Anthony Augustine

Caribou - Uptown Magazine

Over the past nine years, Dundas, Ont., native Dan Snaith — aka Caribou — has reinvented himself a number of time, but also managed to avoid alienating his growing fanbase.

While 2001’s Start Breaking My Heart (released when he was known as Manitoba, before legal problems forced him to change his name to Caribou) was rooted in sample-based, laptop pop and his Polaris Music Prize-winning album from 2007, Andorra, was an exploration of shoegaze-influenced German psychedelia, his latest album, Swim, channels his love of dance music through a filter that infuses a human element with technology —without losing the forward momentum that is at the heart of electronic music.

“I feel I set that up for myself kind of by accident,” says Snaith over the phone on his way to a tour stop in San Diego. “My second album was very different than my first and similarly, each one has been different than the next. That’s set up the expectation that it isn’t going to be the same thing every time.

“That suits me fine, as I have tended to be schizophrenic in the music I make. I just want to make the music I am most excited about and hopefully people will like it as well. I just can’t imagine wanting to do the same thing over again.”

While the PhD-holding producer has always been influenced by electronic music, the fluid, sonic undertones evident on Swim were actually hinted at on the closing track of Andorra. Snaith was trying to deconstruct how eclectic British producer James Holden approached his tracks.

“The idea for Swim really came from listening to Niobe again and thinking that there are a lot of different ways to push the ideas that were in that track forward,” Snaith says. “It started at the end of Andorra, which is funny because it is such a different-sounding record. I have been interested in dance music in the past, but I revitalized that interest in the last couple years. I have been DJing more and going to see DJs more than bands, and thinking more about the ideas that underlie dance music. It stems from being excited by the state of contemporary dance music, but isn’t necessarily influenced by those trends.”

In the past, Snaith has been more of an architect of sound, someone more focused on coaxing the most out of the machines he was using than writing lyrics.

That’s changed with Swim.

“With previous albums, the lyrics were almost there to mirror the melody,” Snaith says. “They have been fictional setups. If the melody evokes a particular theme to me, I write lyrics based around that. This is the first record where the lyrics are personal, and are about things going on in my life and/or the people close to me. I felt for the first time that I had things to write about.”

Download

Caribou – Sun (Altrice Remix)
 Tucson-based producer Altrice’s winning submission to Caribou’s remix competition.

Originally appeared on the cover of the June 3rd edition of Uptown Magazine.

Winnipeg Free Press - May 27th

AFTER delayed in­itial shipments of Apple’s newest device internationally, Can­adians can finally get their hands on the much-hyped iPad tomor­row without resorting to road trips to the U.S. or shipping them to friends south of the border.

Don’t get too excited, though: Apple is already reporting short­ages of the both the Wi-Fi and 3G model, and if you didn’t pre­order your device in early May, you might be out of luck for a couple of weeks.

Currently, iPads are outselling Macs two to one, with the Cupertino, Calif.-based company selling more than 200,000 devices a week in the U.S. alone. I have had my iPad for about three weeks now and I am already using my laptop less. Overall, I have been pleased with the performance of the multimedia driven device.

Here are some things you should think about if you are planning to pick one up:

THINGS I LIKED ABOUT THE iPAD

1. Super easy to set up and integrate your contacts, calendar and email accounts.

2. One of the places the iPad really shines is as an e-reader. While it will never replace the tactile feel of a book, Apple has done a great job in making you forget you aren’t actually reading a book. The iBook store offers a reasonably priced, wide selection of titles. Even though a Canadian version of the store launches tomorrow, you still might want to set up a U.S. iTunes account and pick up some gift cards on eBay or on your next trip to the States, as there will be some items you won’t be able to find here in Canada. It’s easy to do and opens up a world of Apps and books you can’t buy from the Canadian store. Even if you already have a Kindle or prefer Amazon’s book selection, you can download a free App that will let you read Kindle e-books on the device.

3. The interface is very familiar to anyone with an iPhone or iTouch, but still very intuitive for someone who has never picked up an Apple device before.

4. If you were worried about the battery life of the iPad, you have nothing to be concerned about. Even with heavy use, you should be able to get 10-plus hours from the device.

