Manitoba: Another fine mess

The electronica producer Manitoba has little time for boffin purists with laptops and MP3s. As he tells Steve Jelbert, he wants to combine all sorts and make musical perfection

"People say it's psychedelic this and that, but whatever they compare it to, such as My Bloody Valentine or early-Seventies music, makes it sound old. It clearly has those influences, but that's not all. I hope it also sounds new."

Dan Snaith, just turned 25, is talking about the response to his second album, Up in Flames, made at home and yet about as expansive as music gets. Released under the name Manitoba ("I'm always asked why, but the story is just too boring to print, so no one ever does"), it's a brilliant record, perhaps the year's best so far. Largely instrumental, with the occasional vocal passage seamlessly slipped in, it's a convincing demonstration of how technology can move old forms forward. This is genuine 21st-century psychedelia, sometimes fiercely rhythmic, at other times softly melodic, and possessing a wide appeal not restricted to the sometimes-precious community that follows electronic music.

Not that Snaith, a native of the tiny town of Dundas, Ontario, now living in north London, has much time for purism. (He's studying for a PhD in pure mathematics, although he admits: "We left that off the press release this time around, after all those questions like: 'How does math influence your music?'") "People don't think about it, but Britney Spears makes records in exactly the same way I do. There's no reason why I should be closer to Aphex Twin than her," he observes. He's certainly more intrigued by the collaboration of America's hottest producers, The Neptunes, with the pop idol Justin Timberlake than by what his supposed peers are up to. "It pisses you off a bit that they didn't get someone like Usher, who can dance and sing a bit. But they've written him a good album," he comments, drily.

Having spent a couple of the years on the electronic circuit as one of the many chaps who drag their laptops around the world from venue to venue, he's now attempting to offer more of a live show. "I've been doing that for a couple of years, and it's been really good in that I've got to go all over the world. But, listening to this music, I thought, 'If I play this off a laptop, that'd be absurd. It wouldn't make any sense at all.' "

Is he suggesting, then, that musicians with notebook computers are the stand-up comedians of music, ready to entertain at a minute's notice? "Probably," Snaith replies, laughing. "It'd be better if everybody turned up and laughed at them when they plug in and play their MP3s at everyone. I'm happy to get away from that this time around."

The Manitoba live experience now consists of Snaith and a couple of old friends from his hometown ("You may see that I don't trust anyone I haven't known for 15 years") sharing instruments around, from glockenspiel to guitar, and even stooping to a melodica battle. Crucially, two of them drum much of the time, and all those instruments are played over a basic pre-recorded framework that includes the vocal and horn parts, which defy on-stage reproduction. Though currently tentative, it should soon work very well, especially as the whole thing is synchronised to some heroically unpretentious and witty projections. Not rock nor dance nor electronica, Manitoba's music somehow combines all three.

Comparisons are odious, of course, but after being told by many people that his new direction seemed influenced by Mercury Rev, Snaith checked out the American veterans for the first time and was surprised by what he heard. "Now, they're just a horrible classic-rock band for your dad, but the early records do what I want to do – make a big mess and somehow make it sound perfect," he says. And the joy of getting "to hit shit and freak out a little" can't be underestimated.

"The thing I miss is people freaking out on stage, playing like they mean it," Snaith says. "It's easier to do that with bands. I mean, what can you do? Click your mouse more emphatically?" His current favourites include the "complete bonkers lunatics" Lightning Bolt, an American duo who tape their microphones into their mouths, use a bass with two guitar strings on it and bring their own rig with them, which they set up in the middle of rooms so that no watcher can escape. Their patent sincerity fascinates Snaith. "I can't stand ironic electronic music such as Kid 606 and Gold Chains and all that shit. To me, you should really believe in the music you're making. Do you know what I mean?"

Having learnt classical and jazz piano in his youth, he is keeping his future plans wide open. "I'm not interested in making a straight-ahead rock record any more than an electronic record. I just listen to a bunch of stuff and hopefully it'll all end up in there," the open-minded Snaith says. He just loves music, and you may well love his.

'Up in Flames' is out on Monday on Leaf. Manitoba will tour Europe with a full band in April