the Cloud Cult thread

[BobCaygeon]

I don't think I was this excited about a band on the last row of the poster for last year's Coachella...

Cloud Cult has a story behind them, what with the death from SIDS of Connie and Craig Minowa's child at the age of two, with their green advocacy, and the fact that they have two painters onstage during their shows. More information on all this is out there, but for me it's about the music. So, here's a primer for you if you're interested.

I stumbled onto the band in something like 2006, so I don't know much about their music from before then. Their 2005 album "Advice from the Happy Hippopotamus" has some nice tunes, but the one that I first noticed is "Transistor Radio". Here's a video a fan put together for the song:

Craig from the band thanks this fan for the video somewhere in the comments for it.

Their next album was "The Story of 8", which is I think my favorite. "Alien Christ" is a fun story, but the song I would kill to hear at Coachella is "Take Your Medicine". Here's a live version from last fall:

Here's a good in-studio recording of "Pretty Voice":

Their latest album is "Feel Good Ghosts (Teapartying Through Tornadoes)" from last year. They played at SXSW to support it:

(hey, where are the painters?)

Here's a live version of "Love You All" with badly-clipped sound, but good shots of the painters in action:

[jamesc2929]

This is what Coachella is all about, discovering new bands you may not have listened to or been introduced to in the past. Thanks to this series of clips, I will now arrive early on day 2 just to see Cloud Cult, because unless they do something with the top of this day, I'll be in the Casino early.

[matsuolost]

these guys are good

[twoheadedboy]

thank you so much for this post, bob

i love this band and your introduction was wonderful

[Ardentbiscuit]

I feel bad, the first I heard of them was the Esurance ad.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=

There's a shorter version that is the commercial.

[Stickjohn]

OK laugh all you want. I always really liked the Bright Eyes song "Transistor Radio." I'm more of a radio guy these days (thanks to The Current) and one day I checked the playlist and found out the song was by Cloud Cult and not Bright Eyes. I don't know, I think I just assumed ... heh heh. I've only seen them live once (played after Bon Iver!) but just bought tix to see them in early May. Kinda surprised to see them on the lineup actually but they're on my can't miss list now.

Take a listen to their cover of Mr. Tambourine Man. There's a video on YouTube but the sound is awful. You can download an mp3 here or just google it http://justin-cook.com/work/CloudCul...bourineMan.mp3

It's old but it's one of my favorite covers.

[twoheadedboy]

fuck esurance
goddamnit

[Stickjohn]

Also - not to hijack this thread - but the Pretty Voice video posted above is an in-studio recording done by my favorite local radio station here in the Twin Cities. At the end there's some thumbnails at the bottom that link to some other in-studio recordings they've done...Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings, interview with Tom Morello, etc. Good stuff. GREAT station.

[Iamjoeswastdlife]

I HATE the Esurance commercial...
Lol. I'll pass :-)

[Meadowsmeister]

CLOUD CULT SUCKS MY BALLS

[twoheadedboy]

clouds suck your ballz? is that an enjoyable sensation?

[FakePlasticMe]

I HATE the Esurance commercial...
Lol. I'll pass :-)

Yeah no kidding. When I saw Cloud Cult was on the lineup I nearly vomited in my mouth. If the rest of their music is half as awful as that ad I'm out on this one.

[kikila]

They also put on an amazing live show including artists who paint during the set. Basically, they are brilliant :]

[TheWatcher]

There is a Japanese artist who has had a painter on stage during his live shows. He also has a beat boxer, a tap dancer, DJ, Taiko drummer, and even a BMX bike at some time.

I can't find any decent live clips of his show with Kabuki Bois, he is pretty adamant about no video / photos during concerts, so the clips are all real low quality cell phone. There a quite a few high quality promo videos and such though:

http://video.google.com/videosearch?hl=en&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla:en-USfficial&hs=su2&q=miyavi&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=X&oi=video_result_group&resnum=8&ct=title#

[PanasonicYouth]

They are so amazing.

I hope they play most of Feel Good Ghosts.

One of the top bands of the weekend. Do NOT miss them.

[mvanwinkle]

add another band to saturday that I want to see now. and so the discoveries begin.

