Stereolab: Classic or Dud

The best thing I know by them is Simple Headphone Mind - again my suspicion is that its the choice of collaborator (NWW) who makes that good and the other recent stuff I've heard by them bad. (I did hear the very long piece from their last album in a record shop, though, and liked it a lot - I'd buy an album of static, minimal music by them before I'd buy yet another album of ba-ba-bas and mimsy motorik woodblock beats)

That said not entirely dud, because they opened a lot of doors for coverage of interesting music in the mainstream press, doors promptly shut again post-Britpop but every little helps.

They release too much stuff - how much could you need another Stereolab album when there's so many other bands to buy. The whole thing seems like a lifelong project to ensure that a special edition of record collector is devoted wholly to them, perhaps in 2010. (Rarest item, the 9-inch, single-sided vinyl, limited edition of 54 'Wooly Mammoth Situation' EP. Released only in Czechoslovakia in 2005)

What's the brown coloured album called? The one after Dots and Loops? Anyway I have it and whilst I don't like it much for all the above reasons, I have to come clean and say that short bursts are OK. I couldn't get through the whole thing without a gun to my head.

What's the conclusion? Dud.

btw: Tanya's diss of the band is brilliant.

I agree with Tom's early opinion that they are great as a mine of compilation tape tracks, but not the kind of thing you'd want to listen to for 45 minutes, which is why that Amorphous Body Center mini-LP thing is the longest release I own of theirs.

Having said that, they were really excellent live at Camber Sands last year. Good sense of show dynamics, lots of nice flashing lights and they still looked cool.

Um, did you guys mean they lost ground with Dots & Loops or after that? Because Dots & Loops is one of their best. As I just stated.

I always think 'Mars Audiac Quintet' is a bit underrated ("Etoilles Electroniques" is soooo beautiful). What I heard of that last mini- album was pretty good, but hey I have so many Stereolab records, why bother with another one? Good live band as stated before, very generous and adventurous.

also they played denver and boulder on their last tour and seeing as how most other bands simply pass us by they have to be classic.

The only other band that has been that cheap was Bentley Rhythm Ace.

Dr C, Miss Modular is one of the best dancing songs ever. It may be a more subtle album but I don't think it lost anything in its mellowness. It only increased their appeal.

My favourite band of the 90s. I get a bit tired of defending them to be honest (I've been hearing "they've lost it" comments since '94 - often from people who were bemoaning their 'lack of development' in '93); they seem to be a band who're continually and obsessively refining their approach, to the inevitable result that there are few jarringly obvious stylistic leaps in their sound thesedays, just many gradations of shade. The last quarter of "Cobra and Phases..." is as delicious as anything they've ever put their name to.

Having said that, "The First Of The Microbe Hunters" was a bit of a mis-fire. The first Stereolab release to genuinely feel like it could've been culled from all the others, rather than adding something fresh to the canon. Tape comp fodder only. The looped brass stabs of "Outer Bongolia" are worth a giggle.

Why did he think he had to "go further" (and end up standing still)? I'd far rather hear O'Hagan doing sumptuous Wilson / Webb baroque concept pieces than armchair electronica.

As for Stereolab, oooh, pretty classic but losing it now. In retrospect "Dots And Loops" is the turning point; the last mini-album just drifted past without making a moment's impact. But I would still say that pretty much everything on "Switched On", "Emperor Tomato Ketchup" and "Aluminium Tunes" is marvellous. Most of the "Metronomic Underground" era just gets better (and funkier!) with repeated listenings, not least because they keep the ba-ba-bas down. I'd prefer to remember them that way.

Oh, and Tanya on the 'Lab is lazy comedy slaggery even Stuart Maconie would flinch from. So there.

I do disagree with Nick Dastoor, though. They were waff at Camber Sands. I told you so at the time, so you have no excuse for peddling these myths now.

dots and loops onwards they just seem to be a pursuing smug cleverness at the expense of a decent tune. that said, they *were* great at camber sands last year, and they reminded me of just why i'd loved them in the first place.

what puzzles me most is how such a great band could have been formed by members of mccarthy.

Recent i-D issue, question put to The Neptunes.

Q: what do you listen to in your bedroom A (Pharell): when I'm with girls I put Stereolab on, the Dots and Loops album on repeat, It makes them get naked.

The more I think about thebestbandofthe90s, the less I like them.

Have been going through old MMs and they used to gig / release records every week! Or so it seems.

what else might i fancy if i like the quite hard noisy drone-y but pop stuff, when they get better at actual song writing it goes a bit more rubbish.

you're dealing with a virtual novice here (although, growing up in the indie disco years 1991/92/93/94 means i'm familliar with 'the hits'. i think maybe their 'typical fan' has put me off liking them. hey no offence actual fans!

http://www.stereolab.co.uk/discography/?no=140

Besides their latest album, Margarine Eclipse, and "Mass Riff" from 2003's Instant O in the Universe EP, these are my favorites songs:

(a suggested compilation for one side of a 110-minute tape)

Super-Electric (1)
K-Stars (2)
Les Yper-Sound (6)
Captain Easychord (10)
Our Trinitone Blast (3)
Brakhage (8)
Wow and Flutter (4)
Orgiastic (2)
Fuses (9)
French Disko (5)
OLV 26 (6)
Super Falling Star (2)
Emperor Tomato Ketchup (6)
Les Yper Yper Sound (7)

1. Too Pure: The Peel Sessions
2. Peng!
3. Transient Random Noise Bursts with Announcements
4. Mars Audiac Quintet
5. Refried Ectoplasm: Music for the Amorphous Body Study Center
6. Emperor Tomato Ketchup
7. Noise of Carpet promotional single
8. Dots and Loops
9. Cobra and Phases Group Play Voltage in the Milky Night
10. Sound-Dust

Didn't use these releases:
Switched On Stereolab
Space Age Bachelor Pad Music
Fluorescences single
Aluminum Tunes: Stereolab Sampler
The First of the Microbe Hunters

1. Cobra and Phases Group Play Voltage in the Milky Night
2. Sound-Dust
3. Emperor Tomato Ketchup
4. Dots and Loops
5. Mars Audiac Quintet
6. Transient Random Noise Bursts with Announcements
7. Peng!
8. The Groop Played Space Age Bachelor Pad Music
9. First of the Microbe Hunters
10. Refried Ectoplasm: Music for the Amorphous Body Study Center
11. Margerine Eclipse(it's official:yuck)
12. ABC Music

best EP: Instant '0' in the Universe
worst endeavor: that Uilab thing

Are you crazy? Do you just not like live Stereolab as opposed to studio Stereolab?

I think "ABC Music" contains the definitive versions of "Wow and Flutter" (the second one, the one that boogies more), "Contact", "Les Yper Sound", all of the "Sound Dust" tracks, and possibly "Changer" and "Anamorphose".

Piscesboy, Disc 1 + first two tracks of Disc 2 cover the early singles through to "MAQ". The rest of Disc 2 covers "ETK" and "Sound Dust" (nothing from the years between those albums is covered).

Wha'?! Their "St. Elmo's Fire" gives the original a run for the money (and that's saying a lot)...

xpost

Stereolab- Oscillons from the Anti-Sun

MAQ is the greatest krautrock space boogie album ever.

*cracks knuckles*

Let us humbly say there is no consensus.

This is why I thought Adam would like it.

As testimony, a well-considered selection of tracks across most of their releases to fill up at least 3 discs;

Super Falling Star
Contact
Super-Electric
Laisser-Faire
Our Trinitone Blast
Crest
Analogue Rock
Heavy Denim
Mountain
Sadistic
French Disko
John Cage Bubblegum
L’Enfer Des Formes
Wow And Flutter
Transona 5
The Noise Of Carpet
Motoroller Scalatron
Metronomic Underground

Les Yper-Sound
Percolator
Fluorescences
Parsec
Brakhage
Contronatura
Check And Double Check
Get Carter
Fuses
Infinity Girl
The Free Design
Puncture In The Radar Permutation
Come And Play In The Milky Night
Pain Et Spectacles
Escape Pod
The Black Arts
Hallucinex
Captain Easychord

Nothing To Do With Me
Suggestion Diabolique
Double Rocker
Need To Be
Moodles
Canned Candies
With Friends Like These
Long Life Love
Jaunty Monty And The Bubbles Of Babble
Sudden Stars
Mass Riff
University Microfilms International
Banana Monster Ne Répond
Margerine Rock
Margerine Melodie

Don't get upset about it!

You *must* understand my universe, Kyle:

* Tor-twah = the suck aside from maybe a minute of "Djed"
* The vast majority of D&L tracks = produced by one John M. of Tor-twah
* live/radio sessions of the McEntire-produced tracks >>>> the D&L versions
* Ergo, foo on D&L

Other universes are different.

This doesn't make any sense! How can you only like a minute when so much of the joy in the piece is in its progress and transitions?

This is the key point ... even after I stopped enjoying Stereolab records, I continued to enjoy hearing them live because they always brought the krautfunkboogie, whereas on record McEntire et al were obsessed with all the cooing and burbling.

Exactly, as per my comment upthread from yesterday about how they were getting too "cute" on ETK. The rawness that remained on ETK was almost completely smoothed out by D&L.

