MP3: Caribou – Odessa

Sounds danceable, huh? Swim, the follow-up to 2007′s mighty fine Andorra, is out April 20 on Merge Records.

Last week I saw three great shows: Caribou with Fuck Buttons and Sinkane at the Wexner Center, Okkervil River and The New Pornographers at the Newport, and John Vanderslice and Spanish Prisoners at Skullys.

Quick recaps….

Sinkane – I liked their set, but I wish they would have played another song to show their diversity… (although I know they had a short timeframe)

Fuck Buttons – If this type of music isn’t your thing, well, then it isn’t your thing. I loved it, though. Sometimes sinister, sometimes reminded me of Underworld, always interesting. I also liked that it was more than two dudes and two laptops.

Caribou – Ahmed from Sinkane just showed Columbus why he is one of the best drummers in town. Holy crap. He played like he had been playing that music for two years, but in reality it’s been less than TWO WEEKS. It was hypnotic to watch him play. So so good. Discuss the show here, too.

The New Pornographers – If you’re a band that does male/female vocal harmonies in a strong way, you’ve won me over. Despite sound not being as good as it could have been, the band pulled through an excellent set, hitting upon their entire catalog. I was also happy to see the show sold out, or at least nearly sold out. That’s the power of CD101 + a great band.

Spanish Prisoners – I thought the set was good, but the energy from Leo’s debut record did not translate well as a two piece. Hope to catch them again with more people.

John Vanderslice – Disappointing turnout, but that didn’t stop Vanderslice and his band from putting on the best set I’ve ever seen by them. They were all in a great mood, and when the band came off the stage for the encore and performed in the middle of the crowd without any microphones or amplification, it was a thing of beauty. Definitely one of the most memorable music experiences I’ve had in a loooooong time.

When word came out that the drummer from Caribou broke his wrist, I was really worried that the Columbus show with Fuck Buttons would be cancelled. Imagine my surprise when we learned that our great friend, Ahmed Gallab from Sinkane answered the call of duty and is going to be the replacement drummer for the tour!

Ahmed is one of the best musicians in Columbus, not to mention one of the nicest dudes. We’ve written about his band a few times in the past, and they even played the donewaiting.com 5 year anniversary show back in February. I am so happy about this, especially since the debut album by Sinkane is scheduled to come out very soon. Great timing indeed.

I e-mailed Ahmed yesterday to see what’s up. This is what he wrote:

it’s still a little surreal. if you remember me telling you about going to see caribou last october in cleveland and giving him my record. ive kept in contact with him. yesterday morning i found an email in inbox from him saying that he needed a drummer for the rest of the tour. their drummer broke his hand the night before. i think he sent some mass email out to a zillion people. i responded instantly and told him that i’d do it and he wrote back asking for my number and i gave it to him. he called me right away and an hour later i was at the airport going to north carolina to meet him up with them for rehearsal. we practiced from 7 pm to 1 am last night and from 11 am till right now. we’re playing in north carolina tonight. kind of nervous as ive had 1.5 days to learn 11 fucking songs and, let me tell you, theyre a lot harder than you think.

anyway, im out with them until may 4th. kind of weird and still very surreal. i dont feel like im actually doing this but i think after a week it will sink in. im very stoked.

If there’s anyone up for the job, we know it’s our man Ahmed. Can’t wait to see him perform in both his own band and in Caribou next week at the Wexner Center.