I've Lived on a Dirt Road All My Life

Manitoba was the stage-name for Daniel Snaith before a pending lawsuit forced him to change his alias to what we all know now as Caribou. While I suppose I've never been too huge on Caribou (especially 2010's Swim), I can easily say that Manitoba's Up in Flames has been probably one of my favorite and most enduring musical discoveries of 2010, and a great example of an artist pushing himself hard early in his career to make beautiful music. Much like the previously-posted Yo La Tengo, Manitoba's influences are diverse. There's hints and swells of shoe-gaze, electronica, folk, brit-pop, a lot of warm, whispery vocals, a squeeze of some wild sax playing, and some big ole' scoops of balls-out drums. Every single song on this album is so rich, so diverse, and contains so much musical texture, that it seems hard for me not to play the "genius" card when referring to Snaith. This album is a sonic adventure, so bring along your cape, hat, and your boots. It'll get messy out there, but mainly it'll get beautiful.

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