'joy'

Also, Ned, does this mean you prefer the Andi Toma tracks on Dots and Loops?

Oh heck yes. Keep in mind I am a bit of a Mouse on Mars fiend.

I stopped loving them with Transient... (btw: anyone want to make me an offer for the mint gold vinyl (I think) LP, signed?). The soul dropped out of their music. They were so perfect for the first three or four years. Why did they have to fuck with the amazing simplicity of their sound? Sob.

oh and Dots And Loops I've definitely come around too, you never know when your mind might change.

they DID choose it!

(personally, I really enjoy that record -- despite the myriad of truths in that review)

Anyway--Stereolab: Classic.

These records are all classics:
Peng!
TRNBWA
ETK
D&L
Sound-Dust

Plus all their singles comps are great, and they are a terrific live band.

Cobra and Phases could almost be a classic as well, but it needs to be about 4 or 5 songs shorter, and the production needs to be improved in some places.

The more recent stuff, Margerine and Fab Four Suture, are a bit weaker for me. I miss the presence of Mary and I think the production is way too busy. However, the tracks on these two came across really well in a live setting.

stereolab's music takes me to a future place that we shall never know, a clean beautiful one.

Plastic Mile is the best song of all time.

They're pretty classic. Cobra and Phases was the first album I picked up by them, almost 10 years ago back in high school, and I really loved it. Picked up Dots and Loops shortly after, but it didn't really stick, and after that I don't think I listened to anything by Stereolab for about 8 years.

Then just recently, I found used copies of Transient and Emperor Tomato, and these are great, especially ETK. Hearing these motivated me to finally throw on Dots and Loops the other day, after giving up on it for so long, and it sounded pretty awesome.

Dots and Loops is a grower, and a masterful piece of work.

Pick up Margerine Eclipse, everyone seems to like that. A nice combination of pretty much every style the groop has explored.

I really, really love "Fab Four Suture."

"Plastic Mile" is indeed amazing but "Whisper Pitch" and "Excursions Into Oh, A-Oh" are actually the best songs of all time.

Dots and Loops sounds amazing to me now -- we didn't know how good we had it back when this thread started.

Proof that Dots and Loops is a god: 'The Flower Called Nowhere,' 'Miss Modular,' 'Refractions in the Plastic Pulse.' The other tracks are merely perfect. I desperately want a remaster of this, due to the horrible tape dropouts toward the end.

Fab Four Suture: 'Whisper Pitch' is the only track I skip. 'Excursions' as a ringtone gets the whole office grooving. And 'Plastic Mile,' um, yeah. If Jeff Lynne were French and female/falsetto and a genius he may well have invented this song.

It would be relevant at this point to mention that Miss Modular got me into Stereolab and Dots & Loops consummated the relationship.

Dots and Loops is indeed godhead. Totally my fave by them, but damn if I don't like every single thing they've done.

You and I are the trust fund kids of ilx.

it's weird to think that the point where i effectively gave up on stereolab is the point where others discovered them

ya totally

'gave up on' isn't terribly accurate but still.. i still remember how much D&L disappointed me at the time

xpost

i listened to cobra and phases for the first time in a long time recently and damn if it's not my least favourite lab album by a long margin

burn it

with the use of fire, not duplicate

PLEASE not duplicate

i've always loved cobra... i think there was more character on that record than some of their other more recent records.

i agree with the sentiment that throwing together some kind of best of/singles compilation would precipitate a masterpiece. they could be nearly life altering for like two tracks and then just pretty good for the rest of a record. it's a shame because they're a wonderful band, but because i think they lack that "HOLY SHIT!" record, you can feel the obscurity as only a matter of time. (probably true of 99.9% of all groups. just about everybody trends to dud.)

m.

Cobra would have been a much better album if it were engineered properly. It's all midrange and no bass. That alone kills it for me.

That's not to say that many of the numbers are not really very good and beautiful in their own right.

You and I are the trust fund kids of ilx.

Lol, I suppose this is a reference to the sheer amount of material Stereolab has put out? I actually just own the studio albums and Aluminum Tunes and an EP or two.

Cobra & Phases is my least favorite Stereolab album by a long shot, but I dearly love "Infinity Girl" and "The Free Design." The rest is Jim O'Rourke disappearing up his own asshole, unfortunately.

Most underrated: Margarine Eclipse

Lol, I suppose this is a reference to the sheer amount of material Stereolab has put out?

More the fact that we both defy popular odds in (a) liking everything Stereolab has ever done and (b) liking anything Stereolab has ever done.

Dots and Loops is fantastic music to listen to while working. Especially via headphones on a plane. I mean this as highest praise. ETK is not as good, too fast and insistent. But I love ETK nonetheless.

I'll never forget what we have, A.A.

xpost

Post-TNRB Stereolab inspires creativity. I thought it was just me, but recently I've read accounts from people for whom it dislodges writer's block etc.

It is very visual music, in a trippy retro-futuristic sense.

most of my stereolab listening was to self-burned compilations, taking maybe 5 or 6 songs from each burst of album / ep releases, until 'margarine eclipse' came out which is the only one I've listened to all the way through more than four times

I hated them at first because they were so blatant about what they were ripping off, then I grew to love them because they were _so_ blatant about what they were ripping off

I hated them at first because they were so blatant about what they were ripping off, then I grew to love them because they were _so_ blatant about what they were ripping off

Sterolab introduced me to the music they were ripping off.

Me too, and I didn't like it. One of the Neu albums had me hooked for about 12 minutes though.

And for cred points I'm going to attempt to spell this: KRZYSZTOF KOMEDA

I, too, bailed after _Dots And Loops_ (which I probably haven't listened to since it came out) but the post D&L singles on the _Oscillons From The Sun_ box are good and don't seem out of place in the non-chronological sequence of the box.

"Cobra" is truly the most underrated Stereolab album. I really loved it when it came out 8 years ago, warm and easily loveable songs. 'People Do It All The Time' is perhaps my favourite Stereolab song.

Cobra's still by far my favorite but i don't really use the word 'underrated' and certainly wouldn't in this case; most haters just like their stereolab rawkier and more 'muscular', which is fair enough really, different strokes (although i don't understand the 'bad engineering' argument, thankfully).

Adding to the Cobra love -- fine, fine album, and unjustly overlooked.

The issue with Cobra was not that people wanted Stereolab "rawkier and more muscular" -- the people who preferred them sounding like a live band got their disappointment moment with D&L,* which was sleek and spacious and full of pin-point programming. The issue with Cobra was that after years of making pop that felt kind of otherworldly -- there are some very strange songs on ETK, and the old moony, outer-space feel on D&L -- they picked an inopportune moment to make a record that really, really didn't; it was the first time they felt earthbound, like they really might just be an ordinary band playing light funk.

* = or even earlier; the noise and heavy drone were gone by the end of Mars Audiac Quintet, and plenty of people went lukewarm on them when they switched from that to pop swing

And I don't say that to argue about whether Cobra was good or not, just to explain why (it seems to me) some people were disappointed with it. It probably didn't help that each of the previous few albums had added some big new dimension to their sound, and then Cobra seemed to retrench and bland out around exactly the stuff some people saw as kind of a given from them.

ok then the haters is just about some bullshit lol. wow though re: otherworldly i get the exact opposite reaction of what you just said, being totally honest here. cobra and d&l are all cooing, liquid, 8 dimensional futurebeings and sound dust is dem beings touching down/falling from grace, everything before or after is er, unusually inventive indie rock.

I should clarify that I don't hate Cobra at all, but in the Stereolab catalogue it's a bit duff. Those who have heard no other album really should.

I maintain, however, that its bassless, midrange-heavy production works fiercely against it.

and 'Italian Shoes Continuum' and 'Puncture in the Radax Permutation' are amongst the most atmospherically astounding numbers the band has ever recorded.

Nabisco: I think Mars Audiac Quintet has never received such a hostile reception as Cobra did. Perhaps it is because of the NME review (which was a 0/10), but I always felt that Cobra is not a popular album among the Lab fans.

so did anyone buy one of the 100 copies of "Eaten Horizons Or The Electrocution Of Rock"?

2 days 2 late 2 get 1.

maybe someones put it up on Oin.... oh.

It's time for another Switched On. Oscillons doesn't count.

Umm Zeus that is basically what I just said, isn't it?

Also: no one has much reason to rag on MAQ, but there were plenty of early Lab fans who just liked them to drone -- whose line, as the band got popular, tended to go along the lines of "I haven't really paid much attention to them since Transient..."

Perhaps it is because of the NME review (which was a 0/10), but I always felt that Cobra is not a popular album among the Lab fans.

I also got that impression from the Pitchfork review (3.4 from Brent D.). I think it's underrated, too.

Cobra came out when (a) the drone junkies dropped away (as nabisco said) and (b) there was a perception that Stereolab wasn't changing its sound significantly enough. I think (b) is now addressed by the fact that most people accept Stereolab will always sound like that. Nobody ever criticised the Ramones for using guitars all the time.

kind of gay question, but i heard this marginally different mix of 'wow and flutter' that isn't on the lp. it's better: just these extra drones and shit overlaid. does the mix on the single answer to this description?

that question had zero homosexual content. very disappointing.

does the mix on the single answer to this description?

ans: yes

I've got the Stereolab discog 92-98 on shuffle tonight. Goddam these guys had a stellar run, no? The consistent motorik pace is especially suitable for working-while-listening.

stellar run lasted til 2001 imo

I'll pretty much rep for everything except Cobra & Phases, actually, tho tonight I am excluding the latter-day stuff in the interest of consistency.

