Pump Up My Heart

Ooh, loving this. Dan Snaith aka Caribou has just released his own version of/tribute to the M/A/R/R/S classic, truncating the title to simply Volume.

Dan's been on a bit of a roll, releasing Broke My Heart in June and following it up in July with a brace of remixes by Harry Hayes and Champion aka Reiss Hanson.

On the strength of these bangers, the forthcoming album (I'm assuming there is one!) will be... best played loud.

 

 

Flamingo Out Of Your Mind

Dan Snaith aka Caribou released his first new song in nearly three years at the beginning of April. 

 

Honey is a four-minute banger, closer to the club-friendly style of his other nom de plume Daphni than the unadulterated psychedelic Sixties stylings of Caribou. Yet, Dan has had no hesitation in giving the latter's music over to other artists for a radical makeover, including friend and sounding board Kieran Hebden aka Four Tet.

No surprise then to read that Kieran has had a hand in arranging this song with Dan. Honey is mixed by long time collaborator David Wrench, whose current project audiobooks with Evangeline Ling is no stranger to lure of the dancefloor either.

No sign of any remixes as yet, but Honey is accompanied by a mind-melting video. Avoid staring at blank walls after watching this, otherwise you'll be seeing flamingos for hours afterwards.

On the Bandcamp Friday just gone (and the last one until September), Dan was also offering his digital back catalogue as a name your price option so I took the opportunity to pick up the remix companions for the albums Swim (2010) and Suddenly (2020). I'd had a few tracks of each so it was a good chance to purchase the full collections. 

Two of the previously owned remixes included the above mentioned artists, so here's Never Come Back from Suddenly, reworked by Four Tet, and Odessa from Swim stripped down to a 'drumapella' by David Wrench. I'm looking forward to listening to the rest over the coming week.

 

 

 

 

What Have I Done? Where Have You Gone?

Today's selection features Caribou aka Dan Snaith and is a good example of one of the motivating forces behind this blog, a simple excuse to rummage around in my virtual record box and dust off some music that I haven't listened to in a while. 

Dan Snaith's been poorly served by my collection in that regard as I have relatively little of his music, far less than I thought to be honest, a few hours' worth spread across EPs, album tracks and remixes for other artists. Hardly anything from the past decade either, which I need to address.

I first encountered Dan Snaith via Jockey Slut, an essential read in the 1990s*. By the start of the 21st century, it was on it's last legs I guess but in those final moments it delivered a brilliant series of cover-mounted CDs across a year titled Disco Pogo For Punks In Pumps. Volume 4 (March 2003) kicked off with Hendrix With Ko by Manitoba, Snaith's original stage name.

 

By chance, I happened to be at a record fair shortly after and, amongst my music haul, came away with a promo CD of the Jacknuggeted EP by Manitoba. Shortly after releasing second album Up In Flames, Dan Snaith was subject to threats of legal action from Richard 'Handsome Dick' Manitoba and thus Caribou was born.

As both names suggest, Dan was born in Canada and I don't know if it's the foreknowledge of this but listening to his music evokes imagery of driving through forests, mountains in the background, passing by vast lakes and grasslands, a hint of hidden life deep beyond the trees that race past in a blur. Or sometimes, it just sounds like a modern take on Sixties psychedelic folk. Either way, there's something comforting yet uncomfortable about listening to his work. 

Over three quarters of an hour, you can find out for yourself, as Dan meets Hot Chip, Oh No Ono, Kelley Polar and Jack Tennis and revisits his old band before returning home with David Wrench to watch the sun go down and day turn to night. Beats a washed out Wednesday in the UK, in my book.

 

1) She's The One (Hot Chip Remix By Joe Goddard): Caribou (2007)

2) Eleanor Speaks (Caribou Remix): Oh No Ono (2010)

3) We Live In An Expanding Universe (Caribou Remix): Kelley Polar (2008)

4) Melody Day (Four Tet Remix By Kieran Hebden): Caribou (2007) 

5) Olé: Manitoba (2003)

6) Sun (Jack Tennis Remix By Tobi Schwermann): Caribou (2010)

7) After Hours (Album Version By Dan Snaith & David Wrench): Caribou (2007)

 

What Have I Done? Where Have You Gone? (44:56) (Box) (Mega) 

 

* In 2022, following a successful crowdfunder campaign, the creators of Jockey Slut launched a new twice-yearly magazine called Disco Pogo.