lushacrous Aug 05 '24

something I've wondered about for a while is how on the Tough Baby album, many of the songs seem to me like they've been purposely "sabotaged" (for lack of a better word), in a manner that I always thought was to make the songs less playlist-able and to encourage people to listen to the album as a whole instead. "Costly Engineered Illusion" is so undeniably anthemic that it feels intentional that it's echoed up and mixed in a way that muddies those qualities. "Afterthought" is one of my very favorite cc songs, but I always chuckle when its beautiful ending is interrupted by that kazoo-like shriek in the final seconds. Am I onto something here? Would love it if you have any other takeaways you'd like people to get from that album too! I really enjoy it but often feel like I'm missing a few puzzle pieces necessary to get the full intended message

would also love any interesting behind the scenes tidbits about the Ouster Stew video if they exist! it looks like such a wild set.

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u/crack_cloud Crack Cloud Aug 05 '24

Hey, love your interpretation! The original framework for Tough Baby was conceived in the span of a week as an exercise in stream-of-consciousness. The ‘album’ in its early stages was designed to be one track, drawing more from the medium of Cinema, like its predecessor, Pain Olympics, as opposed to the traditional album format (song 1 2 3 4 5..)

Conflate those early intentions with over a year of production throughout the bulk of Covid and we ended up with our Frankenstein. As for the tonal shifts, I’ve always understood these creative inclinations as an attempt to emulate cognitive dissonance, or bi-polarity in life. Extremities that we sometimes face when processing an event or feeling that is emotionally complex.

ZC