O, CARIBOU

Dan Snaith is 30 years old. He is a PhD mathematician from Dundas, Ontario. His thesis at London's Imperial College was titled, "Overconvergent Siegel Modular Symbols." His father and brother are both university math professors and Dan is............ CARIBOU

Snaith primarily composes electronica from his home computer (see the video at the very end of the post for a cool look into the process). He draws inspiration from among other things, a voluminous obscure vinyl collection. His latest album mines pop sensibility from 60's and 70's psychedelia. Though skilled at the keys and the drums, Dan enlists a group of musicians for more traditional recordings and for touring.

Dan Snaith's first couple albums were recorded under the name, Manitoba. In 2004 facing a lawsuit from the Dictators' Richard "Handsome Dick" Manitoba (above right- the self-proclaimed "Handsomest Man in Rock n' Roll"). Unwilling/unable to assemble a legal defense, he switched to CARIBOU. ("Handsome Dick" hadn't recorded anything in 15 years and never as a solo artist).

I stumbled across Caribou watching a video for "Melody Day" from the album Andorra. Next stop: downloaded the song and later the whole album off emusic. I love the hammer/axe synchronization with the beat! Andorra's a beautifully odd album. There's stuff on there that reminds me of early Moody Blues and Pink Floyd (especially "Sandy"). Melody Day wastes no time sinking its hooks. It has a great beat and melody (imagine that!), but it's the little flourishes (the synth flute!!) that drive me nuts. Then there's songs like Niobe that come out of nowhere (absolutely love this song- but due to its length, didn't make it into the post- but if anybody is curious- i'll gladly email it to you.) Niobe is more electronica than psychedelia, starting softly and plodding, building to a crescendo and crashing.... then steadily builds and crashes again. I like how Irene serves to transition from the psych to the electro.

Yeah, ok, so he lives in London now. But note that he didn't change his name to "Hedgehog"!! Anyway, hope ye all enjoy.

Videos:

1) Melody Day (Andorra)
2) Hello Hammerheads (Milk of Human Kindness)
3) Bees (Milk of Human Kindness)
4) BBC Collective Mini Documentary (Niobe plays briefly in the intro)

Best 80's Metal Hair

Now you've done it. You've got me talking about "butt rock". Too bad you can't put comments on things you vote for. Let me start out by saying I've never heard of Jim Gillette from Nitro. Does this not make me a true butt rocker?

Dee Snider has got to be the guy that epitomizes "butt rock". "Butt Rock" is about being a bad ass at the same time wearing ladies makeup and long hair. You listen to Dee talk on the radio without actually looking at him. He has a really deep voice and sounds like a guy you wouldn't want to meet in a dark alley, alone or no. As for the other guys on the list, not so much. Poison was about looking like a "butt rocker" while attracting as many chicks as possible. Were as Dee Snider was about offending people.

Guns and Roses was a new thing trying to branch out from "butt rock", but an easy mistake for someone that didn't live thru the transformation from Black Sabbath to Grunge really. Although I have to admit I am a little young when Black Sabath was in thier hayday.

Couple of Quick Items

New Islands album is out today! And despite what Pitchfork says, I really like it. At some point in the near future I'm actually going to follow up my Unicorns retrospective with a post about Islands. In the meantime, anybody who doesn't have it should at least pick up their first CD, Return to the Sea.

And what better way to do that with an eMusic account? I'm assuming most of the people that read this blog have one, but if by some strange coincidence you don't, you should acquire one post-haste. As an extra incentive, for a limited time Circuit City is selling 65 download cards (that's cards worth 65 downloads) for $5. In case the math escapes you, that's about 8 cents a download. They're going fast, and in some locations the cards are still ringing up at their original $15 price, but the raw value of this deal makes it worth checking a Circuit City near you.

i warned you that o, canada month might go on for a while. (time is pretty relative up there. heck! the sun doesn't even go down in the summer... at least that's what i've been told)

(oh, and if you want to stop the boombox for some video action, the buttons are really tiny on this one- but right under the cassette tape- you'll see a little square. yes, put your glasses on)

today we look at the vancouver, BC group "the new pornographers." no, not kidding. yeah, probably one of the lamest band names ever. some lame names are fitting. like "scraping fetus from the wheel." or "cannibal corpse" that sums them up rather nicely. but "heavy vegetable"? "new pornographers"!? you see those names without other context and..... you move on. (as much as i love rob crowe and heavy vegetable, i'm glad he moved on to "pinback." although "thingy" "optiganally yours" and "lactose adept" are other pretty retarded names he's used...) some people just suck at picking band names. but dang, if some of these people can't also make sweet sweet music.



TNP are a collective (not the animal variety) of creative hooligans that are were all drawn from other bands/solo efforts forming what is often referred to as a SUPER-GROUP. i guess you could call them a "power pop" super-group. not sure if many bands would openly brand themselves as such, but the wikipedia definition of the form is fitting: power pop "combination of musical devices such as strong melodies, crisp vocal harmonies, economical arrangements, and prominent guitar riffs. instrumental solos are usually kept to a minimum, and blues elements are largely downplayed. it draws its inspiration from 1960s British and American pop and rock music."

