Search - Caribou :: Milk of Human Kindness

Something To Dunk Your Cookies Into

Mark Eremite | Seoul, South Korea | 04/03/2007

(4 out of 5 stars)

"People hear the word "electronica" and who-knows-what materializes in their minds. The genre (just like it's name) is so indefinable as to make naming it an exercise in anonymous redundancy. It's about as effective as labels like "guitar music" or "mystery novel" or "independent film." Unfortunately, many musicians and labels take advantage of that ambiguity to pump out and pre-package albums that have as much going for them as a bowl of warm rocks. The "genre" isn't something to hide behind -- it is a limitless resource of musical wealth.



Caribou, once Manitoba, have done with "electronica" what Zepplin did with "guitar music," what Christie did with "mystery novels," what Aronofsky did with "independent film." If electricity is the medium, then Caribou has sculpted everything from splintery lightning bolts ("A Final Warning") to the hum of static cling ("Drumheller"). "The Milk of Human Kindness" is truly poetic, an artistic realization made of ones and zeroes.



The only consistent thread of the songs is their all-encompassing ingenuity. Each track is a neural brainstorm, an unpredictable crackle of musical static, but none of them sound the same. "Pelican Narrows" is an eerily patient organ-and-bells number. "Bees" is a clean-n-muddy retro-pop ditty. "Hello Hammerheads," "Yeti," and "Barnowl" play with finger cymbals, off-key humming, and restless commercial noise to make songs that are playfully aggressive, aural acrobatics that are amazing but not showy, just great music.



It's too bad the album is so short because, as the saying goes, time flies when you're having fun. The record is barely forty minutes long, but you'll swear it's ten; that's how good it is. Maybe next time Caribou can give us an entire gallon of that "milk," instead of just one tantalizing pint."