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Album reviews Music

Daphni – Jiaolong

Rating: NNNN


Caribou has made a career out of exploring various meeting points between psychedelic rock and electronic music, but even back in his early days when he was known as Manitoba, he was DJing on the side for kicks. That sideline became an opportunity to record tracks specifically for his DJ gigs, but until recently these never made it beyond his own personal collection. However, the joy he was getting from cranking out these raw, minimalist dance-floor tools and the response they got in the clubs spurred him to invent the Daphni moniker as an outlet for all the creative energy that didn’t fit the Caribou mandate.

Good thing he decided to share his secret weapons with the world. You can hear stripped-down echoes of some of the vibes on his last album, Swim, but everything is much more immediate, sparse and grimy. Most of it fits somewhere along the house/techno continuum and manages to sound both classic and completely contemporary. But Jiaolong feels more organic and warm than the kinds of bangers the genre’s superstars are playing in massive arenas.

If you’re looking for Caribou’s quirky pop sensibilities, you might be disappointed, but if you’ve ever lost your mind in front of a stack of bass bins in a dark warehouse, you’ll love this.

Top track: Yes, I Know

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