Following a cease-and-desist letter from "Handsome" Dick Manitoba, "electronic musician" Dan Snaith switched names to the equally Canadian Caribou and set about releasing The Milk of Human Kindness. And it is a, I don't know, "handsome" record - Snaith simply dictates the flow of emotions and events on this record, with the kind of command presence rarely seen.

Snaith folds the dustiest rock and soul records from your parents' basement bins into spacey shoegazer drones and manically tight percussion. And Milk, a sonic break from Up in Flames, is that treasured thing that demands continued listening, as the hidden sounds resting beneath the big beats and distortion clouds patiently reveal themselves. And if it comes to another idiotic cease-and-desist order from some erstwhile punker or whoever, Mr. Snaith can have my name, as long as he keeps it coming.

Rob Albanese
May 10, 2005