Musician Monday: Caribou

It's a beautiful Monday, so what better way to kick the week off is some cool new music? This Musician Monday I'm about to showcase a slightly different type of artist than I have before. Back in the middle of high school I was big into cool instrumental music, and naturally I discovered a lot of really cool artists that way. What's so cool about instrumental music is that the artist no longer can use a lot of lyrics as a crutch for the rest of the piece. Well made instrumental songs have a lot of complexity in the instruments that are potentially lost when one eschews normal vocals and lyrics. If there are lyrics in the songs, they are sparing and are there to only enhance the instrumental parts or provide a sound only the human voice can create. In this case the voice becomes its own separate instrument, adding another line to the complexity of the track. Now that I've explained my case for instrumental music, let's introduce one of my favorite artists in this genre: Caribou!

Caribou is a Canadian instrumental artist that takes  instrumental music in a much different direction than current popular genres like EDM, house, trap, etc. Focusing less on the heavy electronics and large bass drops, Caribou brings out the softer, chiller side of instrumental music. Utilizing the usual guitars, bass, drums, and synth, Caribou creates a wide variety of sounds that range of electronic ambiance to weird, trippy instrumental to straight jams with the perfect amount of electronic sound. If I were to picture Caribou as someone related to a more popular artist, I would say he would be Moby's misunderstood younger brother. While the extremes of his style are very eclectic, they make beautiful pieces when mixed masterfully together by Caribou. Just so you don't miss out on all of his great works, note that Caribou also went by Manitoba for a while and now has some works published under the name Daphni. My two favorite times to listen to Caribou are when I need to focus and need some cool background music or when I want to veg out and hear something unique. Here are some of my favorite songs by Caribou.

Sundialling (4:41)

Sundialling is one of my favorite instrumental songs for good reason. It has a great driving beat and it feels like there is actual progression in time while you listen. I always try to listen to this song before an exam or game to get myself positive and in the zone.

Tits & Ass: The Great Canadian Weekend (4:50)

Published under his original name, Tits & Ass: The Great Canadian Weekend is one of my favorite chill instrumental songs. It pivots around a few electronic based chords and good drum beats, and Caribou uses these to make a solid, low-key jam that should be in the background of any good hangout sesh or elevator.

The Barn (4:54)

My favorite song by Caribou, The Barn embraces his straight jam side the most of these three songs. It features some cool weird, background tones to compliment the guitar and bass-lines that form the basis of the song. This was the first song I found by Caribou, and it is one of the songs that got me into this chiller section of the instrumental style of music.

What do you think of Caribou and instrumental music in general? Share in the comments along with any artist you think should get recognition for their awesomeness. Stay tuned in the coming week for another New Sightings and the first of a multi-part series about Spotify, Brad Sucks, and the future of music.