99-00s non-LP releases are a bit patchy tbh.

Does anyone have any opinions on the Electric Imitation Piano records? I like the few tracks that I've heard & have been meaning to seek out more for the longest time, but haven't gotten around to it.

er.. imitation electric piano

Most ridiculous C or D I've seen yet.

i only have the IEP cd on duophonic, nice enough but not amazing..

I've also been meaning to check out some of the old McCarthy stuff. The only SL side-project I've indulged was Snowpony. I don't know how much Katherine Gifford contributed creatively in her time w/ SL, but I recall the first two SP EPs being quite good. I probably haven't listened to them in ten years or more, tho.

i always thought snowpony started really really well (love 'easy way down' and the other two 45s from shortly after) but got less interesting fairly quickly..

ya, album w/ seafaring oil painting on the cover was pretty dud, as I recall. I stopped paying attention after that.

lol ES yr display name headed for the hall o fame (if it isn't there already).

haha cheers

Inspired by the 90s poll, I listened to part of Peng! to see if maybe I've heard the wrong Stereolab (still possible I suppose). The vocals are annoying and thin, and don't seem to change much from song to song. The same boring guitar strumming sound gets rolled out over and over as well. Not hearing too much in the way of songform to get excited about to compensate for those weakness either. Very cool, uh huh.

ok then the haters is just about some bullshit lol. wow though re: otherworldly i get the exact opposite reaction of what you just said, being totally honest here. cobra and d&l are all cooing, liquid, 8 dimensional futurebeings and sound dust is dem beings touching down/falling from grace, everything before or after is er, unusually inventive indie rock.

― tremendoid

so otm

so otm

to be fair, dots + loops hasn't aged so well overall, and cobra got bad press but does hold up.

sound dust is mostly boring, but the subsequent albums surprisingly have aged very well.

sound dust is gorgeous, every second of it

Sound dust is a great album, one of my favourites but I think Margarine Eclipse is even better.

I prefer Sound-Dust over everything they've done since then. For me, it was their last really good album.

Who was Richard Harrison? Listed as a groop member on Dots and Loops -- bassist, according to Wiki, though members' core instruments aren't spelled out on the album's liner notes. Short tenure in the band, nothing much before or after '97. Was the name a pseudonym? It seems strange for any group of recent vintage to have such a short-timing mystery man. Was he some nobody pulled in from subway busking duty and sent on his way after the record was finished? I've always wondered about him.

Considering the Lab's association with John McEntire and the Chicago scene in general around that time, I would not say it's much of a stretch to assume it's Eric Claridge.

Though the need to perform under an alias for him is completely superfluous.

Post-punker from Manchester, probably best know for being the drummer of Dislocation Dance
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dislocation_Dance

Richard Harrison is also part of the avant-strange band Spaceheads - well worth checking out. He also has a solo album out:
http://www.discogs.com/Richard-Harrison-Drone-Hill-225/release/218586

I was just wondering today what in the hell Tim Gane is doing these days

Dunno, but Vinyl on Demand put out a massive 4LP box set of his first project Un-Kommuniti a while back.

I was just wondering today what in the hell Tim Gane is doing these days

Wonder no more. Stream the entirety of his new album here:
http://www.grautagrec.com/releases/006/gt006.html

Thanks!

Really enjoyed this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qx0pthgzDWU

As much as I love Tim Gane and Sean O'Hagan, I feel like their music loses something when it doesn't include voocals. Their instrumentals sound like they were written with the intention of adding vocals and they just never got around to it.

Thanks for the head's up, I'm investigating this

Also

http://splicetoday.com/pop-culture/space-age-bachelor-mentalist-muzak

That Teseolab track got mentioned on another 'lab thread, but I'm just listening now. "Hocus Pocus" sample!

this cavern of antimatter thing is sounding very nice, thanks for the heads up, jeff w

Yeah, I really enjoyed my first run-through of that this morning.

Thx for the Richard Harrison info, Austin/Al/Elvis. Does he play bass and drums, I wonder, or did Wiki get that info wrong? Hmm.

Richard Harrison definitely plays bass, he was with Stereolab on their ETK and D&L tours and recorded on D&L. They've just gone through a lot of band members over the years.

Haven't thought about that _Drone Hill_ record in years. Not as good as Alan Lamb, but an acceptable substitute as Mr Lamb isn't exactly churning out the records.

Richard Harrison is the guy playing bass on these clips:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HdG4WpqIgvM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mkaJ5z9QBZQ

yep, that was my favorite line-up for Stereolab

also, is that Sean O'Hagan sitting in with them on keys?

That is Pete Kember/Sonic Boom of the Spacemen 3!

Oh wait, I see who you mean now, I think it is both of them.

Sonic is the first guy that starts the Les Yper Sound sitting up top on the moog. O'Hagan is playing the organ on far stage left.

huh didn't know Sonic ever played with them. agreed that may have been the best lineup.

IIRC Sonic actually toured with them on the ETK tour.

Yeah, IIRC Sonic would just turn up at shows with a lot of old analog gear and improvise stuff while they played. I'm not sure how often they did this post-ETK, but they also had their sound guy filter the entire band through a Moog at one point in the show. Usually at the extended end section of 'Lo Boob Oscillator' I think?

They did something similar with Mouse On Mars around this time too

Just listened to some of the Little Tornados' album. I'm finding it pretty uninteresting and I do not like Thayer's voice at all. Anyone else listen?

I like about three tracks on it, the album on a whole is ok but not great for me. I guess that's better than Laetitia's solo albums, which all have that great Stereolab sound, but haven't connected with me except for a few tracks.

What a fantastic band..I've been playing them for about 48 hours solid.

Also, I miss Dr C and his sudden conversions - " dud - no hang on I get them now"

Prolific yet consistent, accessible yet slightly weird, smooth and pleasant/pleasing.. They really locked into a special sound/vibe

I've even been warming up to their later stuff these days...sound-dust in particular!

i would like to drop a fucking farfisa organ on anyone's head that says dud.

jeez. was asking classic or dud here even necessary???

Greatest band, but the last few albums really drop off imo.

Agreed, but their singles and one-off were consistently interesting and engaging til the very end.

Not sure if there is discussion of the new Cavern if Anti-Matter album elsewhere, but it's pretty good. Getting a heavy Moebius Plank Neumeier vibe here and there.

this is the third Stereolab thread that's been revived due to the COAM album :) I am still digging into it but sounds good so far....

Looking forward to seeing them at the Moth Club on the 29th.

Hope the first album gets a repress.

i dunno, i think Cobra and Phases is pretty good

It's just really long.

It's their best..:after Sound Dust, of course.

It's just really long.

― Austin, Monday, May 16, 2016 9:24 PM (3 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

yeah it really is

the production feels thin, like the harpsichord is too high in the mix and the midrange is boosted or something, but it's atmospheric as fuck, especially italian shoes continuum and puncture in the radak permutation. sean o'hagan's blippy period is all over this.

I do love the string arrangements on it.

in fact dots & loops/cobra & phases/cold & bouncy/snowbug is probably my favourite album grouping of the '90s xp

The flutes on "Hallucinex" are my favorite lil' flourish

^^

I stumbled across this in spotify the other day:

https://open.spotify.com/album/3XHQrt9v5FXNUN9Zchkscn

I don't usually go for tribute albums, but this is really good! Interesting group of performers and a song selection that dips into a bunch of deep cuts.

is there a treasure trove of Stereolab tabs (specifically bass tabs) that's on a fan site or forum? there's very little on ultimate guitar etc.

ha if you find anything let me know cuz I went through a big period a few years ago where I was trying to find guitar tabs/tuning guides/transcriptions for Stereolab stuff and for the most part couldn't find a fucking thing and just ended up trying to figure stuff out by ear. For a band that sounds like they use a lot of odd tuning and unusual chord voicings that I would think guitar/tech dorks would be into, there was shockingly little out there.

@TheRealYLT
Yes that was "Crest" by Stereolab being played just now at the Grizzlies/ Spurs game

wow, hope they played the whole thing, would that be sufficient to clear out the arena during the offs?

I posted this on the JO thread:

Jenny Ondioline - POO minute

Tim is in an Asus2 modal tuning for Jenny Ondioline.

xp yeah Shakey it's maddening - the chords for 'Cybele's Reverie' are pretty good, and that Cmaj7 chord sounds especially Stereolab-y, so I've been messing around with maj7 chords with other songs and trying to figure stuff out by ear. Metronomic Underground and Outer Bongolia were really easy to figure out on bass, gonna figure out Come and Play in the Milky Night later today. i've never made any tabs ever, i feel like i should start giving back and contributing to a site like ultimate guitar that has given me so much.

tons of maj7ths and sus chords, yeah

the chords for "Fuses" remain a mystery - that's the one I really want to figure out.

Chords? You can't even find proper lyrics.

There used to be loads of guitar tabs on Web 1.0 fan sites but those geocities have all gradually been eroded by the sands of time. Found this on the groop official forum though, in case any use to you. Mostly the older, funny ones.

