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Cloud Cult / The 1900s
Turner Hall
Milwaukee, WI
Dec. 7, 2007

The 1900s

Cloud Cult

The 1900s

Story and photos by Phil Bonyata

Hailing from the snowy streets of Minneapolis, brilliantly quirky tunesmiths Cloud Cult have rejected major label offers to remain poorer in the wallet, but richer in creativity and environmental and philosophical ethics. The not-for-profit Earthology Records, founded by Cloud Cult,

is dedicated to improving the environment by making every concert "green" by buying green energy credits to pump wind power into the grid to makeup for energy used on stage and in travel. Also with acres of tree planting and equipping the tour van with solar panels the band is on a mission to save the world - one guitar pick at a time.

Founding member and guiding light Craig Minowa - (singer/songwriter/guitar/keys) wearing doctors scrubs, homemade carnival mask and one foot bare and the other wearing a sock and sneaker - opened with the galactic verve of "Hope," from their recent release The Meaning of 8. Minowa commands the stage with a physical intensity that grows wildly with each progressive note. The mystical chamber pop of "We Made Up Your Mind For You" and "That Man Jumped Out the Window," both from 2005's release Advice from the Happy Hippopotamus, revel in their odd harmonies, ghostly vocals and haunting string arrangements. The band also adds a bohemian twist to their live performances with two visual artists - Connie Minowa (Craig's wife) and Scott West both painting individual canvasses to the nuances and flow of the live music. Both paintings transform themselves into free form Picassos as the dynamics of the show organically evolve.

Cloud Cult's unbelievably original music is steeped richly in such heady indie circles as The Flaming Lips, Beck, The Decemberists and The Arcade Fire. The band states that many songs off of their new album "compare religions and philosophies from around the world with Carl Jung's theories of universal symbolism and the collective unconscious." Sounds like they're quite full of themselves, but in reality they leave the outcome of the message to the interpretations of the listener. Great art always challenges, but rarely preaches.

Minowa has dealt with the ultimate tragedy in life when he lost his two year old son who unexpectedly died and the weight of that grief ended his marriage as well. Retreating to his farm in northern Minnesota The 1900s

for the next two years he found his catharsis through writing music. The band's music and lyrics cull heavily from the meaning of life and death.

Bassist Matthew Freed and drummer Dan Greenwood put the dense support columns in place on the beautifully volatile "Chain Reaction" and the wondrous ponderings of "Chemicals Collide" were lifted from the ground with ethereal vocals and strings that floated straight out of the mist. Other numbers of insane originality were "Breakfast," "Happy Hippo" and both songs from their only encore "Ghost Inside Our House" and "Take Your Medicine." Cloud Cult is poised to move among the ranks of the great indie artists today, by completely playing by the rules that only they have created for themselves.

Out on the road promoting their latest album Cold & Kind Chicago based band The 1900s opened admirably for the dynamic Cloud Cult. The band's form of charming psychedelic pop holds up well to the likes of Belle & Sebastian and The New Pornographers. Lead singer Edward Anderson and fellow singers Jeannie O'Toole and Caroline Donovan oozed beautiful harmonies on "Acutiplantar Dude" and "Cold & Kind" both from their most recent release. Violinist Kristina Dutton subtlely effective string play helped lift "Bring the Good Boys Home" from 2006's Plume Delivery above it's utilitarian melodies. "Patron Saint of The Mediocre" was well rounded in it's crafting, but fell a bit shy in the band's loose delivery. The highlight of the evening was the electrifying mini epic "Oh No," with balls exposed, The 1900s turned the cascading melodies into driving walls of beautifully stark rhythms and flesh ripping guitar courtesy of Mike Jasinski. While The 1900s have an originality that is somehow restrained by safeness, my bet is on their next effort they will find their muse in more shadowy and less visited places.