17 January 2006

Cloud Cult

Sometimes you just miss out on a good band, that manymuch people already know about, when they come to town. Or well, sometimes I do at least. Brooklyn Vegan posted a write up about Cloud Cult in September last year and I just must've ignored it. Just like I must have ignored any other writings I saw about them (such as this My Old Kentucky Blog post about them from May of last year). But then it's never to late to get into good music, right?

Thankfully, Farrah entered EF's 2nd CYHSY ticket contest and told me to check out Cloud Cult because I like what I'm hearing. "Duh," you're saying to yourself, "they're like huge." Well...

Marc at Pitchfork said:
"I'm often captivated by bands that find quirky beauty in modest everyday moments. Cloud Cult do this, too, particularly on last year's Aurora Borealis, but here they more often aim for lofty apotheosis: for The Moon and Antarctica, Odelay, or the Radiohead masterpiece of your choice. Advice from the Happy Hippopotamus is utterly over the top, starting with its title and ridiculous cover art (see also: the name "Cloud Cult"), and those hard souls who don't like it will find it easy to mock. The rest of us will find our crusty, professionally cynical veneers crumbling. Over an intimidatingly vast 25 tracks melding folk, electronics, Arcade Fire emo, and quasi-hippie hoobajoo, Cloud Cult gird their ambition with solid tunes."

That's right, Pitchfork gave Cloud Cult's album Advice from the Happy Hippopotamus an 8.3 - perhaps proof that Pitchfork is not as narcissistically irrelevant as I previously had thought. Maybe I should start paying more attention to their reviews again? Whatever, on with the songs I say.

Listen:
"Living on the Outside of Your Skin"
"Car Crash"

You can purchase Advice from the Happy Hippopotamus HERE

Check out their upcoming tour dates HERE

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