Caribou Vibration Ensemble
The Opera House, Toronto, ON September 10

By Trevor Weeks

Caribou fans enjoyed a rare treat in Toronto's downtown east end when Copetown, ON native Dan Snaith, collaborating with 14 chums, served up one of only two performances as the Caribou Vibration Ensemble. Somehow, the group found room on stage for the teeming mass of players, which included Four Tet's Kieran Hebden, John Schmersal (Enon, Brainiac), Koushik and Junior Boys' Jeremy Greenspan, as well as a four-piece horn section, choir and basically two or three of everything else.

Snaith isn't one for much between-song banter, and deconstructing the set song by song in a brief recap would do a great disservice to what was otherwise presented as a seamless 90-minute, stream-of-thought-styled work of art. It quickly became obvious that the goal here was to present the sun-soaked psychedlia of 2007's Andorra in a more orchestral and organic form, without much reliance on digitally driven instrumentation and Caribou's trademark animated visuals. And while the set did suffer from looseness — something to be expected considering the ensemble only had two days to rehearse — Snaith's efforts to present his ambitious vision through such an enormous line-up could not have gone unnoticed by the full house, collectively transfixed by the sheer size of the experience.

This was Caribou super-sized and spilling over in their best effort to make Phil Spector blush. They easily could have done well with a show of this calibre and magnitude at a larger venue, and they will likely get one when they play ATP in New York. However, the tighter confines allowed Greenspan to fill the space when he took lead vocals for a stunning "She's the One" and let the audience feel the full force of the closing drum jams.

Caribou didn't earn the 2008 Polaris Prize for nothing, as it's clear Snaith invests as much energy into recreating his recorded works live with the same enthusiasm he does in studio. Toronto fans, and those who travelled from further away, got to count their lucky stars that they could be part of such an important evening from such a notable band.
Annotations of an Autopsy - The Reign of Darkness
Blessure Grave - Judged By Twelve, Carried By Six
Magnetic Fields / Laura Barrett
Hillside Inside Featuring Owen Pallett, Ani Di Franco, Basia Bulat, Bahamas, Hawksley Workman
The Golden Filter / LA Riots / Junior Boys
Hollerado - Record in a Bag
Orphaned Land - The Never Ending Way of ORwarriOR
Pantha Du Prince - Black Noise
Watson Twins - Talking To You, Talking To Me
Buzzcocks - Another Music In A Different Kitchen / Love Bites / A Different Kind Of Tension
Sade - Soldier Of Love
Yukon Blonde - Yukon Blonde
Steve Kaldestad - Blow-Up
Galactic - Ya-Ka-May
Gil Scott-Heron - I’m New Here
Dawn Of Demise - A Force Unstoppable
Janine Stoll - Melancholia
Stygian - Fury Rising
Shining - VI — Klagopsalmer
The Kandidate - Until We Are Outnumbered
Troll - Neo-Satanic Supremacy
Meshuggah - Alive
Dark Fortress - Ylem
Massive Attack - Heligoland
Fear Factory - Mechanize
Reckless Kelly - Somewhere In Time
Arsis - Starve For The Devil
DevilDriver / Suffocation / Thy Will Be Done / Goatwhore
Asobi Seksu
James Blackshaw / Gary Higgins
Lil Wayne - Rebirth
Light This City - The Hero Cycle
Lightspeed Champion - Life Is Sweet! Nice To Meet You
Bassekou Kouyate & Ngoni Ba - I Speak Fula
Georgia Anne Muldrow - King’s Ballad
Droids Attack - Must Destroy
Hot Chip - One Life Stand
Ellen Allien / Various - Watergate O5
Through The Eyes Of The Dead - Skepsis
Pierced Arrows - Descending Shadows
Rob Zombie - Hellbilly Deluxe 2: Noble Jackals, Penny Dreadfuls and the Systematic Dehumanization of Cool
Pawel - Pawel
Children Of Celebrities - Stereo Bang Bang
Midlake - The Courage Of Others
Guns N’ Roses
Julie Doiron / Attack in Black
Tegan and Sara / An Horse
Nouvelle Vague
Arch Enemy / Exodus
Between the Buried and Me / Cynic / Devin Townsend Project / Scale the Summit
Fucked Up - Couple Tracks
Magnetic Fields - Realism
Strong Arm Steady - In Search of Stoney Jackson
Harvey Milk - Harvey Milk
Basia Bulat - Heart Of My Own
Ihsahn - After
Living Sacrifice - The Infinite Order
Ihsahn - After
Steve Earle / Joel Plaskett
Scuba / Various - Sub:Stance
Make Me Young - Make Me Young
Taking Dawn - Time To Burn
Postdata - Postdata
Woodhands - Remorsecapade
Buraka Som Sistema / Various - Fabriclive 49
Beach House - Teen Dream
Los Campesinos! - Romance Is Boring
Various - Born Again Funk
Wetdog - Frauhaus!
Coolzey - The Honey
Rel!G!Ion - Revelations 1
Buraka Som Sistema / Various - Fabriclive 49
Chicago Underground Duo - Boca Negra
Cars & Trains - The Roots, the Leaves
Morton Feldman / Milton Babbitt / Phoenix Ensemble - Clarinet Quintets
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