Advanced Search >
Help Me Search

Music

All-Time High (And Low) Scores
Best Of 2009
Best Of 2008
Best Of 2007
Best Of 2006
Best Of 2005
Best Of 2004
Best Of 2003
Best Of 2002
Best Of 2001
Best Of 2000

Upcoming &
Recent Releases

sort by namesort by score

70 AFI
65 Air
71 Alice In Chains
77 Amerie
85 The Antlers
75 Arctic Monkeys
68 As Tall As Lions
82 Atlas Sound
75 The Avett Brothers
67 Backstreet Boys
56 Bad Lieutenant
68 Devendra Banhart
72 Lou Barlow
88 Baroness
69 Basement Jaxx
81 David Bazan
72 Brendan Benson
72 The Big Pink
96 Big Star
46 Billy Talent
75 The Black Crowes
51 Black Mold
68 Blitzen Trapper
75 BLK JKS
77 A.A. Bondy
73 The Bottle Rockets
63 Box Elders
65 Boys Like Girls
76 Brand New
73 Tyondai Braxton
87 Brother Ali
70 Ian Brown
75 Michael Buble
78 Built To Spill
61 Colbie Caillat
79 Califone
68 Mariah Carey
84 Brandi Carlile
73 Julian Casablancas
83 Rosanne Cash
69 Castanets
65 The Cave Singers
84 Nick Cave & Warren Ellis
79 Vic Chesnutt
75 Choir Of Young Believers
81 Circulatory System
68 The Clean
84 The Clientele
71 Cobra Starship
85 Converge
71 Eric Copeland
80 Cymbals Eat Guitars
71 Datarock
59 Dead By Sunrise
76 Dead Man's Bones
88 Destroyer
63 The Dodos
77 Drive-By Truckers
66 Bob Dylan
44 The Entrance Band
67 Esser
69 Fanfarlo
63 Felix Da Housecat
68 Fink
78 The Flaming Lips
66 Flight Of The Conchords
79 Florence And The Machine
67 John Fogerty
83 Fuck Buttons
71 Nelly Furtado
47 Gary Go
68 Ghostface Killah
79 Girls
69 Gossip
62 David Gray
66 David Guetta
79 Richard Hawley
74 Mayer Hawthorne
66 Headlights
79 HEALTH
77 Joe Henry
66 Hockey
69 Whitney Houston
68 Imogen Heap
59 Jack Ingram
79 Islands
73 Jessie James
74 Jamie T
65 Jay-Z
51 Jet
69 Daniel Johnston
76 Karen O And The Kids
72 Toby Keith
69 Kid Cudi
65 Kings Of Convenience
62 Sean Kingston
64 KISS
76 Kris Kristofferson
68 KRS-One & Buckshot
76 La Roux
84 Miranda Lambert
72 Ledisi
75 Sondre Lerche
56 Juliette Lewis
82 Lightning Bolt
73 Little Dragon
44 Pixie Lott
73 Lyle Lovett
66 Lovvers
75 Baaba Maal
77 Madness
84 Madonna
85 Manic Street Preachers
62 Maps
55 Massive Attack
57 Matisyahu
67 Reba McEntire
66 Tim McGraw
65 Brian McKnight
79 Mew
77 Malcolm Middleton
77 Mika
68 Amy Millan
76 Mission Of Burma
76 Molina And Johnson
80 Monsters Of Folk
62 Morrissey
85 Mount Eerie
78 The Mountain Goats
62 Múm
72 Muse
66 Willie Nelson
78 Nirvana
97 Nirvana
72 Nisennenmondai
80 No Age
71 Noah And The Whale
75 Noisettes
79 Nudge
47 Dolores O'Riordan
74 Os Mutantes
73 Osso
81 Owen
76 Paramore
76 Pastels And Tenniscoats
51 Sean Paul
80 Pearl Jam
66 Jemina Pearl
72 Jack Penate
65 Phish
82 Pissed Jeans
61 Pitbull
79 A Place To Bury Strangers
66 Robert Pollard
79 Polvo
72 Porcupine Tree
80 Q-Tip
80 R.E.M.
89 Raekwon
69 Rain Machine
70 Ramona Falls
75 Dizzee Rascal
75 The Raveonettes
76 Jay Reatard
82 Reigning Sound
81 Rodrigo Y Gabriela
79 Russian Circles
69 Buffy Sainte-Marie
73 Hope Sandoval & The Warm Inventions
61 Sally Shapiro
78 Shudder To Think
70 Simian Mobile Disco
58 Simple Minds
72 Six Organs Of Admittance
69 Slaughterhouse
80 Slayer
61 The Slits
62 Mindy Smith
78 Soulsavers
77 Speech Debelle
58 Spiral Stairs
58 Squarepusher
55 Steel Panther
73 Sufjan Stevens
52 Rod Stewart
65 Joss Stone
75 George Strait
83 Barbra Streisand
76 A Sunny Day In Glasgow
74 Susanna And The Magical Orchestra
78 The Swell Season
76 David Sylvian
83 Taken By Trees
78 Tegan And Sara
68 The Temper Trap
72 Themselves
82 They Might Be Giants
67 Third Eye Blind
66 J Tillman
69 Times New Viking
57 Tokio Hotel
67 Trey Songz
71 The Twilight Sad
58 Carrie Underwood
56 The Used
68 Various Artists
70 Various Artists
74 Various Artists
77 The Very Best
71 Kurt Vile
67 Vivian Girls
71 Volcano Choir
76 Rufus Wainwright
59 Weezer
80 White Denim
76 Why?
83 Wild Beasts
80 Wildbirds & Peacedrums
59 Andrew W.K.
71 Patrick Wolf
67 Wolfmother
84 The xx
79 Yo La Tengo
83 Yoko Ono Plastic Ono Band
51 Pete Yorn & Scarlett Johansson
59 Zero 7

Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed albums.

The Milk Of Human Kindness

EMAILPRINTby Caribou

Caribou reviews
81
8.3 User Score:

Album Info

Label: Domino / Leaf

Release Date: 03 May 2005

Discs: 1 disc

Genre(s): Electronic

Summary

'Human Kindness' is the latest disc of psychedelic electronica from Dan Snaith, who formerly recorded under the name Manitoba (before a threatened lawsuit from a similarly-named artist caused the switch to the similarly-Canadian Caribou).

What The Critics Said

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

91

Stylus Magazine

Perhaps less transcendent, The Milk of Human Kindness may ultimately prove more enjoyable.

Read Full Review >
90

Urb

Kindness sounds like the work of someone given one month to live, as Snaith lays down dozens of musical ideas into an album that will constantly keep you guessing what's next. [May 2005, p.84]

90

Delusions of Adequacy

I bet that The Milk of Human Kindness will appear on my and others’ “best of 2005” lists.

Read Full Review >
90

Dot Music

With this majestic and multifarious new album, he has surely struck sonic gold once again.

Read Full Review >
90

Magnet

Snaith lets his wanderlust steer, and the album is better for it. [#68, p.91]

90

No Ripcord

Rather than a credible follow-up, it’s another great album in its own right.

Read Full Review >
86

ShakingThrough.net

The range of styles is impressive, which trumps the lack of logical or elegant transitioning. Snaith may be showing off, but at least he’s backing it up with strong and memorable arrangements.

Read Full Review >
85

Lost At Sea

It’s similar enough to past efforts that one can trace his artistic trajectory with a steady arc, but it’s the point in the arc where the slope takes a radical increase, making the name change seem like an appropriate signifier.

Read Full Review >
85

Pitchfork

Another thrilling, excellent record.

Read Full Review >
82

cokemachineglow

The album ups the ante on everything that made Up in Flames so astounding, and adds more pop structure to the chaotic bliss-outs, resulting in what is probably his biggest achievement to date.

Read Full Review >
80

Playlouder

It displays the kind of emotion and movement that Four Tet, Boom Bip and Stereolab would all appreciate.

Read Full Review >
80

Drowned In Sound

Snaith... continues his legacy of making constantly challenging, changing music that never gets beyond itself, that always remains immensely human.

Read Full Review >
80

Dusted Magazine

Snaith rips the rarefied sounds of modern pop from their established context and forms nonlinear compositions constantly in flux.

