What’s the matter with Toronto audiences? We’re supposed to be this mecca of electronic music, the clubs are filled every night, and yet when someone throws down a set so banging you can feel the bass in your spine, no one’s able to move their feet? Maybe the indie-rock kids who showed up to Lee’s Palace last weekend were expecting the low-key melodic “folktronica” of recent U of T math grad Manitoba (Dan Snaith)’s album, but they got a taste of his funky DJ styles instead.
Some of those who turned out to see Snaith, like-minded Brit outfit Four Tet, and Snaith’s Dundas, Ontario homeboy Koushik were obviously hoping for something else, judging by the steady exodus towards the door throughout his set. Their loss.
Hunched over two turntables and a laptop like some mad scientist tending to an experiment, the fuzzy-haired, baseball-shirted Snaith moved between manipulating the decks and samples on his laptop so quickly and skillfully it gave me a headache just watching him.
It certainly sounded good, though. Anyone’s who’s only heard Manitoba’s Start Breaking My Heart album doesn’t know what he’s capable of live—elements are cut and pasted into a glorious sonic collage, old-skool hip-hop rubbing shoulders with melodic flutes, samples of his own music brought in and out of the mix.
At Lee’s, he would start with a melodic bit, then drop it straight into a thunderous beat, the bass so heavy the walls were shaking. Snaith’s wild remix of his own “Dundas, Ontario” sounded even better over the club speakers, and his penchant for hip-hop was evident throughout the hour-long set.
The set showcased Snaith’s great sense of timing and humour. Call it cerebral dance music—if he can put this type of sound to disc, his next album is going to be incredible. And maybe then everyone at his shows won’t just stand there.
