Melts Away Again

Dan Snaith is a genius. There, I said it.

I first found Dan's music via a Jockey Slut magazine cover mount CD in 2003, a track called Hendrix With Ko under his pseudonym Manitoba. This prompted me to pick up a secondhand promo CD of the Jacknuggeted EP and the rest, as they say, is history.

Manitoba was relatively short-lived, originating in 2000 and formally brought to an end in 2004 thanks to a lawsuit from one Richard "Handsome Dick" Manitoba. Dick, as I'll call him, was formerly hired by 70s proto-punks The Dictators as the tour cook, went on to front the band and released an album in 1990 as Manitoba's Wild Kingdom. Enough, it seems, to threaten Dan with trademark infringement.

In 2005, Dan released his second album, The Milk Of Human Kindness, his debut as Caribou, an alias which remains active to this day. Shirking off the folktronica label attached to Manitoba, Dan has used Caribou as a vehicle to explore psychedelic realms and Sixties-style harmony vocals. 

This reached a perfect distillation in follow-up albums Andorra (2007) and Swim (2010), containing the singles Melody Day, Odessa and Sun. 

Dan evolved a further identity, Daphni, in 2012 which took a slightly different path to the dancefloor, balancing between electronic weirdness and winking humour. There are blurred lines between Daphni and Caribou, the sum total being a mass of music that the listener can lose themselves in for hours on end.

Daphni's most recent album, Butterfly, has been a 2026 highlight for me, especially in it's expanded 29-track deluxe edition, running at over 100 minutes.

For today's selection, I've opted for a more manageable 15 tracks and 69 minutes, which may be particularly helpful if you are new to Dan's music.

The selection starts with the earliest track in my collection, a Manitoba remix of Four Tet from 2001. Dan has frequently collaborated with Kieran Hebden aka Four Tet over the years, and Kieron reappears right near the end with a beautiful Four Tet remix of Melody Day.

Along the way, the mix spans Dan's career, early EPs from Manitoba and Caribou, a clutch of remixes , including Toro Y Moi, Floating Points, Kidstreet and David Wrench and a couple of short songs from Butterfly.

Venice-based producer Kelbin aka Luca Favaretto delivers a brace of remixes, 2023 single Cloudy preceded by current album highlight Sad Piano House. They are both things of great beauty, floating above the frenetic beats.

The selection closes with a Caribou EP track from 2005, as the sounds melt away into the ether. Well, until 'play' is pressed and it starts all over again.

1) Hilarious Movie Of The 90’s (Manitoba Remix): Four Tet (2001)

2) The Spiritually Immature Mansion: Caribou (2005)

3) Miles Smiles: Daphni (2026)

4) Home (Toro Y Moi Remix): Caribou (2021)

5) Sister (Floating Points Remix): Caribou (2020)

6) Sun (Kidstreet Remix): Caribou (2010)

7) Thistles And Felt: Manitoba (2003)

8) Goldie: Daphni (2026)

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

10) Odessa (David Wrench's Drumapella): Caribou (2010)

11) Can't Do Without You (Album Version): Caribou (2014)

12) Sad Piano House (Kelbin Remix): Daphni (2026)

13) Cloudy (Kelbin Remix): Daphni (2023) 

14) Melody Day (Four Tet Remix): Caribou (2007)

15) The Barn: Caribou (2005)

2001: Paws EP: 1

2003: Jacknuggeted EP: 7

2005: Marino EP: 15

2005: Yeti EP: 2

2007: Melody Day EP: 14

2008: Entropy Reigns EP: 9

2010: Odessa EP: 10

2010: Sun EP: 6

2014: Our Love: 11

2020: Never Come Back / Sister EP: 5

2021: Suddenly Remixes: 4

2023: Cloudy EP: 13

2026: Butterfly: 3, 8

2026: Sad Piano House/Cloudy EP: 12

Melts Away Again (1:09:01) (GD) (M)

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.