Since the release of their 2003 album “They Live on the Sun,” Cloud Cult has been receiving national attention for their effective blend of hip, intelligent songwriting with environmental advocacy. The band will make a tour stop at Psi U Saturday night, promoting their 2005 album “Advice From the Happy Hippopotamus.”
The album is a fearless mix of folk, rock, dance, and electronic elements that come together to form something unique and fresh sounding. The music is disarmingly free of hang-ups. The third track, “Happy Hippo” slips from a techno infused synthesizer groove into a seemingly impromptu choral rendition of Neil Young’s “Hey Hey, My My.” The fifth song, “You Got Your Bones to Make a Beat” starts with some carefree studio banter between band members. The message is clear: this is a band having fun.
The band incorporates live painting and a video projection screen into their shows. The painters get a feel for the crowd and the venue, then start and finish a painting during the performance. After the show, the paintings are auctioned off.
Cloud Cult has also been noted for its progressive environmental philosophy. Craig Minowa, the band’s singer, guitar player, and lead songwriter, founded Cloud Cult and its record label Earthology Records in the mid-90s as a way to blend his environmental activism with his love for music.
“When I started college, I studied music composition,” Minowa said in an interview. “But there came a point where I questioned if music was the best thing to do for the planet, so I switched to environmental studies.”
At first, Minowa struggled to reconcile his two passions.
“I didn’t know how to put the two together,” he said. “At first I thought I had to have music that had a lyrical environmental content.”
The creative restriction forced Minowa to write music he wasn’t satisfied with. He realized that if he produced his music in a way that demonstrated his environmental concerns, his music could be free.
“I realized that no one really does environmentally friendly CD duplication or shows,” he said. “Earthology started as a model for marking truly environmentally friendly CDs. It then became clear that I didn’t have to be singing about [environmental issues] anymore, but I could just live it and demonstrate it.”
According to the Cloud Cult’s website, the band donates all profits to environmental charity work. All of the band’s packaging and marketing material is made of post-consumer recycled material. Finally, the band compensates for the resources it uses during touring by purchasing green energy credits. The members also distribute information about environmental issues at shows.
Because of the group’s environmental policies, some critics have egregiously lumped Cloud Cult into the jam band or folk music scene.
“There is nothing wrong with hippies or jam bands, but we more actually fall into the indie/college rock style,” Minowa said.
Cloud Cult’s music has had significant college airplay since 2003. Its 2004 release, “Aurora Borealis,” peaked at #19 on the college radio charts. According to the band’s website, they’ve has turned down multiple record label offers, unwilling to sacrifice the ideals of their current system.
“Earthology’s goal is to offer a model that can change the system,” Minowa said. “We’re not necessarily adversarial, but mainstream music does have practices we stand against.”
Cloud Cult’s marketing ignores mainstream channels as well.
“We have no desire to mess with commercial radio,” Minowa said. “College radio is the purest form of democracy when it comes to what gets played on the radio. Our music tends to be eclectic enough that we fit in there.”
Cloud Cult has just finished recording its sixth studio album.
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