Caribou picks his top tracks from ‘The Longest Mixtape’
We asked Dan Snaith for five favourites from his epic, 1,000-song playlist
Back in January, Dan Snaith – the Canadian producer of ace music as Caribou and Daphni – dropped a massive YouTube playlist called ‘The Longest Mixtape’. Its 1,000 tracks charted the eclectic influences on Caribou’s latest record ‘Our Love’, one of the best albums of 2014. Caribou plays a huge London gig this week, so we asked Snaith to pick five of his favourite songs from the playlist. Read about his choices – which range from art-punk to dirty hip hop – and listen to each track, then dive into the full YouTube mixtape below.
Caribou’s top tracks
‘Battle’ – Wookie
‘When I first heard the sound of 2-step UK garage coming from London on a trip to the UK in the mid-’90s, I could not wrap my head around it. How could people be dancing to something so disorienting? But then the genre invaded the charts, and there’s no better example to my mind than this perfect piece of pop futurism. It’s till a staple in my DJ sets.’
‘The Nest’ – Jeannie Piersol
‘A melancholy soul classic that never was, this was the only release by the mysterious Jeannie Piersol. It was arranged by the under appreciated symphonic soul genius Charles Stepney, but it’s a hidden gem even within his canon.’
‘Outdoor Miner’ – Wire
‘Having come to music production via electronic music first, I had to go back at some point and try and figure out how to write songs. Learning how to do so involved picking apart my favourite songs, including this piece of perfect concision. It’s a great reminder that those artists like Wire who pushed forward the boundaries of the avant-garde are by no means exempted from writing a perfect pop song every once in a while, when it strikes their fancy.’
‘When the Going is Smooth and Good’ – William Onyeabor
‘Five years ago William Onyeabor was unknown to all but the deepest record collector. Now his work has been reissued by Luaka Bop and captivated music journalists and fans all over the world. I sampled this track to make my Daphni track “Ye Ye”, but despite my track being made 25 years later I think his is the more forward-looking.’
‘Sippin’ On Some Syrup’ – Three 6 Mafia
‘Proof that great music doesn’t have to be pipe-and-slippers highbrow. This is a club banger laced with Aphex Twin-esque keys from Memphis, Tennessee, that keeps on banging 15 years later. An ode to self-medication of the over-the-counter variety.’
Listen to ‘The Longest Mixtape’