SUPERGROUP

power pop or not, TNP has a distinct, yet freely meandering sound. though red-headed stepchild Carl Newman is the defacto gang leader, the other band members all hailing from other groups or solo projects make this one potent potpourri. Dan Behar (destroyer, swan lake) Neko Case (maow, cub), Carl Newman (superconductor), John Collins (the evaporators), Kurt Dahle (limblifter), and Kathryn Calder (the immaculate machine) bring their skills to the table. (swan lake, coincidentally is Dan Behar's other supergroup- spencer krug (sunset rubdown, wolf parade) and carey mercer (frog eyes) collaborate in that tchaikovskian namesake.



i think my favorite album is twin cinema, but it's tough to call. each album is distinctly TNP, but very different from the last. every album since 'mass romantic' has fans whining and pining for the good old days. go listen to 'mass romantic,' then! this is mostly foot-tapping stuff, sometimes a little too saccharine, but there are definitely moods i'm in when i've got to listen to it. nothing wrong with a well made pop song.

the music on ye boom box (right click, save as...):

1) stacked crooked (twin cinema)
2) jackie (mass romantic)
3) the electric version (electric version)
4) the jessica numbers (twin cinema)


todays videos are from albums not represented in the emailed mp3s ("myriad harbour" up top from the latest CHALLENGERS and down below: "use it" from their second album, "electric version")

(look for david cross! aka tobias from arrested development)

Demos

Hey all,

I posted a couple of demos I recorded after I got home from Afghanistan on the "Professional Americans" blog. They're not really political in nature, and none of them are great to dance to, but if you're interested, take a listen. They're mostly about different experiences or thoughts I had while over there.

To play the songs, just click play on the media player located on the right hand side of the blog page. I'm going to post two more tonight.

Caspian

This band came to Salt Lake City a year ago. A band some friends of mine play in opened for them. It was in a small record store here in SLC called Slowtrain. I brought my three year old son because I knew my friend's band was pretty laid back and Ethan, my son is obssesed with drums and keyboards. I knew he was sure to love watching. It turns out he was really into it all even to the point that he was trying to run up and pound on the drums and keyboards while my friends were playing them.

It came time for Caspian's set. They stood up before us all and the first thing they did was look at my son and say "we get pretty loud" my son and I smilled and stepped back a couple steps. The ethereal rocking rythum started. I thought to myself, "ehhh they aren't that loud". The music began to slowly almost imperceptibly crescendo. We took a couple more steps back. The volume increased, I felt my chest wibrating, we slipped to the front of the store as far away from the band as possible. By the end of the song we were standing outside on the sidewalk watching the steamed up windows of the store vibrate as passers by stared in amazement and asked what was going on inside. I was impressed by this performance, so powerful, so clear despite so much volume. Not listening to it live just simply can't do it justice but here it is nonetheless... Further In

Tim Seely/Actual Tigers

You've probably never heard of the now-defunct band, The Actual Tigers. Their first and only CD, Gravelled & Green, was released in 2001. They broke up a few years later. Now the lead singer/guitarist, Tim Seely, does solo acts at various bars and taverns in Seattle. You can find him perform about once every month or two, usually in Ballard. I like his first solo CD, Funeral Music, but I really enjoy his live shows because he plays a lot of old stuff from the Actual Tigers album.

Here are some one-liners from various reviews over the years:

• [Gravelled & Green] is quite reminiscent of the inquisitive adventures of Simon & Garfunkel, but offers charming soundscapes of early Wilco and the quirky funk of G. Love & Special Sauce.
• Their own musical convention is strictly theirs, and the Actual Tigers waltz into something interesting on "Gravelled & Green."
• Like the best songwriters, Seely smartly pairs his sunny melodies with dour lyrics, even if he has more trouble selling his disappointment and regret than he does his boundless optimism.
• Smooth, picked electric guitars, a gentle, simple bass drum pattern, a warm wash of subtle synthesizers, catchy, well-crafted vocals—“Yardwork in November” epitomizes all that is great about the Actual Tigers’ debut record, Gravelled & Green.
• Beatle-esque harmonies and chord changes abound in a varied mixture of slide guitars, electric pianos, horns, accordions, mellotrons, and exotic percussion rhythms.
• The Actual Tigers blend stream of consciousness lyrics with largely acoustic instrumentation to create inanely catchy songs that come off both well-polished and impromptu.
• The instrumentation is one of the cheeriest and catchiest on the albums. Even in songs about despair or class war, The Actual Tigers put on a happy face. And that is the lure of their music.
• They will catch you tapping your foot, singing along. Gravelled & Green is the album for this summer, and many to come.
• [Funeral Music] as a whole is a decidedly dreamy, late-night affair. Along with the usual noisemakers, Tim and friends conjure up an otherworldly musical landscape using orchestral samples, subtle electronics, steel guitar, layered background vocals, a “tiny bell” and various found sounds.

Anyway, Tim is performing this Saturday (May 3) at the Tractor Tavern in Ballard. Tickets are $8 and I think he goes on last of three bands who start at 9:30. Come check him out! For more info go to his website.