Advice From the Happy Hippopotamus by Cloud Cult

September 30, 2005 | 3 Comments

The Artist: Cloud Cult
Featured Song: Living on the Outside of Your Skin
[Launch Player]
The Album: Advice From the Happy Hippopotamus
Released 2005
Recommended if you like: Arcade Fire, Pixies, Modest Mouse, Sufjan Stevens, Badly Drawn Boy, Decemberists

Let’s go with another band whose initials are C.C. and has a penchant for long titles.

I’m not really sure where to start with this one. I first heard Cloud Cult on KEXP a month or so ago. I don’t remember the song, might have been “Car Crash”, but I do remembering making a point to remember the band. I picked up Advice From the Happy Hippopotamus the next day and I’ve been digging it ever since.

The album isn’t new, and neither are Cloud Cult. I like them so much I’m kind of surprised I’ve never heard them before. They’re creative, fun, cover a multiude of genres (perfect for my tastes) and the album is one you can listen to and enjoy front to back.

Describing their sound is near impossible. They’re all over the map and at a whopping 25 songs on the album, you can imagine they cover a ton of ground. They move from straight ahead indie pop to electronica to emo and lots more with ease.

The instrumentation is diverse and very interesting. It’s mostly there that I draw the similarity to Arcade Fire and Modest Mouse. They’ve got some killer guitar work and more carnival instruments than you can shake a stick at. Oh, and the song writing isn’t half bad neither.

I guess the best way to describe it is to say it’s clever, creative and…good. Give them a listen, “Living on the Outside of Your Skin” is a nice, quirky, fun track to check out. It’ll give you a sliver of what you’ll get on the album.

Filed under: Album of The Moment
Keyword Tags: cloud+cult