In association with MeanRed
Caribou
Having followed up his Polaris Prize-winning 2007 record Andorra with the universally adored Swim in 2010, Dan Snaith has spent the intervening five years touring the world, bringing not only the sounds of Caribou to the stage but proving his immeasurable worth as a DJ with epic 7½-hour-long sets. In 2012, Caribou were personally invited to join Radiohead on the road while Dan released his first album under the guise of his dancefloor-loving pseudonym Daphni to widespread critical acclaim. Following the shape-shifting sounds of that album (Jiaolong) and the brightly textured, fluid constructions of Swim – both inward-looking records in their own way – Dan withdrew to the basement once more to work on Caribou’s next opus. Only he didn’t; his latest album, Our Love (2014), isn’t the sound of isolated creation but the sound of Dan at his most connected – with love for his listeners, his collaborators, and those closest to him.
It’s soul music! And truly universal; uniting rhythm and styles from our world over to help you move, relate and be, Sinkane’s latest album, Mean Love, rolls like an emotional, existential history of the artist. Co-produced with long-time Sinkane collaborator and childhood friend Greg Lofaro, Ahmed Gallab has created an altogether unique compound of sound, stylistically nostalgic and ultramodern at the same time. From Gallab’s childhood in Sudan there is a Pan-African influence of popular Sudanese music and haqibah, as well as distinct horn and synth arrangements more common to East Africa. This background merges with the lessons learned from Ahmed‘s stints with obsessive craftsmen such as Caribou, Yeasayer and Of Montreal, and especially the monumental task he underwent as musical director of “ATOMIC BOMB! The Music of William Onyeabor.”