May 5-11, 2005

musicpicks

Caribou

electronic/krautrock

An album as digitally spoon-fed as The Milk of Human Kindness (Domino), the latest from Caribou (nee Manitoba), cannot be expected to transfer well live without a little bitta shh. Hey, no worries: The guy's got a math Ph.D., which means he's a genius, and he's got a full band in tow (two drummers! crazy masks!), which means his kraut-perfectionist masterpiece is gonna kill the crowd. Obviously you should go — it's gonna be really loud, and really sweaty, and not that this matters or whatever, but Caribou's written some of this year's best songs. At least three of them, in fact, are better than "Candy Shop." Criminy! I know! My attendance anymore at this stuff is sketchy at best, so someone please keep yelling "Brahminy Kite" until the band's played it a billion times. That, or "Freebird."

Sat., May 7, 6 p.m., $12, all ages, with Junior Boys and The Russian Futurists, The Balcony, 1003 Arch St., 215-922-LIVE.

—Nick Sylvester