Read Full Review >
80

Tiny Mix Tapes

Snaith covers a lot of bases on The Milk of Human Kindness and somehow it all works.

Read Full Review >
80

Under The Radar

Snaith employs a slightly more muscular variation of the approach that worked so well for him last time around. [#9]

80

PopMatters

Although The Milk of Human Kindness sounds more stripped down, its simplicity is deceiving, as Snaith has drawn from a much wider musical palette that he ever has in the past.

Read Full Review >
80

Mojo

[Snaith] continues to explore a digital/analogue interface to mind-bending effect, balancing riotous abstraction with day-glo pop. [Jun 2005, p.97]

80

New Musical Express

A perfect slice of bedroom psychedelia. [9 Apr 2005, p.58]

80

The Wire

The only drawback to this semi-collage approach is that many tracks are too brief. [#256, p.51]

80

Junkmedia

Snaith simply dictates the flow of emotions and events on this record, with the kind of command presence rarely seen.

Read Full Review >
70

Almost Cool

On first listen, it's not as immediately accessible as Up In Flames... [but it] reveals itself in several listens and contains yet another batch of fearless tracks from an artist who simply refuses to sit still.

Read Full Review >
70

Q Magazine

A familiarly kaleidoscopic whirl of retro-futuristic sounds. [May 2005, p.111]

60

All Music Guide

Unfortunately, although Snaith may sound novel expanding upon his indie forebears of ten years ago, when he begins conjuring the ghosts of Krautrock ("A Final Warning," "Bees") or trip-hop ("Lord Leopard"), as he does here, he's entering the company of talented producers who have ploughed the same ground.

Read Full Review >
60

Uncut

It's only the Can-meets-Canned-Heat avant-boogie of "Bees" and "Barnowl" that escape a sense of academic contrivance. [May 2005, p.95]

60

Blender

Too bad most of his songs come to an end just as they're heating up. [Jun 2005, p.108]

40

Splendid

The Milk Of Human Kindness grabs at elements of its predecessors, but they're often the wrong ones.

Read Full Review >

What Our Users Said

The average user rating for this album is 8.3 (out of 10) based on 10 User Votes

Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

matt a gave it a6:
This album is very much a mixed bag. The songs that work are incredible, but the songs that don't are, well, utter shite.

zeg r gave it a6:
First track fantastic, but like "Up in Flames" it's all downhill from there. With four tracks at under a minute and a half, and others that run on too long and then stop suddenly, it seems as if Caribou can't really be bothered... Better to buy the releases from artists who actually fully-realize the multiple ideas behind their songs, like K.I.A., or DJ Shadow, or Aphex Twin, etc.

crumbtrail gave it a9:
Snaith keeps hammering away at his craft, refining and perfecting as he goes. Where tracks on his previous efforts seem to blend together, The Milk of Human Kindness is a series of related yet separate tracks, each a snapshot of a different beautiful world.

jimmy d gave it a6:
I'm a bit surprised by the enthusiasm about this album. Mostly this seems tepid and unispired. Similar influences to Up in Flames, but without the raucous innovation, without the surpises. Its not a terrible album but one that fades into the background, with hardly one stand-out tune.

Gman gave it a10:
Stunning. Snaith has added new influences to the psychedelic stew he started cooking on Up In Flames. These range from Can and Neu to the Animal Collective and Hip Hop but he always manages to keep things sounding unique. The result is not only massively innovative but an album that is also hugely enjoyable.

adam gave it an8:
The Milk of Human Kindness is as lovely and uplifting as you would expect from the maker of Up In Flames, even if it lacks that album's crazy exuberance. A couple of the tunes sound pretty unexeptional to my ears (Lord Leopard; Pelican Narrows) but the rest is excellent.

ag gave it a10:
snaith does it again. in fact, i think this may be his best effort yet, under any name. it's top ten-er for sure.

Read more user comments >

Popular on CBS sites: SEC Football | NFL | Video Game Cheats | iPhone | Video Game Reviews | Notebooks | Antivirus Software

About CBS Interactive | Jobs | Advertise

© 2009 CBS Interactive Inc. All rights reserved. | Privacy Policy | Terms of Use