5. Although early criticism centred around the fact that hybrid device was built more for consumption than creation, Apple’s iWork suite (Numbers, Keynote and Pages) are surprisingly robust and can handle most of the tasks even a power-user would throw at them. The device is also easy to type on, once you spend a bit of time breaking those proper typing habits you picked up over the years.

THINGS I DIDN’T LIKE ABOUT THE iPAD

1. If you plan on doing a lot of reading in natural light, you might want to pick up a Kindle. The iPad is almost impossible to use outdoors.

2. One major pain is that the device does not support Flash video. What this means is that from time to time you will come across video on the web that you won’t be able to view. With Apple and Adobe in a full-on war of words, I can’t see this changing anytime soon.

3. The iPad doesn’t currently support multi-tasking, which basically means you won’t be able to listen to streaming audio while reading your new e-book. While this obviously improves battery life, it can be frustrating at times.

4.The iPad has no front-facing video camera, which would have allowed you to video chat with your friends on Skype, Google or iChat. With the new iPhone rumoured to have a front-faced camera, it is a shame they didn’t include one in the iPad. Obviously this was done to keep costs down and give you a reason to buy the 2nd-generation version.

5. No HDMI out. It would be nice to be able to plug the device into a TV.

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition May 27, 2010 E5

Uptown Magazine - May 27th

Reclaiming Privacy
If the recent privacy changes on the world’s largest social-networking site have you frustrated or confused, you might want to spend a few minutes running the recently launched Reclaiming Privacy tool. After a simple drag and drop installation process, you can run the free tool and get feedback on how secure six different categories are based on your Facebook privacy settings. It’s a dead-simple way to see how your privacy is handled on Facebook and just how exposed some of your information may be. If you aren’t happy with your settings, there are plenty of tutorials out there about how to tweak them. There is only one drawback — the tool currently doesn’t check on your photo and status-update security; that will be added shortly. Every Facebook user should run this essential tool if they plan on continuing to use the social network.

Google Wave Now Open to Everyone
If you’ve been dying to see what all the hype surrounding Google’s self-described “personal communication and collaboration tool” is about, Wave is finally out of invite-only beta testing. Trying to bring together the best features of email, instant messaging, Wikis and social networking, it hasn’t really lived up to the early hype. Limited to 100,000 initial users, it didn’t explode the way Google probably hoped. That could be because the number of users and people you could connect with was limited, or it could be because people aren’t able to immediately see how they can integrate it into their personal and work lives. Like Google’s attempt at social networking, Buzz, time will tell if this new communication tool takes off with the general public. 

Quick Hits

MP3 of the Week: The Empty Standards – Rollin’
If you need a new soundtrack for the campfire at the lake this summer, you should get familiar with homegrown roots rockers The Empty Standards. Their six-song EP is a perfect introduction to one of Winnipeg’s best-kept secrets. You can catch them live on June 5 at Times Change(d) High and Lonesome Club with the Red River Ramblers.

Video of the Week: Transistor Sound & Lighting Co. – Jaded & Elated (live)
Transistor Sound & Lighting Co. was one of those bands in the ’90s poised to be the next big thing but, for whatever reason, never found the success it deserved. The band’s fuzzed-out low-fi pop garnered it a major-label deal, cross-country tours and airplay on MuchMusic (back when the station actually played videos). Ultimately, Transistor burned out after it was chewed up by the music-industry machine, only releasing one amazing full-length album and a couple seven inches.

Winnipeg Free Press - May 20th

Your Open Book

STILL haven’t taken the time to figure out Facebook’s confusing privacy controls (50 settings with more than 170 options)? Don’t really care about the recent changes the company has made in how they handle and display your personal data? While the socially driven advantages of the changes to world’s largest social-networking website aren’t immediate clear, there are a number of problems that can emerge if you don’t take control of your account and personal data.

“Some aspects of the idea sound good in theory, because they will make the web more personal,” writes Andy Goldberg for Monstersandcritics.com. “But it also means that you could unwittingly expose your web activities to your wife, employer or anyone of the hundreds of people who might be ‘friends’ onFacebookbut who in reality are just as likely to be mere acquaintances, work colleagues or rivals.”

The Book’s recent changes scare most privacy advocates; they can open up your profile in ways you never imagined when you signed up to upload some pictures, reconnect with some high school friends and keep informed of events in your area.