[Boourns]

iPod commercial bands > esurance commercial bands

[Stickjohn]

Here's an article about the controversial Esurance deal if anyone is interested.

http://http://adage.com/songsforsoap/post?article_id=131141

Cloud Cult Clears the Air on Esurance Sponsorship
Minneapolis Psych-Pop Band Becomes Animated in New TV Spot
Advertising Age - "Songs For Soap" - Charlie Moran on 09.19.08 @ 01:30 PM

(excerpt)
"We've been approached by a number of different companies over the years to use our music for various types of commercials," the band's lead singer-songwriter, Craig Minowa, told Songs for Soap. "Because of the extreme environmental ethics of Cloud Cult, we've had to turn down a lot of offers that could have been quite lucrative ...

Minowa has been pushing green music initiatives since those faraway days when Al Gore was just a boring vice president. His record label Earthology Records, run from his organic farm, specializes in renewable materials and, well, releasing Cloud Cult albums. According to the band, all of its merchandise is made from 100% post-consumer recycled materials, and it's purchased energy offsets for tours through NativeEnergy.com. So when the septet played the Monolith Festival at Red Rocks last year and learned the Esurance had helped to green the gathering, it was only a matter of time before they became "eco-buddies."

Esurance became the green sponsor for Cloud Cult's current 27-stop tour -- to support the April LP "Feel Good Ghosts (Tea-Partying Through Tornadoes)" -- and the company has picked up the tab for carbon offsets, printed green tour posters and subsidized the bio-diesel the band uses in its tour bus.

[BobCaygeon]

I emailed the band to ask if they would be auctioning off the artwork made during the show. Craig Minowa (!) emailed me back to say yes, indeed, they would be auctioning off the art.

Not sure what the logistics will be like. I think they do the auction right at the venue usually, but this may be difficult at something as big as Coachella. When they played Carson Daly they auctioned off the piece on eBay.

http://www.brooklynvegan.com/archive...oud_cults.html

[Stickjohn]

Thats funny. I swear was on their website earlier today and noticed a link to a page for art items being auctioned. I had no idea they did that. The page was built but empty - I clicked over to look at it. I went back just now to check after reading the above and it's not there. Looks like a place for another tab in the nav bar. IDK - might have spaced it off but I know I saw it. Maybe an old thing they took down or a maybe a new thing they're putting up?

[BobCaygeon]

Thats funny. I swear was on their website earlier today and noticed a link to a page for art items being auctioned. I had no idea they did that. The page was built but empty - I clicked over to look at it. I went back just now to check after reading the above and it's not there. Looks like a place for another tab in the nav bar. IDK - might have spaced it off but I know I saw it. Maybe an old thing they took down or a maybe a new thing they're putting up?

This empty page?
http://www.cloudcult.com/store/index.php?cPath=23

Never seen it before myself.

[xxorcoxx]

I e-mailed the band and they will be offering great rates for drivers over 25 with a clean record they also insure motorcylces

[shotglass75]

It's been a very long time since this has happened but I think I just fell in love with this band.... yep.
Blown the fuck away!!!

[shotglass75]

Seriously people, ignore the E-Surrance commercial song and go straight to "Feel Good Ghosts" and listen to the whole thing front to back. Don't just put it on in the background... LISTEN TO IT!!!!!

[Mr.Nipples]

cloud cunt, cauliflower crotch

[lickety_spit]

Yeah no kidding. When I saw Cloud Cult was on the lineup I nearly vomited in my mouth. If the rest of their music is half as awful as that ad I'm out on this one.

i hadn't made the connection until i visited their myspace page.
that esurance song played first,
and i got really pissed off.
then i listened to some other stuff,
and it sounds totally different.
i'll probably watch them if there's no one better to see.
at least that god awful song isn't very long.

[shotglass75]

They need to get that song off their page. it's killing them.

Listen to "The Will of a Volcano" or "Hurricane and Fire Survival Guide"

[tessalasset]

Love You All


love love love this song.

[ShyGuy75]

i hadn't made the connection until i visited their myspace page.
that esurance song played first,
and i got really pissed off.

*I did the same thing and dismissed them in the research phase*

Thank you for this.

Amazing. Can't wait to see them.

[humanoid]

iPod commercial bands > esurance commercial bands

they are much more than an esurance commercial band, they have like 8 albums



I think they're fucking brilliant, and have been for quite a while