Stereolab Tabs
Special note : I’ve written these tabs on the english way. Some tabs can be modified, this is just the way I’ve interpreted the songs. I presume you do know the rhythm of these songs, so just follow the music! Finally, I’m a French guy, so be nice at my English :D

- Super-Electric
Verse : A – D
Chorus : A – C – D – C

- Changer
Verse : Alternate “C-G” and “G-C”. main : “C-G”
Chorus : C-G ( -D or D7 ) – G  play twice

- Golden Ball
All song : Ex3-D

- The way will be opening
Verse : D ( -A ) – G ( -A )
Chorus : F-C-G-D, end on D-G
Last chorus : end on D-G-D

- Doubt
Main : G-F#m
“Chorus” : A-G-G-F#m
End of the song : ( G-D ) x 4 , G

- The light that will cease to fail
Main : A-D-A
“Chorus” : F#m – A – D – A

- Contact
Intro : A – D
Main : D – C ( - D ) – C ( or G ) – D, A ( - G# ) - A

- High Expectation
Repeat and alternate : D – C
Sometimes, “G – D – C “ pops up
End : ( F – C – D ) x2, F – C – G – D – F – C - D

- John Cage Bubblegum
All song : D – F – C – G

- Eloge d’Eros
Verse : A – G – A (or Ax3 – G – A )
Chorus : D – G – A
End : A – G – A (end on A)

- Mellotron/Harmonium
Main : D
Chorus : Em

- Farfisa
Main : A
Chorus : D

- Lo Boob Oscilator
Main 1st Part : E –A – B
Main 2nd Part : E

- Pack Yr Romantic Mind
Main 1 (intro) : C – F#m – D – G
Main 2 (Before the “chorus”) : C – F#m – D
“Chorus” : B – C – B – Em

- Brittle
Verse : B – E
Chorus : B – E – A - E

- French Disko
Verse : Cm – Bb – G#
Chorus : Cm – Bb (repeat as necessary)

- Tone Burst
Verse : G –F
“Chorus” : Eb – D

- Tone Burst (Country)
Verse : A – G
Chorus : F – E

- The Seeming and The Meaning
I use Capo fret 4
Verse : E – A
Chorus : E – G – A – G

- The Groop Played Chord X
Capo fret 2
All song : ( D – E – G ) x3 – E – G – A

- I’m Going Out of My Way
Main : C – G
Verse : Am – Bm

- Peng 33
Intro & Chorus : F# - B – G#m –B
Verse : F# - G#m – Bbm – B

- Jenny Ondioline

Part1 : Capo fret 1
Intro : C – Bb – G – Am – G – F
Verse : F x2 – G – F
Before chorus : ( C – Bb )
Chorus : F – Bb

Part 2 : ( Without Capo )
Intro & “Chorus” : E – F#m – D – Bm
Verse : E x2 – F#m – E – D – Bm

- The brush descends the length
All song : Ex2-C-F

- Spark Plug
Verse : Am – D
Chorus : D – E – C – G

- Pinball
Verse : A – C#m – D – F
“Chorus” : A-D-C#m-F

- Allures
Classic : E-C-D-F
My version : E-C-D-C#m

- Freestyle Dumpling
Verse : G – A
Chorus : Bb – C
Note : The chorus appears at the end of the verse and before it begins (the chorus)

- Escape Pod ( From The World of Medical Observations )
All song : C – Bb

- Baby Lulu
Capo fret 3
Intro : ( Em – F ) x2 – G – Am  three times
Chorus : Em – F – G – F or Am – Em – F – G – Em
Verse : Em x3 – F – G – F – Em - ( Bb – G ) x2 – F
Bridge : Dm – G – Dm –A – C – A – C – C – Bb – G# - G  twice
End of the song : Bb – G – Bb – G – Bb – F – G

- Margerine Rock
Verse : B – A – B
Chorus : D –G – A – B – F# - E – A – B

- Neon Beanbag
Intro : ( Bb – G# - Gm – Fm ) x2 , ( Fm – Bb – Gm – G# ) play this twice
Verse : ( G# - Gm – G# - Bb ) x2
“Chorus” : ( Fm – G# - G# - Gm ) x2
Bridge : ( Fm – Bb – Gm – G# ) x2
Final : G# - Cm – Gm – Cm

sweet, thanks so much! i figured there were some hiding out on dead webpages.

heyo!

nice, thanks

this is pretty cool, Stereolab covers comp from Argentina
http://fuegoamigodiscos.com.ar/catalogoacordesuno.html

Is Stereolab the band ILM most agrees on as classic rather than dud? I think it is.

Top Ilx bands : mbv, stereolab

may i point out the absolutely insane moment at 2:35 in this performance of Ping Pong

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=waltJ8nVVN4

did any of y'all ever see them do this live?? first video I've ever seen where I can feel how loud everyone says they were

..

and that hard panning? holy shit

They could definitely crank it out at times

just noticed Laetitia has her fingers in her ears when they launch off

not music has disappeared off apple music. so fucking sick of this happening.

yes flappy i've seen them do ping pong live - and they indeed can rock the shit out of a venue.

They played Jenny Ondioline (full) which was money

That rules! Bummed I'll never get to see them, though they made so much music, it'll take me years to absorb it all. Cobra is the only LP I know by heart.

Monade opened for them lol

Never say never, my friend.

they were a surprisingly great live band

I saw them a bunch through the 90s and they were loud as shit. Sometimes those synths and organs were ear-piercingly loud, and Andy hit the drums super hard.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vMs2YEbZ9oQ

^ Yeah!

Stereolab and Spiritualized were two bands that blew me away live. I think what made Stereolab impressive live is the switch from their space age bachelor pad shtick to the mono rock heaviness. Clearly they could dip in and out of any era with a startling command. One of those shows where you can close your eyes and be transported

It did seriously bum me hearing Mary replaced with a horn, but it was a tribute to her in an affectionate way

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vv0f8sELf5Y

Got to see one of the later live shows, but would have loved to have seen that Sonic Youth/Stereolab tour in 2000.

First time I ever saw 'em -- and so very glad somebody recorded this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xE4CBKerRNs

i only recently got into stereolab in the past year but fell for them hard. when i told my friend i was totally into them he said "well i bet you wish you'd gone with me to that stereolab/espers show, eh?"

WHY YES I DO WISH I'D HAVE GONE TO SEE TWO OF MY FAVORITES THAT I WILL PROBABLY NEVER GET THE CHANCE TO SEE AGAIN

lol they are so young in that UCI clip. And Tim actually hops up and down

i think this is the oldest video of them out there, before Mary joined. whoever was filming zooms in on the bulletin board behind them, where there's a "FEMALE SINGER WANTED" sign :)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=waavrYs8vSA

There are a few other videos from right around that time (if not slightly earlier), based on the line-up. The clips of Changer/Orgiastic/Contact at the top of this playlist: http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLeWPnyT2WYQ-5-z71RsvVcbyQBh1T6xK2

so did anyone buy one of the 100 copies of "Eaten Horizons Or The Electrocution Of Rock"?

― zappi, Thursday, October 25, 2007 7:50 AM (nine years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

i love youtube so much

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MGBF9aZkum8

0:00 Crest
2:10 John Cage Bubblegum
3:46 Mountain Instrumental
5:12 Reich Song
8:11 Cybele's Reverie Pt. 1
9:33 Cybele's Reverie Pt. 2
11:04 French Disko
13:44 Happy Pop Song
15:37 Jenny Ondioline
19:28 Lucia Pamela (ICC)
23:04 NWW Drone Instrumental
25:08 Plastic Pulse One
26:48 Plastic Pulse Two
27:35 Plastic Pulse Three
28:32 Plastic Pulse Four
29:43 Sad Chicago Organ
32:27 Brigitte Pt. 1
34:21 Brigitte Pt. 2
35:35 Infinity Girl Pt. 1
36:32 Infinity Girl Pt. 2
38:13 Cobra Tune
39:30 Heavy Munich
41:07 ZigZag Song
44:38 Monday Song

ha, "Cobra Tune" has the exact same guitar line as "Sweet Adeline" by Elliott Smith, the only unintentional musical quote i can think of by Stereolab

thanks!

That's a fine album.

I saw them quite early on at places like the White Horse in Hampstead and they sure were loud then, but it's hard not to be in a tiny basement with a very low ceiling.

It's surprising Joe Dilworth's drumming doesn't get acknowledged so much, especially as he's back playing with Gane, but he was obviously an important contributor the early 'lab groove. Not showy but a lightness and bounce to the motorik. I adored Th' Faith Healers groove as well.

Yeah Dilworth is very good

found chords for Italian Shoes Continuum

A)
(2 bars each)
Emaj7 Bb7(11) A7 G9sus Fmaj7 F#7
B)
(1 bar each)
Emaj7 D7 Emaj7 D7 F7 Emaj7 F#7

A and B repeat until 2:14

C)
Gm7 Am7 (sometimes Gm9 Am7)

The first 7 posts on this thread are so OTM.

I've wondered why I keep finding myself disagreeing with your music opinions, but now I understand: you are keeping the torch burning for the challops of 2001 ILM.

