Caribou - Toro y Moi -- Rock'n'Roll Hotel - May 10 2010

Toro y Moi - I saw this solo act recently and was pleasantly surprised to see that in the mean time, he has transformed into a three-piece band. In fact, this is their eighth show together. He has added a bass and drummer, although the bass player played a bit of guitar, too. Keyboards and dreamy pop vocals are still at the fore of this music. It is pop music with lots of dreamy echo and effects carrying it into light psychedelia. The songs are catchy and at both shows, the audience clearly gets into the music. They survived a bit of static in two songs that the soundman fixed on stage.With a full slate of gigs opening for Caribou, the future looks bright for this South Carolina band.

Caribou - Haven't caught up with these hot Canadians in a long time, very near the time they had to change their name from Manitoba due to the lawyers of the Dictators' "Handsome Dick" Manitoba making some threats. Hey Dick (nee Richard Blum), aren't you just running a bar these days? Well Caribou is doing just fine, thank-you, as the denizens of this absolutely jam-packed sold-out crowd will attest. Caribou is actually one person who is a math scholar in a family of math scholars. I will resist the urge to call this math rock (a truly odd category that makes a little sense, but kind of doesn't) and I would more easily classify it as psychedelic pop-rock. I thought he had a smaller band last time, but it was four at this show. He has a drummer, guitarist and bass/backing vocalist assisting him. He plays guitar, keyboards and drums. I thought the songs were all as strong as could be. They went from dreamy pop to edgy rock, weaving psychedelic moods in and out, varying from long jams to structured pop songs. This is really some inventive and fun energetic music. I liked them quite a bit last time. I really liked them a lot this time. Note to the Black Cat and 9:30 Club, this band needs to hit one of your stages next time as they are very steadily building a smart fan base and I don't see a ceiling anywhere nearby.

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