Caribou - Andorra

Caribou, formerly Manitoba (more on that later) is one Dr. Daniel Snaith originally of Dundas, Ontario, Canada, and now of London, England. His album Andorra is the fifth in our series featuring shortlisted Polaris Music Prize nominees. It is a beautiful journey of psychedelic electronic rock-noise, and deserves a devoted listening.

Now the hilarious part of the story. In late 2004, Caribou was born out of the ashes of a lawsuit enacted by aging punk rocker turned wrestler Richard 'Handsome Dick' Manitoba. In surely one of the most bizarre trademark lawsuits in recent years 'Handsome Dick' sued Snaith for unlawfully using the name Manitoba – a name incidentally shared by one of Canada’s ten provinces. Finding himself limited by the high-priced realities of trademark law, and ultimately uninterested in pursuing the contest, Snaith opted to take the high road and change his nom de rock to Caribou.

From 2007's Andorra, Melody Day...

The shortlisters:
Black Mountain - In The Future, Plants And Animals - Parc Avenue, Basia Bulat - Oh, My Darling, Stars - In Our Bedroom After The War, Caribou - Andorra, Shad - The Old Prince, Kathleen Edwards - Asking For Flowers, Two Hours Traffic - Little Jabs, Holy Fuck - LP, The Weakerthans - Reunion Tour

Bajofondo - Pa' Bailar

It's the official North American release of the tangotastic sophomore recording from Bajofondo (formerly Bajofondo Tango Club). Mar Dulce breathes more fresh life into the music of the Río de la Plata with infinitely danceable beats and satisfyingly melancholy melodies.

The album features collaborations with the great Elvis Costello, as well as Nelly Furtado, Julieta Venegas, Gustavo Cerati, Ryota Komatsu, La Mala Rodriguez, Santullo, Juan Subira and the final recorded performance by legendary Uruguayan tango diva Lagrima Rios.



Links inside: Links to more tracks on Bajofondo's MySpace page; click-through-to-buy albums.

The Octopus Project

Wikipedia describes them as "indietronic," which I guess is a blend of "independent" and "electronic." I suppose that's fair, although I thought independent was a status and not a genre. What do I know? I'll tell you: I love the sound of this tune. It's a forward-thinking poppy rocky electronicky rollicking good time. I guess that's what indietronic means.

Second Person

The story of this British trip-hop band is pretty neat. They raised the funds to create their second album (all $50K) through sellaband.com, a website which allows the public to directly support musical groups by becoming "Believers" and buying "parts" in the band. For a more detailed explanation of sellaband, click here.

To see what 741 Believers helped produce, click play.