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Pain Olympics is the debut album from Vancouver collective Crack Cloud, the follow-up to their duo of acclaimed EPs - Crack Cloud and Anchoring Point. It's an extraordinary collection of songs, both cohesive and chaotic, that draw on no wave, post-punk-funk, baroque pop, hip hop and electronic sounds. The group's ethos is founded on freedom, community, and equality. Chief lyricist and vocalist Zach Choy maintains an open-door policy for the recording process: all are welcome, with contributions arriving from various creative fields, from visual arts, film and dance. A press release from the label Meat Machine states: "Locked into our bodies, the pain that Crack Cloud are exploring on this album is not a disembodied one. It is social pain; it is mental pain; it is emotional pain. Ultimately though, more than anything, it is a real, bodily, physical pain. To live is to be engaged in a permanent pain olympics. As the sample at the end of its closer remarks, ‘the game of life is a misery.’ But accepting pain as the condition and affirmation of human life is the first step towards enlightenment. It is the first step towards hope, which is exactly what Crack Cloud are trying to offer their audience on this poignant, timely debut."

For the chance to win a download copy of this week's Album Of The Week, Triple R subscribers can enter here before Sunday 2 August 2020. We have a prize policy of 1 album per subscriber per month so we can share the love and make it fair for all!