Sound of the City: Crack Cloud
The mixed-media collective models its creative practice around harm-reduction philosophy
SOUND OF THE CITY is a chance to discover and explore Vancouver’s incredible and diverse music scene created in partnership by the City of Vancouver and Stir.
We hear from different local artists or acts, what’s in heavy rotation on their playlist as well as what’s happening in their world amid COVID-19—in their own words.
We ask each artist or act to curate and share a Sound of the City playlist that features some of their favourite Vancouver musicians.
Sound of the City is a way to celebrate local talent, highlight BIPOC and underrepresented artists, and connect with creatives and each other. It’s time to crank the volume on the music that’s all around us, right in our own backyard.
Crack Cloud
CRACK CLOUD IS “creativity with no rules”. The mixed-media collective based out of Vancouver has modelled their creative practice around harm-reduction philosophy, and Crack Cloud operates as a rehabilitative outlet for a revolving cast of multidisciplinary artists across Canada.
First formed by drummer and lead vocalist Zach Choy, the collective has expanded to include other musicians, visual artists, designers, filmmakers, and creative collaborators. “The band is our recovery program,” keyboardist Mohammad Ali Sharar explains. “Pouring ourselves into it is a way of staying alive, or at least sober and together. So we can’t do anything by half measures.”
Their most recent album, Pain Olympics, introduced them to the world—and it has been hailed by the Guardian, Pitchfork, and global0music press as “concept-heavy post-punk that borrows from gospel, rap, and indie-rock” to “illuminate the joy, camaraderie, and compassion that can exist in even the most unforgiving, isolating circumstances”.
Listen to Crack Cloud’s picks on their Sound of the City playlist, below.
Crack Cloud’s Playlist
How are you feeling about life right now?
Calm and focused.
What did you have planned in 2020, and for this year, and how has the pandemic changed those plans?
International touring came to a halt, but we've made the best of our time at home with loved ones. We haven’t stopped creating. And we’ve been able to take better care of ourselves after a two-year grind in the UK and Europe.
What, or who, do you miss most about pre-pandemic life?
We don’t expect to remain in lockdown for the long term; so we’re just embracing life as we’ve come to live it, expecting that the end is in sight, making the most of our reprieve while we can.
Where are you finding solace ?
Companionship, knowledge, artistic freedom, and the stability of our current living situation.
What song or album has been in your heavy rotation recently and why?
Deeply focused on our own work right now.
Can you give a shoutout to one of your favourite Vancouver musicians or artists? What about them inspires you?
Proud to say we work with an ever-growing community of talented artists who genuinely support one another during the good times and bad. Inspired by the new wave of compassion and growth in the people we surround ourselves with.
If you could change one thing about Vancouver, what would it be?
No comment.
You’re writing to us from 2025... What does the future hold?
We are a fully established network in children’s programming. We make content that reinforces self-esteem and self-value and that challenges stigma and prejudice for a youth-based audience.
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