Caribou is back with another new single, and this one is based on M|A|R|R|S‘ smash 1987 hit “Pump Up the Volume.” Using elements of the the original, Dan Snaith then takes them to new places, a few of them stranger but no less intoxicating and definitely into Caribou territory.
“‘Pump up the Volume’ was the first time in my life I heard electronic music – sitting in front of the family stereo system listening to the top 40 countdown on the radio when i was a kid,” says Dan. “it completely blew my mind – it sounded like something from another world. it’s stuck with me ever since – I always wanted to rework it in some way. I didn’t consciously think about it when I started working on my track but I think there’s something really special about having gone right back to the very beginning in making this.”
You can watch the video for “Volume,” which was created by Shynola’s Richard Kenworthy and uses a lot of vintage ’80s dancefloor footage (and just a bit of the original video), and M|A|R|R|S’ original below.
You can also watch a mini-documentary Dan Snaith made on how he created “Volume” which is pretty cool. That’s below as well.
Caribou will be on tour this fall and play Brooklyn’s Avant Gardner’s Great Hall on November 21 with Yunè Pinku.
M|A|R|R|S was a collaboration between members of two groups signed to 4AD Records in the ’80s (Colourbox and A.R. Kane) and together they created one of the most iconic dance tracks of ’80s. It was also pioneering in the way samples could be used — and combined — on one song. In addition to the Eric B & Rakim sample that gave the single its name, “Pump Up the Volume” used bits of tracks by Afrika Bambaataa and James Brown, The Bar-Kays, Criminal Element Orchestra, Fab 5 Freddy, Kool & the Gang, and more. The members of the two groups — the name is an acronym of their first names — butted heads in the studio and only ever released this one single, which still sounds amazing today.