by Andy KellmanSydney, Australia's Ides of Space originally formed in late 1999 as Firehosereel. Within a few days of forming the band, they found themselves participating in a university band competition. It didn't go so well, and the following year found the group solidifying its lineup and changing their name to Ides of Space. With Dave The on bass, Anthony The on drums, Martin Barker on keyboards, Mark Ayoub on guitars, and Patrick Haid on guitars and vocals, the band recorded an album's worth of material with Wayne Connolly and released the material split between two EPs in their native Australia. U.S. label Better Looking combined the EPs for There Are No New Clouds, released in 2001. The press rightfully marveled at the young band's maturity; sounding somewhere between a U.K. shoegaze band of the early '90s and a U.S. indie band of the mid-'90s, Ides of Space's debut also sounds like a band that completely skipped through the growing pains phase.