That's incorrect, and the first 7 posts on this thread are still OTM.

v incorrect

a beguiling band with a dense, varied discography unique among their peers

otm ^

turrican aggressively wrong, again

That means nothing coming from someone who thinks Animal Collective is some sort of gold standard of anything.

Agreeing with those 2001 posts is hardly your most controversial opinion, but I definitely don't agree since Sound-Dust is probably my favorite Stereolab album and D&L is also fantastic.

when you start breaking down the things they do into individual components - lyrics ranging from marxist sloganeering to abstract cutups, ye-ye vocals, dizzyingly complex chordal and structural exercises, aggressive editing, motorik beats, insanely loud drone rock, brass and orchestral arrangements, analogue synthesizer experiments, multi-layered female harmonies, etc etc - it's insane. what other bands do these things? Covering and packaging such a disparate range of sounds and influences and references in such a consistently coherent way is a singular achievement.

even if I did get off the boat (mostly) after Dots and Loops.

and I think it's important to remember them in context - they were not part of a scene or group of bands that were also pursuing these things, they were in their own little universe.

Margerine Eclipse is surprisingly good- and it's dual mono, hard panned which produces a very interesting effect i haven't encountered much elsewhere

There's definitely a bunch of bands, mostly grouped in London and Chicago, that I think were pretty closely aligned with what they were doing:

Th' Faith Healers, Broadcast, The High Llamas, Imitation Electric Piano, Tortoise, Jim O'Rourke, Pram

xp

I absolutely love, love, LOVE everything from Transient... up until Emperor Tomato Ketchup, with Mars Audiac Quintet being my absolute favourite of theirs and quite possibly one of my favourite LP's of the '90s. I even like parts of Dots and Loops, but I find albums like Cobra... and Sound-Dust a bit on the boring side.

I definitely agree that they kinda seemed out there on their own during the '90s... I remember seeing them live circa Emperor Tomato Ketchup and I can't think of anyone else who was quite like them at that time. I begun to hear their influence in various things over the next decade, though.

Stereolab were well into their career before Broadcast made their debut. The High Llamas don't really count as Sean O'Hagan was also a member of Stereolab.

of Moodles list Broadcast is the only that came close imo, but I feel like they went down their own weird rabbit-hole as the line-up contracted

personally I absolutely hate the High Llamas, Tortoise, O'Rourke

xp

Cobra and Phases is my favorite by far, I prefer the Groop's records from ETK on over the earlier heavy distorted drone stuff but it's all pretty amazing, from the Low-Fi EP up thru Not Music.

and yeah while those artists were unique and strange in their own way (and collaborated with the Group), Stereolab were completely in their own universe.

I like O'Hagans string arrangements for other bands, but I'm not into his own music with The High Llamas. I'm not a fan of Tortoise or O'Rourke at all.

(xpost)

given that MAQ is one of your favorite albums of the 90s, I'm a little baffled that you rate a bunch of posts that conclude this band is "dud" (or "mostly dud") Turrican.

The thing that most/all of those posts have in common is the opinion that up to 1997 they were great, and afterwards not-so-great, which happens to be an opinion I share.

I agree with that thesis but as Ned pointed out in 2001,they've got a massive amount of one-offs, compilations tracks and collaborations that are fascinating and very different than their contemporary albums, all the way up to the end if their career.

their mini-albums / post-LP singles especially (thinking of First of the Microbe Hunters and Fluorescences, which should've been on ETK or D&L - their one hit wonder in another universe).

Agreed. Their EPs are like little universes unto themselves. I've been meaning to make a playlist of them in order, unlike the way the "Oscillons" box mixed them all up.

The only album they released which is less than great is the final album Not Music. Even it is good but it somehow sounds unfinished and tossed together and it's the only one with kinda an ugly cover.

Not Music has the ugly cover?? I love it, looks like vintage Stereolab... Chemical Chords is the one that's garish and remarkably bad. Looks like a Matt & Kim album.

not music is tossed together cuz it's a continuation of material left off of the vastly superior "chemical chords". not music is still a-ok tho

I can't look at the album cover without reading it as "Snot Music". Has some good tracks though...

the opener "Everybody's Weird Except Me" is in my Stereolab top 10

Among their shorter form works, let us not overlook Music From the Amorphous Body Study Centre - one of the few times I have tracked down a rare release and it has been absolutely worth the effort. Not that it's hard to get anymore of course.

disagree with the revive based on sound dust alone, can't think of a more perfect album for fall/winter, different vibe than their catalog in a fine way

moodles also OTM re Pram

tortoise is great but i don't see the connection to stereolab

Covering and packaging such a disparate range of sounds and influences and references in such a consistently coherent way is a singular achievement

shakey otm here

problem with moodles' list is that it only covers one aspect of stereolab's sound

high llamas are fine but always struck me as one-dimensional compared to stereolab

I'd be even less charitable but that seems fair

I dearly love Sound-Dust, way more than any other post-ETK record of theirs, they let some cracks show and the emotion bleeds through

Just to be clear, I'm not saying those bands necessarily sound like Stereolab, but they are part of overlapping scenes, have collaborated, and share general aesthetic outlooks.

On John Peels festive 50, Tortoise's DJed got interrupted with a burst of Stereolab. At that point, there didn't seem much to connect the two.

First 7 messages in this thread snotty as hell. So glad it's 2017.

(Love Dots and Cobra to bits)

I don't really pretend to understand what the first 7 messages are saying, but I agree with Turrican inasmuch as I adore everything up to and including ETK but got off the bus with Dots, which sounded as boring as hell to me, as did everything after.

tortoise is great but i don't see the connection to stereolab

Emperor Tomato Ketchup and Millions Now Living share quite a bit stylistically, obv McEntire's production on ETK and the steve reich motorik of the tortoise album come from the same place and time.

TS: john cage bubblegum vs steve reich motorik

Pram are definitely the best (perhaps only?) point of comparison, not least in terms of that continual opening-up of the aesthetic over the course of the nineties.

I reckon Sound-Dust and especially Margarine Eclipse are excellent, but I stopped buying Stereolab records after that on the basis of some vague sense that I “had enough”, and I suspect that is a big part of many people’s sense that the band fell off quality wise - less to do with the actual quality of the albums and more to do with whether you feel there’s anything left to learn from them.

I was a heavy-duty McCarthy fan in the old days and only dipped in to Stereolab now and again through the 90s - my musical tastes and attention were elsewhere. I then married into a complete run of Stereolab LPs and have therefore got to know their work more or less all at once, and not in any order. I agree with Tim F - I like some of their records more than others but for me there's no steadily golden or un-golden periods.

The more Sean O' exerted his influence, the more I liked their albums. This all comes to a head on Sound Dust, which is one of my favorite albums of all time--the brilliant arrangements push it over the edge.

Broadcast have a lot in common w/ Stereolab, even when they don't sound the same. It's like the same hipster appropriation game but with different sources.

I've never posted on this thread. huh.

Saint Etienne have a lot in common with Stereolab!

On Super Electric (Switched On), is she saying Bones/Flesh or Bombs/Flash? I always thought she was saying 'some see the bombs, before they see the flash, some see the flash, before they see the bombs'. but google says its bones/flesh.

Pretty sure it's bones and flesh

classic later stereolab
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H652WrVSiLI

That's the only song on Fab Four Suture I think is great, and it's really, really great.

what's with this new thing i'm seeing everywhere about Dots & Loops being Stereolab's "pinnacle"? hasn't it been ETK forever?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G76i9M23W64

revisionist canon history, nothing new.

...we're getting closer and closer to cobra being the consensus pick...

We are?

no way :)

It's Sound-Dust

I always felt like Mars Audiac was the pinnacle. ETK was like the beginning of 'late era'...still good though

I think dots and loops might have been the most commercially successful though, it certainly seemed to be a 'bigger' album than the previous ones, and more people seemed to get on the bandwagon at that time.

did they do any tv appearances for Dots & Loops or Cobra? that one Jools Holland performance with Cybele's Reverie and Les Yper Sound is so great

akm definitely otm. Definitely heard dots and loops out in the wild a lot, it's bright and accessible. Hard to have a consensus on a best Stereolab album, like all great artists their records can mean different things over time, and new favorites. Sound-Dust is my choice tho

new favourites emerge i meant to say *

akm otm

man, somehow I missed 'Not Music" entirely, I never even realized this had been released. It did feel like after Margerine Eclipse they were kind of in decline, Fab Four Suture and Chemical Chords didn't do a lot for me, but I'd like to hear some Stereolab songs I haven't heard before today.

https://www.wired.com/2008/08/stereolabs-tim/

The "excavation" process Gane describes in the linked article made clear the band were barely functioning as a band anymore. The songs on "Not Music" were pretty original in their mad jump cut transitions, but they hardly sounded like songs anyone wrote, more like a stereolab math game. Clearly Tim was bored and it was a good time to call it quit. Still hope they reunite live tho

Transient Random Noise Bursts with Announcements was the pinnacle. I will not revise my canon.

not gonna argue w that

otm

peak is the second half of Italian Shoes Continuum, or the second part of Refractions in the Plastic Pulse, or the entirety of Fuses

everything after ETK sounds like being in a Montgomery Ward and not being able to find your parents

Les Bons Mots de Raison

when you start breaking down the things they do into individual components - lyrics ranging from marxist sloganeering to abstract cutups, ye-ye vocals, dizzyingly complex chordal and structural exercises, aggressive editing, motorik beats, insanely loud drone rock, brass and orchestral arrangements, analogue synthesizer experiments, multi-layered female harmonies, etc etc - it's insane. what other bands do these things? Covering and packaging such a disparate range of sounds and influences and references in such a consistently coherent way is a singular achievement.

even if I did get off the boat (mostly) after Dots and Loops.

