What was it that Van Morrison said? Something about, if he was a gunslinger, “There’d be a lot of dead copycats about.” Now, don’t think we are condoning the slaying of “dude from Counting Crows” (but DO feel free to pistol-whip him if he should pass by your bus stop), but Van the Man has a point, up to a point. Poor imitators are depressing but inevitable; unoriginal, unauthentic, space-wasters are even more stomach-churning than copycats. That’s why we love to report news on genre-bustin’ mavericks like one man grandstand Dan Snaith, or Caribou as he has been known for the last six years.
Caribou returns with a new album on April 20 called Swim via Merge Records (City Slang elsewhere, April 19). By all accounts and recent appearances (culminating in the free-for-all Vibration Ensemble performances September past), Snaith will be leaping onto unchartered dancefloors this year. I’m no Nostradumbass, but after hearing Swim’s leadoff track “Odessa,” I predict a different, still amazing Caribou this year, one who is not only, in his own words, attempting to find his “own sonic vocabulary,” but one who is heck-bent on shaking titties and moving moobs. You can stream the track at the Chocolate Grinder.
Istanbul, not Constantinople. Caribou, not Manitoba.
01. Odessa
02. Sun
03. Kaili
04. Found Out
05. Bowls
06. Leave House
07. Hannibal
08. Lalibela
09. Jamelia
• Caribou: http://www.myspace.com/cariboumanitoba
• Merge Records: http://www.mergerecords.com
• City Slang: http://www.cityslang.com