If you are still aren’t convinced you need to take a look at your privacy settings or think that committing social-networking suicide is taking things to the extreme, take a look at Youropenbook.org, which exposes how public information onFacebookhas become. Using search terms like “cheating on tests,” “don’t tell anyone,” “playing hooky,” “I hate my job” and anything else you can think of, Your Open Book shows how millions of profiles are now extremely public — even if the owners don’t know it.

Audiggle

IF you hang around with someone who has an iPhone, chances are you have seen him whip out his device and use the Shazam app to figure out what song is playing on the radio, being featured in a TV show or blasting at the nightclub.

Similar toShazamon the iPhone,Audiggleis a PC-based software that allows users to identify music they come across on the web. Whether it comes from a YouTube clip, a TV show online, Internet radio, a DVD or any other audio source you may stumble upon, Audiggle should be able to recognize it.

Along with identifying the artist and title, this rich webmashup will generate links to lyrics, videos, concert dates and a bunch of other relevant band info. WhileShazam’s strength is that it is mobile and is always in your pocket, Audiggle could be useful in some situations when you are surfing the web.

 Unshake

WHILE nearly every cellphone now has a digital camera, chances are unless you have hands as steady as a surgeon’s, your I-can’t-believe-I’m-taking-this-photo of MillaJovovich jogging down Broadway is probably going to come out blurry. Before you delete those low-light, blurred snaps you took last night, give Unshake a try. While it won’t make your unfocused picture perfect, it may clean it up enough to show around to your friends — and then try to sell to TMZ or Perez Hilton.

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition May 20, 2010 E3

Uptown Magazine - May 20

Banksy in Toronto

In town for a screening of his new documentary, Exit Through the Gift Shop, reclusive street artist Banksy recently left his instantly recognizable mark in Toronto. While some of the artist’s pieces have been already painted over, Torontoist.com has put up a gallery of the socially driven street art that popped up around the Big Smoke.

The Black Dog’s Drifting Ambient Mix

Back during the anything-goes early days of the warehouse and rave scene, chill-out rooms were an indispensable part of the party. Fast forward 10 years and you’ll be hard- pressed to find ambient music being played at electronic music events. As a promotional tie-in to The Black Dog’s recent Music For Real Airports album, the group is offering up a free ambient mix featuring artists such as Tim Hecker (who performs live at the West End on June 11), Stars of the Lid and Aphex Twin.

Zollipop
Web-savvy local foodies have a number of blogs they can frequent, and Zollipop is a relative newcomer on the scene. Recent articles have included “Effortless Escargot with Morels” (which are starting to show up in local stores), “The Mobile Maître d’ Experience” and a review of newish tapas joint Segovia. If you are also a fan of vibrant food porn pics, Zollipop has that covered, too.

Quick Hits

Video of the Week: Drastik – Red Bull Thre3 Style Winning Set
 Catch the winner of the Red Bull Thre3 Style elimination in Kingston, Ont., this Thursday at The Pyramid alongside the Eh! Team’s DJ Illo and Winnipeg’s favorite DJ duo, Co-op and Hunnicutt. You can check Drastik’s genre-bending skills in this 15-minute video set.

MP3 of the Week: Ninja Tune Label spotlight
 Few labels have been able to grow independently and still keep their original artistic vision like Matt Black and Jonathan More’s iconic Ninja Tune Label has over the past 20 years. Offering up free tracks from a number of up-and-coming artists, including Toddla T., Andreya Triana, Paris Suit Yourself and a handful of other Ninja Tune, Big Dada and Counter (their rock offshoot) acts, NME’s label profile should bring you up to speed on the direction the label is heading.

Banksy in New York

Uptown Magazine - May 13th

Prime Minister Harper promises to enact a Canadian DMCA in six weeks
If you haven’t been following the recent developments in the creation of a U.S.-style copyright act by the Canadian government, you may have missed the fact that the Prime Minister’s office has instructed Canadian Heritage Minister James Moore and Industry Minister Tony Clement to finalize the framework and direction of the upcoming bill. Despite opposition from Canadians at public hearings and through letters, emails and phone calls to their MPs — plus the fact that most Canadian artists do not want to see a rigid copyright act like the one south of the border, which, incidentally, hasn’t done much to curb downloading or copyright infringement in that country — the Canadian government has caved to pressure from the U.S. and is going to push through the controversial changes. While there is still time to contact your MP and voice your concern, the Tories don’t have a good track record on listening to what Canadians really want. “What a goddamned disaster. The Tories have shown — yet again — their utter contempt for public opinion and Canadian culture and small business when these present an inconvenience to more windfall profits for offshore entertainment giants,” says Boing Boing’s Cory Doctorow. “There’s only one thing stupider than being the first country to enact the DMCA, in spite of its obvious shortcomings: enacting the DMCA after the first country has spent a decade showing how rotten and backwards this approach to copyright is.”

