CLOUD CULT are the kind of earnest, idealistic, vaguely granola indie rockers who put solar panels on their tour van. But if they ever figure out how to convert bandleader Craig Minowa’s energy into electrical power, they’ll be able to do a lot more than ditch the photovoltaic cells–like maybe take a decent-size city off the grid. Minowa’s hustle makes Jay-Z seem actually retired: he works as an environmental activist, he’s written, performed, and released five Cloud Cult records in the past five years (including the most recent, Advice From the Happy Hippo, on his own label, Earthology), and he built a geothermally powered recording studio out of recycled and salvaged materials on his own organic farm. His music brims with the same energy, its bouncing indie big-band style embracing some of the better bits from Modest Mouse (the we’re-happy-to-be-weirdos outlook) and Neutral Milk Hotel (the flea-market aesthetic and elaborate but not overworked arrangements). And despite the band name, there’s none of the creepy cult vibe that organic-farm-owning hippie-collective types tend to give off.