― Οὖτις, Monday, October 23, 2017 1:53 PM (three weeks ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

damn otm

tho i probably like cobra more than d&l

Cobra is the most audacious one

Dots and Loops isn’t peak Stereolab imo, but I don’t mind all this new attention it’s getting, because I def don’t think it represents “the decline of Stereolab” the way a lot of fans do/did.

I always loved the artwork and title, and Prisoner of Mars, Parsec, and Contronatura are some of my favs.

I think part of what bothers some folks is that they completely abandoned the rock elements in their music on D&L. It's their most jazzy album and also the one th at dabbled the most with current electronica. But I think it has some of their strongest songwriting and lots of fantastic arrangements. They did start to sound more like an actual band again on Cobra though.

Totally.

But played live, D&L still rocked hard. e.g. Parsec

MAQ is my fav, though.

Live version of Parsec blew my mind, so good

i am really grateful for getting to see them in the mid-90s. my favorite parts by far were the full-on noise jams which i guess in retrospect were very "rock" but which at the time felt super out there. totally primal in any case. that was maybe one of the best things about them, this tension between the high concept dinkiness and the throaty primal motorik roar

I liked how they would take things like the smooth horns in Miss Modular and translate them into weird, slightly awkward Moog leads live. A lot of their songs became more jagged and harsh on stage, which also made them so much more intense.

i sort of felt like that was the "real" sterolab!

I feel like D&L was part of a wave in indie rock at the time where established figures/groups all felt like it was their artistic duty to engage with electronic music - whether because they were bored, or they were worried about staying "current", or they wanted to jump a bandwagon, or were sure this blending of styles was the "future of music" or what. I'm thinking of things like JSBX's "ACME", Mogwai's "Fear Satan Remixes" record, etc.

the thing is, these records suck and it wasn't a good idea.

I liked how they would take things like the smooth horns in Miss Modular and translate them into weird, slightly awkward Moog leads live.

Good tip!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5JZhFE5uszA

am I alone in remembering cobra sucking and everyone hating it? maybe that was colored by a pitchfork review or something.

it does have the ugliest color scheme on the cover

Everything about Cobra rules, the cover included, so... Must have been a dumb review from a dumb website.

Yes the pitchfork review is an atrocity, which still can be found online. Cobra is not their best imo due to the muddy production at times, not a spot on some of their other work. But it does have puncture and emergency kisses tho...

You're all wrong. They actually peaked with their first album 'PENG!'

http://www.nme.com/reviews/album/reviews-nme-1392

Another shite review

I agree that Dots & Loops was a huge thing, it bemused me at the time. Crossing over genres and attracting fans from all sides previously left cold to Stereolab. Saw it around me, and in the press. (lots of people who loved D&L jumped ship after Cobra, and weren't on board to begin with before that. I can see why, sonically, but it was an outlier, because it was so popular, even for Stereolab)

I see the P4K review is by Brent D. Nuff said. It's bollocks.

You're all wrong. They actually peaked with their first album 'PENG!'

― ✖✖✖ (Moka), Friday, November 17, 2017 12:25 AM (four minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Think it's been well established that there is no "peak Stereolab", apart from people finding certain albums their best albums. The radical consistency, or their consistent radical, rules. It's what makes them so great imo.

(that wasn't a dig at you Moka, if that's how it came across, just saying <3 )

I was definitely underwhelmed by Cobra because it felt like the first time that they weren't aggressively pushing forward with their sound. It was a bit unfocused and overlong like many CDs at the time. But really, it has lots of great tracks, maybe just needed to cut some filler.

That's interesting, because for me Cobra was the first time they really delivered the jazz, a direction they'd always hinted at, something that sounded as a promise in all of their previous records, but never came into fruition until then.

I feel like there are several pretty jazzy songs on D&L and not much on Cobra besides "Fuses" and maybe "Velvet Water".

Stereolab peaked with "Hallogallo" (sorry).

They did rule live. I don’t know if they always did this, but often their sound guy would have a Moog Prodigy (I think?) that he would filter the entire band through during their freak out moments.

damn that's awesome.

i saw em on the cobra tour, they were fabulous. they ended with the last track on cobra and the house turned the discoball on for it. totally wonderful classic live concert moment for me.

my personal favorite are the ones i bought first, MAQ and cobra. but the groop have a rich tapestry of records, it really is a damn solid discography.

The time that stands out to me is ETK tour during "Percolator". When the songs winds up to the loud climactic part, it suddenly sounded like the whole mix was going through some insane analogue synth distortion. It was completely nuts!

i was not crazy about dots and loops at the time but i revisited it a few years ago and it's really damn solid, "miss modular" especially has a breathtaking arrangement.

I don't think the Prodigy had external inputs fwiw

Hahaha dont worry LBI I was joking I do love Peng! But I’m a Stereolab stan and I believe they’re the most consistent band ever.

Which means all Stereolab is peak Stereolab.

they played "the seeming and the meaning" when i saw them, that was really cool. maybe they play that one a lot?

yeah I find it strange that people can like the band and passionately hate so much of their discography. it's all great.

I think their last couple of albums were not very good but overall they had an amazing run that produced a ton of music I still listen to with great pleasure

anyone ever hear the Pack Yr Romantic Mind that featured the George Harrison sample?

i totally get it, they were a noisier and rawer band. a lot of people don't like the slickness or the flutes.. and i feel like their heavily reduced use of the distorted sister ray organ was the demarcation point. in fact, on MAQ you still have the organ but it's mostly much cleaner. ETK, the distortion is back but it's not a wall anymore, it's more of a textural/action-element.. metronomic underground notwithstanding.

re: liking the early stuff, not liking the later stuff

Their compositions got trickier and fussier and more cerebral, the drop in quality was more due to that than textural changes imo

man, it's all pretty good. i don't really see that big a difference between their early and later stuff. love me some "Peng!" the shoegaze and drone rock stuff, the "What Goes On" style motorik garage rock early stuff, the later stuff, the moogy stuff, the Clockwork Orangey stuff. it was always Clockwork Orangey stuff.

i first encountered Stereolab with "Cobra" at a Best Buy, the retro brown and orange cover seducing me like a snake charmer blowing bubbles underwater. "Dots and Loops" followed next, one time i played it on a rainy day in Florida, driving around w my grandmother, slightly high on robotussin from a cold i was suffering, in town for a crazy wedding that included my Juggalo cousins from Mass.

i still find it weird Monade opened for Stereolab, that was the tour I saw them on (Fab Four Suture).

i wish I had clear enough memories of the stereolab shows I saw (and I saw several). they were all good, I remember that.

Which means all Stereolab is peak Stereolab.

― ✖✖✖ (Moka), Friday, November 17, 2017 2:37 AM (six hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

thanks to this thread i'm listening to mars audiac quintet and random transient noisebursts and the music and the memories are actually quite overpowering

GOLDEN BALL my god. john cale, eat your heart out.

the fake skip in that got me so good when I first played it

and then her voice comes in clear! *bows down*

it is sublime

I was so glad i was able to see them the one time. there's so much to explore, there isn't a single Stereolab album that i feel like doesn't deserve further listening. 'Cobra and Phases...' was i think considered a disappointment but yeah i think the PF review did a lot of the heavy lifting when it came to that reputation. when i first heard it i was surprised at how not-bad it was. the disingenuousness of that review (and Brent D's entire career in music writing) is pretty obvious now, something like that wouldn't fly or be as influential today.

I thought it was the "0" from the NME that really hurt Cobra's rep at the time. I read an interview somewhere from the Sound-Dust era where Laetitia was talking about it, why anyone would bother or care that much to give it a zero

i'm still cool with the travistan zero tho

It was always the zero from the NME that pushed it to the back of the queue when I was delving into the Stereolab catalogue as a skint student, as silly as that was given that I’m sure SWells wrote the review and it was clearly a stunt review. The other thing is I really didn’t like the artwork. Haven’t listened to it in years but now I may.

So, I've been looking for an archive with videos/rare Lab songs ever since the Merlin Warp copyright strike last year. Considering I only got into them in 2016, there isn't much I had time to find, so if any of you know anything, could you please let me know?
P.S. Don't know how to deal with the fact that I'm too young to have ever seen any live Lab performances

the live project

😁

Oh wow, many thanks to you for the live project!
Also, any advice on finding fellow Lab fans irl? It's hard to do as a non-Brit and a high school student...

this has made my night

Listen, I am desperately trying to relate here, and I finally found someone else who listens to this milk to the ears.
Sure, it may seem funny, but it's also great to have finally found this thread, so I might as well ask you guys to educate me:
What are your thoughts on Aluminium Tunes?

Lots of good tracks, don't listen to it a lot these days, but back when this stuff was coming out on various EPs, it seemed like they were finding new directions every few months.