IDisown4U
Having problems with your family? If you want to ensure that you burn those bridges completely (but don’t want to get your hands dirty), the brains behind IDump4You have started up a new online venture called IDisown4U that will do all the messy work for you. If you’ve heard any of the breakup calls he has made on IDump4You, you know what type of approach Bradley is going to take. IDisown4U is the perfect solution for anyone looking to put some serious distance between themselves and the family member they’re feuding with.

Quick Hits

Dubmatix – London Calling (featuring Don Lettes)
 Balanced Records’ Dubmatix offers up his reworked version of The Clash’s London Calling. Hopefully we’ll get to hear it this live on June 19 at the Manitoba Electronic Music Exhibition — he’s a featured performer at the free Old Market Square portion of the fledgling festival.

MP3 of the Week: DJ Co-op – Jazz Fest Mix
Known for his genre-bending mixes, DJ Co-op was the perfect choice to pull together artists from this year’s Jazz Fest into one cohesive hour of music. Featuring cuts from The Budos Band, The Roots, Great Lake Swimmers and a slew of other performers, it’s the perfect soundtrack for pre-gaming Jazz Fest-goers.

Winnipeg Free Press - May 13th

Fist Pumping 4 Love

HE was the brains behind Brody Jenner’s ill-fated Fox reality show The Princes of Malibu, he is the resident bad boy on MTV’s The Hills and now it looks as if Spencer Pratt is going to take on Jersey Shore head-on with his new TV venture, Fist Pumping 4 Love. On April 26, Pratt wrote “If The Hills was on for six seasons, then Jersey Shore will be on for a hundred seasons. I can’t believe I didn’t watch this show before.”

Fist Pumping features Snooki’s ex-boyfriend Emilio Masella — Pratt contacted Masella via Twitter about creating a new TV show and the rest is history. (Masella was unceremoniously dumped by the Jersey Shore star via voicemail after she felt that Masella was using their relationship to further his TV career. It looks now like she wasn’t too far off.)

The show will follow Masella on his quest across America in search of true love. “I want a real guidette who can speak Italian, so we are prepared to take my search from Hollywood, Calif., to the streets of Howard Beach in Queens, N.Y.,” Masella told People.com.

A short trailer has been posted to Fistpumping4love.com.

10 Reasons to Delete Facebook

IN the past few years, Facebook has become the dominant social-networking platform and one of the central spots on the web to post photos, chat with friends and family and find out about events in your area. If you spend any time on the social-networking giant, the constant changes to how the site functions and the way that it shares your information can be extremely frustrating to keep up with. While Twitter has always been a publicly driven way to share information about yourself, Facebook took the opposite approach in the beginning and was more of a gated community in how they handled your info and privacy. As the site has grown, so has the way The Book operates. Through a series of small, yet significant changes, more and more of the personal information on your profile is now being shared.

For many users, the most recent changes were the final straw. While it is apparent to most users that Facebook still plays a huge role in online life, for many power-users the fact they are slowly losing control of their personal info is becoming more and more problematic.

While most users won’t go as far as deleting their account (which Facebook makes nearly impossible to do), more and more people are trimming down the info they put in their profiles as a way to counteract the recent changes to the site.

If you are on the fence about what you should do, Dan Yoder of Pop.is gives you 10 Reasons to Delete Facebook. From Facebook’s all-out war on privacy to the site’s recent bait-and-switch techniques, there are plenty of reasons to resurrect that old MySpace account or give Twitter a try.

“Facebook gets you to share information that you might not otherwise share, and then they make it publicly available” explains Yoder. “Since they are in the business of monetizing information about you for advertising purposes, this amounts to tricking their users into giving advertisers information about themselves.”

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition May 13, 2010 E3

Banksy in Toronto

More pictures here.