When I made my Top 10 (actually 11) list for 2007 I left two albums which I only discovered in January of this year. The first was Menomena, which I posted on earlier... The other was the brilliant band from Minnesota, Cloud Cult.
When I first heard this album, it made almost every other album I was listening to seem trivial.
The quick back story: Cloud Cult is basically Craig Minowa, musician and environmentalist... He formed Earthology Records and what started out as solo projects has evolved into a full-blown band... Minowa was shaken to the core by the death of his infant son and has been dealing with the loss through his music.
That might scare off some people, but those people are missing out on some of the most uplifting and redemptive music I've ever heard... If you dig the Flaming Lips or Arcade Fire or even the genius of Brian Wilson, do yourself a favor and check out Cloud Cult. Their albums are a wonder and I've heard plenty of great things about their live show... (including artists who create paintings during the show, which they then auction off at the end....) I'm doing a poster for their show tonight in San Francisco (posted) and I'm really looking forward to checking them out...
I'll post some great cuts from my favorite album of last year (The Meaning of 8) and I'll try to post on their brand new album, "Feel Good Ghosts" soon...
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Here's "Take Your Medicine"...
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...and "Brain Gateway"... which features some rousing guitar work...
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Yeah! "The Meaning of 8" was my number one for 2007, "Feel Good Ghosts" is already in my top 5 for 2008. 2005's "Advice from the Happy Hippopotamus" is pretty great too!
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Good stuff Z! Diggin' into this.
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I am more partial to the songs in the comments then the original posted...perhaps his voice wears a bit thin for me, but is stronger in the following songs.
"Rousing" guitar work...that's funny.
Nice.
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I have to agree with D, I like the new one even better than than meaning of 8,however I don't think the cover for meaning for 8 can be surpassed.