Viva Minnesota!: Cloud Cult @ IOTA

Top and I were all fucked up. We were wargaming IOTA, wondering what time to show up. Wondering how packed it would be. The only reason we were nervous about it was because IOTA sells no tickets in advance and we have been absolutely hooked on the last Cloud Cult album, ADVICE FROM THE HAPPY HIPPOPOTAMUS, since we first heard it last year. We really had no reason to worry. But, our initial anxiety, resulting in our 6:30 PM arrival, paid off: we got to watch Cloud Cult run through a short sound check and talk briefly with Sarah Young (cello) and her husband. Good stuff.

This was Cloud Cult's first venture into DC (NOVA, whatever) and it could not have been harder: Easter Sunday, tiny club in Arlington, and perhaps not much buzz other than blogs, word of mouth, and independent news. But, that is the way Cloud Cult rolls, and the 30 or so people that came out to see them definitely left impressed.

Cloud Cult impresses me in the same way that The Mars Volta does. You listen to their album and think: "this is fantastic, but I wonder how this sound translates live...are the even able to do it?" The Mars Volta does, and it is a mindblowing experience. Cloud Cult is nothing short of excellent, as well. Top and I both shared a surprised look when they starting ripping into "Intro," the opener from ADVICE. I simply did not think this was a song they would do live. Too heavy, too many layers, no vocal,...but, they rolled right into it, bringing it to a stronger life than the album ever could.

Cloud Cult continued to excel, they ran through a solid hour of their best work to date: "Washed Your Car," "Living On The Outside Of Your Skin," "What Comes At The End," "Car Crash," "Breakfast With My Shadow," and "Moving To Canada." They closed with "Happy Hippo," but before it was all over Craig Minowa did a solo acoustic "Transistor Radio" with the other band members looking on from the crowd. I think the band thought that was it, but then Minowa announced we were doing one more, a new song, called "Freddie," that Top and I recognized from the soundcheck. Awesome. I could not have asked for more.