#dan snaith

Perhaps Dan Snaith was never particularly extraordinary at all this. Butterfly is mundane in a way that forces you to reconsider Snaith’s catalogue up to this point – was he ever adventurous, innovative or testing, or just accessible? I’d like to think Snaith still has his place as whatever the opposite of a gatekeeper is for modern dance music, a one-man bridge between the worlds of indie and dance, but Butterfly isn’t what those would-be dancers deserve.

VÖ: 06.02.2026 Label: Jiaolong Genre: Electronica / Dance / Indietronica Normalerweise ist ja bei (Musik-)Schaffenden so, dass sie sich mehrerer Pseudonyme bedienen, um sich als Kreative einer größeren Bandbreite an Stilrichtungen anzunähern und diese in ihre Arbeit zu integrieren. Man denke da an so „Verrückte“ wie Mike Patton, Karin Dreijer, Richard D. James, Damon Albarn etc. Aber natürlich…

Jamie xx – Under the K Bridge Park – August 1, 2025

Venues like Brooklyn’s Under the K Bridge Park and artists like Jamie xx feel made for each other: Dark but not spooky, industrial but not cold, mysterious but not inaccessible, somehow sexy and engrossing as a result of all of that — especially with beautifully cool night air to gilt the grooving, sold-out masses, the steaming city heat blessedly taking the night off. 

Friday was Night One of Jamie’s mesmerizing party, which he joined early — lucky early comers saw presunset action in a well-considered B2B set — and then crowned late, following nearly five hours of music that preceded him and some smoking-hot sets from handpicked fellow DJs. Standouts included Carista, serving a relentless, pummeling pogo of good-time house and techno, and then Daphni, one of Dan Snaith’s many alter egos, who steered the vibe much more experimental and sonic-collage-y without losing a drop of danceability. 

As Jamie arrived to hugs and high fives, he changed places with Daphni and continued the theme of breakless handoffs among the headliners, touching on plenty of familiar material, favoring the woozy, intense, engrossing In Waves from 2024. Things opened with the soaring, ephemeral “Wanna,” and there were familiar swerves throughout the set into the stamping, bleating “Treat Each Other Right,” skittering “Kill Dem” and the psychedelic, run-tunnel whirring “Breather” — anything but its name. 

But this wasn’t a songs-centric set as if supporting an album release. The tunes were name-checked, pulled away from, swerved back into, shot back, coursed over. Jamie didn’t mess with the core melodies so much as sequence the set to sine-wave like an electrical current through them, balancing long chill-outs with earnestly developing thumpers and shifting tones and moods that led, inevitably, into big drop moments and crowd swell.

He’s a patient sonic architect, equally at home with Bollywood blast-offs as he is psyche-out goo or straight-up rave-y untz untz untz, and his set at Under the K felt both bursting at the seams and that it was over before he even hit a zenith — another hour Friday night would have been welcomed, but not necessary to sate.  —Chad Berndtson | @cberndtson

Photos courtesy of Toby Tenenbaum | @tobytenenbaum

Caribou on Embracing the Weird, 900 Drafts, and Why Pop is Finally Getting Interesting

Caribou – Avant Gardner – Great Hall – November 21, 2024

Dan Snaith is a joyous dude. He leans deeply into making people happy, both as Caribou and as Daphni, his dance alter ego. At Avant Gardner on Thursday night, he infused the hardness and the surprisingly cold rainy evening with the warmest of sounds. Just like honey, perhaps. That’s the title of his latest Caribou album, Honey, which landed this fall. A collection of songs informed and inspired by being happy. The emotion can be a hard one to access, but watching Snaith onstage, his electric blue–socked feet tapping and twisting to the live drums, beats and his own keys makes it all a bit simpler. 

Opening with “Volume” and transitioning into “Climbing,” the band set a mood. The set weaved its way into Snaith’s more atmospheric hits like “Bowls,” a builder from Swim, his 2010 LP that launched him into mainstream fame. That album got play on Thursday, with an extended, effervescent “Sun” at its heart and soul. The night turned back to party with newer and lither jawns like “Come Find Me,” a sparkly get-down that feels like a disco ball to the face. 

As the show wound down and entered its last third, the players gathered into an intimate foursome, creating something akin to a true jam. It went for minutes, maybe tens of minutes if you were spiraling along with them. What Dan and Co. do feels both smartly curated and of the moment. He’s a chiller, but his music is all heart. I think he’d be glad to know he made just a handful of nights in the crowd, but we both know it was many more. —Rachel Brody | @RachelCBrody

Photos courtesy of Lexi Yob | @filmbyyobby