Definitely seems like it, although personally, I don't mind the transition from krautrock-style jams to more melodic variations. Obviously, Peng! and Fab Four Suture don't really compare, but they're both fun to listen to, in a way.

Pop Quiz was the song that got me into Stereolab

That was five years ago... loved songs here and there (Cybele, Les-Yper, Everybody's Weird Except Me, Anamorphose), but I only became completely obsessed a year or two ago... my favorite is Cobra and Phases by a mile... but I love them all. Such an amazing and unique band.

Moodles' live comp is so great. Outer Bongolia is great on there.

I'll check it out after I get more sleep.
I actually got hooked through The Flower Called Nowhere, and ended up sticking to later songs (Double Rocker, Strobo, most of Margerine and Sound Dust). Pack Yr Romantic Mind is great too.

Honestly though, I just love how lush and sophisticated the synths are, every song is a masterpiece of its own. Combining Moogs and woodwinds is not something you hear every day... unless it's in a Lab song! Still, I wish I could have seen the band develop and not just accept its entire history ex post factum.

Love this band, even if flappy and I will never agree that sound dust is the best ;-)

Getting into a band long after they've disbanded has its advantages - you're able to digest and accept the body of work as a whole and with context and perspective for each piece of work. As with so many bands that changed through their career, there are a lot of people that 'got off the train' so to speak when Stereolab went this way or that way. Seems like that was Dots & Loops for a lot of people. I feel lucky to have been fans of amazing bands as they developed but I went through the same things when they changed, and my attention toward and opinion of the work past a certain point waned, either out of disappointment or exhaustion.

weirdly enough, I was buying lunch today at a local natural food store and as I approached the register "Pack Yr Romantic Mind" came on and it was one of those perfect soundtrack moments, I said "I love Stereolab" to the cashier, they said "oh me too" and we chatted about them for a bit

Hey sleeve, I'm afraid that sort of thing could only happen in Lab heaven...

Flappys right but it's high time to revise the stereolab narrative - their final records are fantastic

I saw lab on the Fab Four Suture tour. Played a lot of their catalog and convincingly switched between the extremes of dots and tracks like jenny oindoline. Mary's backing vocals were replaced by horns in what felt like an affectionate tribute. What I took away from the show was the conviction that a band could mutate from grunge one chord rock and to exotica all within the same breath.

Maybe it's possible that they'll come back sometime after Caverns of Anti Matter settles down? Sadier still makes pretty Lab-ish songs...

God I hope so

I'm guessing that most of you are from the UK? There hasn't really been an American following going, as far as I know.

tim's also making stereolab inflected tracks

https://soundcloud.com/cavern-of-anti-matter/melody-in-high-feedback-tones-coam

hope they figure this shit out

nah I live on the east coast USA & in my small city one of the few things that unites a very diverse, disparate, and at the moment isolated is Stereolab.

*isolated community of musicians & artists

Digging this. The end of John Cage bubblegum is INCREDIBLE.

I'm guessing that most of you are from the UK? There hasn't really been an American following going, as far as I know.

im from Georgia in the USA here and when i got into them 98-99 there were plenty of irl friends super into Stereolab. they have always had a big following in Atlanta and Athens. the biggest Stereolab fans i know are from Marietta and their band is heavily influenced by them

i remember seeing videos on MTV2 and The Box. first time i read their name was in a factoid where they described the writing process of Dots & Loops as being making up the tracks layer-by-layer

another American here, saw them at the Showbox in Seattle, musta been early 2000's? Honestly can't remember but I still have the ticket.

they played La Zona Eosa in Austin when I saw them, probably for a few hundred.
there's a 15 minute version of 'Super Electric' on here!

Alex, don't know if you are looking for the earlier side of the groop, but here are two playlists of early live Stereolab.

1991-1994: http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLeWPnyT2WYQ-5-z71RsvVcbyQBh1T6xK2
1995-1996: http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLeWPnyT2WYQ-VRdSWFULNRDh1ocaZuFSm

i saw them at AS220 in Providence in '95 iirc. needless to say it was amazing.

They really toured the hell out of America

Saw them many times in Boston, Houston, and Austin, plus once at Coachella. They were at peak live power in the ETK - Sound-Dust years. Biggest show I saw was Cobra tour at the Roxy in Boston. Enthusiasm and crowds for their shows seemed to dwindle in later years.

I saw them at the Roxy in Boston as well - can't remember who else was on the bill - Yo La Tengo or Go-Betweens?

I prefer the gig they did at Mama Kin with Air Miami opening, 1995 I think. So loud!

Jersey kid here: guess I should wait around until Sadier is touring again, her Silencio album was pretty good...

i saw Sadier's solo show last summer in Denver — it was really fun! Not a huge crowd, but a very appreciative one. She is a great performer.

xxp

Yes! The Roxy gig was a bit lackluster, maybe too big a venue for them. Mama Kin was probably the best show I've seen them play, possibly best I've seen anyone play, absolutely mind blowing. Also caught them at Middle East and Paradise.

I always forget that they were on the second stage for some of Lollapalooza 1994.

Yup, those were some good shows. Hung around backstage with Tim and Laetitia for part of that.

And yes they toured America quite a bit, one reason why I think they survived on Elektra longer than anyone might have guessed. They regularly put in the effort. Mary's death was, frankly, a near crippling blow, and while the last couple of tours did find a way to present the material in new ways -- I think they finally figured it out in full with the last tour -- something was inevitably gone, never to return.

Saw them at Central Park summerstage with John Cale. Cant remember when.

was it this show?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C0ZMkv8D-9w

This is just a silly bit of trivia but this audio samples in this song mention that gig with Stereolab and John Cale.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ak0LpPxUUAw

I was at a Stereolab gig at St Andrews Hall in Detroit on the Mars Audiac Quintet tour where the opening act had about 15 musicians all playing Moogs.

jeez every time a stereolab thread gets pulled up I go on a new week-long stereolab binge.

Seems like a reasonable response

Did Sonic Boom ever make it over to do his thing with the lab in the US? IIRC it was all unrehearsed, he would just show up at random gigs, set up side stage with a load of analog gear and theremins etc and improvise over their whole set. Wonderful stuff. Saw them do this in Bristol one time with Millions Now Living-era Tortoise opening. When he wasn’t on stage, Sonic was glued to the venue’s pinball machine the entire time.

Sadly that was the one tour I missed, when Sonic did that -- the ETK tour no less (I was out of town so at least there was an excuse).

Stereolab are probably my fave band next to broadcast and pram

Saw them in 1994 (MAQ) with Trumans Water and then in 1996 (ETK) with Pram & Sonic Boom. Good times.

Moodles, we hardly cross around here but obv you are the figurehead of Stereolab fandom here. Yet in all these years I *never* knew about the live comps you'd made, and I've enjoyed for what, hundreds of hours, surely. They are great, just never knew you'd compiled them. <3

Just to be clear, I did not make the comp, just helped to preserve it. It was made by members of the Stereolab forum, which is where I spent most of my online time before drifting over here.

Ah I see. Regardless.

Holy shit Albert you saw pram? How was it, sadly they've more or less went on without Rosie afaik

Yes, and they covered "Eat Yrself Fitter"!

So jealous man! Anyone rate monade? Monstre cosmic is a great record

Hell, yeah. A Few Steps More is my favorite. Caught them at Emo's in Austin.

is there a non-m4a version of that comp? asking for a friend who likes FLACs...

Nice Moodles! Tney opened for stereolab on the tour I saw, double dose of Sadier

xp

I could theoretically rip the CDs into a different format, but I have no idea what format the original files were. Quite possibly they were already sub-FLAC to start with. The CDs date back to around 2001.

Im at work and I haven't checked what file Moodles uploaded but in theory if it's mp3 I can probably convert to flac

*mp4 rather

if they're from 2001 they're probably 128 or if you're lucky 192 MP3, which yeah, can convert to whatever you like but they won't sound any better.

Yeah, don't think you can up convert. Live project link was posted somewhere above.

Ross.... I have an embarrassing confession to make, I conflated Pram with Prolapse! Lol, I'm so sorry, please carry on...

Hope Switched On, Vol. 4 (or some other collection of ephemera) comes out at some point so I can buy it.

Only saw ‘em once—in 2000 with Sonic Youth—but glad it was when Mary was still around.

Wait, do any of you guys discuss Monade? That was a cool side project, definitely worth it.

