PART ONE: MANITOBA aka Caribou
I remember it hit me and it hit me hard the day when I sat down with Manitoba’s(now goes under the name Caribou) Start Breaking My Heart, it was the beginning of my relationship with being addicted to buying electronic music on its release day and following artists that weren’t just on the radio or what I heard from friends. During that time I had this surge of wanting to build furniture, design clothes, I drew almost daily and wanted to do interior architecture for minimal homes and this was just the crazy uncontrollable push that kept my gears turning in the middle of the night. These songs all have this feel to them of a perfect soundtrack for a creative loners world, plenty of detail in the melodies and familiar sounds from childhood shows and toys.
Jay Howell first played “Brandon” for me at Espresso Metro during a sound check for a command Collective show. That was a defining moment for me as far as inspiration.
The breakdown and on of “Brandon” might be one of my favorite moments in music, the drop is soo rough around the edges(that split second knowing that so much is about to drop in), love it.
“pauls birthday” is another one of my favorites from that album. i remember listening to this at 5am going 100 mph through new mexico on a month long road trip across america. shit kept me going! i wish this was still a popular genre, oh well.
Got this from Neptune Records back in the day soon after it dropped. ‘Brandon’ is great. Reminds me a bit of the theme to ‘Taxi’: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kzhwx8aOO0A
slofu –
ah Neptune and Bob James…mmmmmmm
That Manitoba/Caribou & Four Tet show was d0pe.
That’s the stage of life I’m in right now.
16, only months away from graduation, and crazy obsessed with everything design. I’m printing huge amounts and burning through sketchbooks with everything from fashion to furniture to architecture to typography.
This blog, and those who write it are a huge influence on my life and I can only thank you for being so amazing.
I’m not huge on the really repetitive music right now, but I think it’s something of an acquired taste, so I’m trying. I’m more of a Kings of Convenience kinda guy right now.
Posts like theses are Why I’m Addicted to ISO50
The Manitoba album is a classic – a favorite for sure.
I love the Electronic music myself, and picked that up mostly becasue I am from Brandon, Manitoba – si I had to get it no matter what.
Nice blog.!
manitoba=awesome
taxi theme song=awesome
also what up DKRK from another Canadian
If you like Caribou you should also check the music of Kim Hiorthoy. He did some gigs with Caribou in Europe. However, his live sets are much more techno than his recordings.
damn you jakub! Always hitting the mark spot on.
Start Breaking my Heart was my first OBSESSION in electronic music. Everything from the Cover art to the track ordering. I studied this album like no other in my entire life.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jyio_v118i4
Lemon Yoghourt had the most impact on me. While the other’s are just genius compositions, this track was the first to make me understand that, musically, chaos and be harnessed to create something so beautiful.
Oh man… great Album. I’ve been listening to this one for years.
i remember one of the best moments for me with all this stuff was when i started getting into alice coltrane. a monastic trio. journey in satchidananda. ptah the el daoud. and then realized a fantastic common thread between all my favourite electronic musicians.. you can hear it amazingly clearly in paul’s birthday but four tet has the same vibe all over the place too. flying lotus was the nail in the coffin as far as that was concerned.
nice post jakub.
Jakub, that was such a great album. The forced name change was unfortunate—Caribou just doesn’t do it for me like Manitoba did. Screw Richard Manitoba. I got turned onto Start Breaking My Heart early in college by a good high school friend who would protest my playing a Dieselboy or Roni Size CD in the past, asking to listen to something more lyrical, more melodic. Manitoba as an artist signifies to me a point in time when I began to gravitate toward electronic artists that blended great beats and hooks with a songwriter’s sensibility.
Thanks for the post (and time-warp).
Thanks for posting this. I hadn’t listened to this album in a long time. Sitting in my studio on a cold Sunday in DUMBO it was perfect. It also made me dig through some older stuff like Logical Progression 1. The music posts on this site are fantastic – keeps someone out of the loop like myself somewhat in it I suppose.
Manitoba is one of my all time favorite musicians. This blog has a collection of all of his live synched visuals/videos from Marino/Milk of Human Kindness. REALLY great stuff.
http://delicious9.wordpress.com/caribou-marino-the-dvd/
I’ve listened to this one obsessively and had Dan sign my copy a few years ago, when he opened for Broadcast. But my first real electronic music obsession was a tie between Amon Tobin and Console.