Caribou Put Best Foot Forward

Lee's Palace

Toronto, ON

on Mar 20 2008

Cameron Gordon (CHARTattack)

03/24/2008 1:30pm

It's important for any artist to set the bar high when playing the same, umm, bar on back-to-back nights. Dan Snaith and his tightly wound players in Caribou did just that, kicking ass and taking names during the first of two shows at Toronto's Lee Palace.

The fact that this band can seriously shred live without much in the way of stage presence is a testament to the talent and technical prowess of their members. Snaith is obviously the ringleader but it's really drummer Brad Weber who was the focal point of this performance. Positioned up front with a good-sized drum kit at stage right, Weber was a unifying presence the entire night, seriously pounding away and slamming on the breaks when needed. Both were thrilling. Not to be outdone, Snaith had his own kit and joined Weber in the beats periodically, playing in time and trying to keep up. The twin drummers made for a modern version of duelling banjos, less the country twang and sodomy.

A good chunk of the set list was drawn from Caribou's 2007 full-length, Andorra, and each tune was mercurially upsized with extra beats, clatter and intensity. Tunes like "She's The One" were seriously stretched to the max, but in a good way as the songs were still gaining momentum even when they hit the six or seven minute mark. The crowd was prototypically blase (as per usual in Toronto) during the early going, but the band eventually induced some foot shuffling. Some knuckleheads up front even spazzed out a bit and tried to start a mosh pit. It didn't work.

Caribou are often miscast as an electronic act by critics, but at this stage (and on stage) they're closer to a Kraut-rock outfit in spirit and Japan's Boredoms in performance. The latter isn't just in reference to the twin drum set-up, but also in terms of repetition and song structure. But, Snaith's pop tendencies always manage to shine through and his melodies were able to eek through the dissonance time and again.

The only real complaint is that Snaith's vocals were barely audible the entire night, which seems like a strange comment when dealing with an act where words are really secondary. Still, beyond a few snippets from "Hello Hammerheads" (from 2005's The Milk Of Human Kindness) and some odd phrases, Snaith's voice was completely drowned out for the entirety of the performance. I guess a man needs priorities and truthfully, his efforts are best extended elsewhere.

The band's projector bathed the stage background in primordially trippy visuals. As an added bonus, Snaith played the show barefoot(!), making this Caribou gig one "toe"tally worth seeing.