I want to link this essential thread here as well:

List The Direct References of Stereolab

this is the playlist i compiled from that thread -- i think it is also largely moodles' work

The 5th Dimension - Up, Up and Away (2:45)
ABBA - Dancing Queen (3:50)
Alain Goraguer - Déshominisation (I) (3:50)
Erik Satie - Six gnossiennes - 1. Lent (3:02)
Alessandro Alessandroni - Una storia (3:08)
Olivier Messiaen - Chant d'amour 1 (8:00)
Olivier Messiaen - Turangalîla 1 (5:05)
Andrew Rudin - Hybris (7:27)
Archie Shepp - Bakai (9:59)
The Archies - Sugar, Sugar (2:47)
B.J. Thomas - Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head (3:02)
Brigitte Fontaine - Une fois mais pas deux (2:47)
Can - Father Cannot Yell (7:03)
Canned Heat - On the Road Again (4:56)
The Castaways - Liar, Liar (1:52)
The Casualeers - Dance, Dance, Dance (2:40)
The Cinderellas - Baby Baby (I Still Love You) (2:37)
Cluster - Caramel (3:09)
Don Cherry - Brown Rice (5:15)
Donna Summer - Down, Deep Inside (6:06)
Eden Ahbez - Myna Bird (2:19)
Emil Richards - Garnet (January) (2:28)
The Fall - Slates, Slags, Etc. (6:34)
Faust - It's a Rainy Day, Sunshine Girl (7:32)
Francis Hime - Passaredo (3:06)
Frank Zappa - Peaches en Regalia (3:38)
Gal Costa - Divino, maravilhoso (4:20)
Gustav Holst - Neptune, the Mystic (7:58)
John Barry - 007 and Counting (3:31)
Kraftwerk - Autobahn (22:43)
Krzysztof Komeda - Pushing the Car (1:49)
Krzysztof Komeda - Main Title (2:16)
Laurie Anderson - O Superman (For Massenet) (8:27)
Marcus Belgrave - Space Odyssey (12:34)
Neu! - Hallogallo (10:07)
Neu! - Für Immer (11:17)
New Birth - Got to Get a Knutt (7:37)
Perrey & Kingsley - One Note Samba/Spanish Flea (2:07)
Peter Thomas - Angel of Promise (1:08)
Piero Piccioni - Blue Rhythm Festival (3:45)
Sérgio Mendes - Primitivo (3:57)
Silver Apples - Ruby (2:32)
Steve Reich - Four Organs (15:38)
Steve Reich - Section VIII (3:28)
Suicide - Cheree (3:42)
Suicide - Frankie Teardrop (10:26)
Sun Ra - Angels and Demons at Play (2:54)
Sun Ra - Love in Outer Space (3:53)
The Velvet Underground - European Son (7:52)
The Velvet Underground - What Goes On (4:55)
The Velvet Underground - Sister Ray (17:27)
Yes - Starship Trooper (9:28)
Yoko Ono - Mindtrain (16:52)

Here's the spotify list I made based off of those origins youtubes

https://open.spotify.com/user/olken2000/playlist/06G3CvbMmQ90bj0KOPWM0b?si=cBq4uZvhS8Kp3nf6T87kfQ

I could theoretically rip the CDs into a different format, but I have no idea what format the original files were. Quite possibly they were already sub-FLAC to start with. The CDs date back to around 2001.

i'll tell "my friend" not to look a gift horse in the mouth. thanks for the link

Great post from the Doc!

--

For me, a little Stereolab goes a long way. I liked (but never loved, note)their earlier Kraut-rockin stuff. I guess the 'Refried Ectoplasm' singles/rarities compilation is all I need. The vocals work OK, until you realize that's all they can do - in other words "Ba, Ba, Ba" all the time. It's just dull. The fact that the whole 'Lab thing is a some kind of conceptual exercise in passionless irony gets in the way, and means that it is impossible for me to do more than just admire the good bits. (Rather as you could admire a well designed piece of furniture). They could never move me. The increasing involvement of O'Hagan and especially, that wretch from Tortoise, from Dots and Loops onwards has mainly killed my interest. It's also ensured that I don't need to hear another Marimba for the rest of my natural life. While I'm on a roll - I hate the way that they record brass. It's so thin and wimpy, it's like "hey we're using brass - but don't worry, you can still hear the marimbas, and the glockenspiel and the shitty vocals. So don't worry punters, even though we're using brass on this track, you won't notice and it'll still sound like all the rest"
They release too much stuff - how much could you need another Stereolab album when there's so many other bands to buy. The whole thing seems like a lifelong project to ensure that a special edition of record collector is devoted wholly to them, perhaps in 2010. (Rarest item, the 9-inch, single-sided vinyl, limited edition of 54 'Wooly Mammoth Situation' EP. Released only in Czechoslovakia in 2005)

What's the brown coloured album called? The one after Dots and Loops? Anyway I have it and whilst I don't like it much for all the above reasons, I have to come clean and say that short bursts are OK. I couldn't get through the whole thing without a gun to my head.

What's the conclusion? Dud.

― Dr. C, Wednesday, January 31, 2001

yes we are familiar with the laughable wrongness of early British posters on ILX

Seems the opposite of great to me, but I guess everyone is entitled to their opinion.

All good Albert!

I went on a trail run a few weeks ago to the first disc of ABC Music -- such perfect music

some kind of conceptual exercise in passionless irony

lol what a bad take.

there's so much heart in the music and it extends to the rigor, the references and the hopeful lyrics.

sleeve otm!

2001 was a long time ago

Smug comment ahead: the opinion of people around my generation gap (born between 1983-1990) regarding Stereolab - if they do know them - invariably affects how much I’ll consider their views and recommendations on music. If they don’t know them at all I immediatly assume the high ground.

That last sentence is not serious.

Half serious: I’ve found that people who find Stereolab boring are very boring themselves.

Dead serious: marimbas should be a required instrument when starting a band.

Stereolab were more into vibraphones and farfisa organs than marimbas though...

you had me at vibraphones/farfisa

i kind of get it, a lot of the vocals are sigh-ey, etc. the first time i saw them live it kind of blew my mind how physical they were, how funky they were. personally i would never say they were boring (in fact the opposite) but im sure there are folks that hear Neu! 2 and think it's a snoozefest.

i saw pram, in London in 2002...I think I have a soundboard recording of that as well. I'll look for it.

i saw Soop (= stereolab improvising around soop groove) supporting pram supporting EAR (with sonic boom) just to tie a few things together. the garage, 1996-05-30

each band had *their own* theremin on stage, couldn't share one, had to use their own...

Different tunings, probably.

Also, bass theremin, alto theremin, etc.

Koogs, I put a copy of that show up on Dime last summer. Looks like it is still up there now. They played Cadriopo at that show, which I don't know that they ever played before or since.

(when EAR started they set one of those wind-up eggtimers on top of one of the speakers and played until it was about to go off. only when it did it was a lot quieter than everything else, you could barely hear it)

put on first of the microbe hunters (EP) for the first time in ages. doesn't kill my buzz as much as it used to, felt like the band was stretching their ideas thin but "outer bongolia" sounds better than I recalled. the groop were great when they treated a melody like a jazz improvisation, circling around a repetitive motif with bursts of sound. EP even has a little more guitar, which seemed to be pretty much reduced to subtle fragments at this period in their career

I Feel The Air (Of Another Planet) was one of their finest moments. Shame the EP (which is actually a LP) was marketed at full price, 16.99 when I bought it. Good marketers these blokes

i saw Soop (= stereolab improvising around soop groove) supporting pram supporting EAR (with sonic boom) just to tie a few things together. the garage, 1996-05-30

each band had *their own* theremin on stage, couldn't share one, had to use their own...

― koogs

kind of funny, i saw cornelius yesterday and they had three theremins up there (the drummer didn't have one i don't think). they played them all together, sounded lovely

never saw stereolab live, haven't been impressed by any of the live recordings i've heard but tapes can lie of course

opening for cornelius were a band called rocketship. apparently they were around in the '90s but they never showed up on my radar back then. they were okay but they seemed to start with their most boring material and gradually got more interesting. also since they were an opener the mix was shit and it was impossible to hear anything. the main thing i took away was being not impressed at all by their drummer, who i'm not sure was able to play in waltz time?

that came out as an aimless ramble, what i meant to say is that rocketship sort of reminded me of stereolab.

hey I really enjoyed listening to the first disc of that live compilation tonight, thanks ILX

I'm trying to find the name of a Lab song I heard once, hopefully you guys can help me out.
Chords: C# E B, time signature 3/2
Guitar bass line: C#-G#C#D#G#-G# C#-G#C#D#G#-G# C#-G#C#D#G#-G# E-G#C#D#G# E-G#C#D#G# E-G#C#D#G# B-F#BC#B-F# B-F#BC#B-F# B-F#BC#B-F# (repeat)
Vocal riff: D#-G#----- F#-D#----- F#-C#-------
Thanks if you find anything!

Not "Pop Quiz" ?

nope, sorry

if it helps, the bass line is more stretched out. in pop quiz, the rhythm is different. It's more like:
C# G#C#^D#^C#^ G#C# G#C#^D#^C#^ G#C# G#C#^D#^C#^ G#|| E G#C#^D#^C#^ G#E G#C#^D#^C#^ G#E G#C#^D#^C#^ G#|| B F#B^C#^B^ F#B F#B^C#^B^ F#B F#B^C#^B^ F#

agh the spaces got deleted! so more like
C# ----- G#C#^D#^C#^ -- G#C# ---- G#C#^D#^C#^ --G#C# -----G#C#^D#^C#^-- G#|| E ----G#C#^D#^C#^ --G#E -----G#C#^D#^C#^ --G#E -----G#C#^D#^C#^ --G#|| B----- F#B^C#^B^-- F#B -----F#B^C#^B^ --F#B -----F#B^C#^B^ --F#

super jealous of rush getting to see Rocketship and Cornelius! i used to have a Rocketship CDR and recall it being cool 90s shoegaze

https://youtu.be/HllqYsggN_A