Stereolab- Oscillons from the Anti-Sun

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

When does this come out, and anyone know the publicist to contact? I see Laetitia's side project Monade is coming to First Avenue May 13...

http://www.stereolab.co.uk/tourdates/

I am iffy on the sequencing but it's cheaper than hunting down all those EPs & singles.

the thing is, so many of these EPs were perfect as EPs... they saved some of their best tunes for these, and their sense of pacing on 20 minute pop EPs often made a better case for them than the albums. also each EP was sort of a little sibling / reflection of the adjacent album -- I'm a little wary of how they'll sound all mashed together on three long discs.

I agree my favorite Stereolab release ever is the Fluorescences EP, they nailed it on that one. I also thought the Captain Easychord EP trumped Sound Dust, 'Long Life Love' would have been the best song on it but it's more powerful as part of a mini-album.

Four votes for Margarine Eclipse. Sure it's super slick, but it's one of the most solid albums they've done. From beginning to end there isn't a bad song. Dots & Loops is great at the beginning, but gets all formless and boring at times after the first three songs.

This is perhaps more urgently needed than a Switched On, at least to those of us who haven't obsessively collected the Elektra-related singles and promos. But it does seem an awful lot of disks. And what is an oscillon?

UK PROMOS:

- Jenny Ondioline
- Ping Pong
- Wow and Flutter
- Cybele's Reverie
- Fluorescences
- Miss Modular
- The Free Design

US Promo:

- The Noise of Carpet

UK TV PERFORMANCES:

- French Disko - The Word
- Cybele's Reverie - Later With Jools Holland
- Les Yper Sound - Later With Jools Holland

plus STICKERS!!!!!

And "Margerine Eclipse" kinda sucks.

'sound-dust' was the one where they lost me.

it occured to me just now - i would have to go back and listen to see if this makes any sense out of what they actually sound like - that maybe the disconnect i've felt with the post-dots records is due to their songs having become more polarized between samey, on the one hand, and overarticulated, on the other. which could be bad because on the one hand, the samey (internally samey, i mean) songs are then prone to sounding samey compared to one another, and the overarticulated ones prone to sounding awkward or stiff. i would have to give it some more thought, though.

('dots' isn't just my favorite stereolab record but one of my favorite records, of all.)

though i think the first half of 'cobra and phases group' is ace, and the 'sound-dust' songs on 'ABC music' sounded way more impressive there.

i ran out of steam there, i guess, but i figure it's better to leave it that way and see if anyone can tell me what i wanted to say but couldn't.

i have stopped listening to tortoise but listen to more mouse on mars now; it's hard for me to hear much of the former in 'dots and loops' and the signs of the latter are pretty localized.

hmm, tension.

Spot on. There is far less for me to sink my teeth into on D&L, and while it may seem peevish to blame McEntire, to my mind it is also accurate, more particularly because it's the MoM songs that I much prefer on said album. Also, contrasting the mention about Sound-Loop songs sounding better on ABC, D&L songs always just *sound* better to me live or live-in-studio when Mr. M. is nowhere to be found. Something about what he and the band did -- on that album, for that time -- resulted in, indeed, a clean and fussy dead zone that is not evident, or at least not *as* evident, elsewhere.

Now that said can I just note the return of Josh to music talk here is one of the cheeriest things so far this year? :-)

if you miss Mary, 'Long Life Love' is my favorite song that she sang the lead on.

Seeing the Live With Jools Holland performance of "Les Yper Sound" with special guests Sean O'Hagan on keys and high on the pedestal of modular synths in the back.. SONIC BOOM!

HOLEE SHIT!

FD was odd because it came in a couple of versions (one where it was the lead track, one where it was just another b-side). the first sounded so much better than the second, somehow, but i'm not sure i can describe why (or, in fact, whether the whole thing was imagined). but, to me, when they did it live they always seemed to be bored of it and did it as fast as possible in order to get it over and done with.

> Hmm. Sounds like I need to grab this this weekend along with the Fall box...

i am rapidly coming to the same, expensive, conclusion...

£12 is my maximum. Off to Berwick Street at lunchtime.

Another thing I'm finding funny about this: I specifically didn't buy all these EPs, even at the peak of my Stereolab fandom -- I remember hearing most of it, but the Switched On volumes had pretty much trained me to wait on purchasing. This should theoretically be the big payoff moment on a whole lot of late-90s telling-myself-I'll-own-"Pinball"-soon-enough -- and while it isn't, not entirely, I'm happy not to have those EPs on the shelf to give me mixed emotions about owning this one.

Yep, I did that already. I don't know about "millions" though. Maybe thousands.

(If you do Google Oscillations From The Anti-Sun you get 19 hits*, including the BBC and Drag City. Buffoons! * - now 20.)

ordered mine yesterday (along with the 99 track fall sessions thing - couldn't they have found just one more track?). was £14 from amazon but saves me £4.70 on a travelcard into town. suppose i could've gone on the bus but...

http://www.worldwidewords.org/turnsofphrase/tp-osc1.htm

I listened to disc one last night and thought to myself that I could do without some of the lengthier B-sides. So I'm glad it was cheap.

Also I am increasingly intolerant of flat singing.

I don't know what happened to my love of things my brother-in-law says, 'sound bad on purpose'.

I am surprised by joy to find that the box contains STICKERS of all the original record covers. I'm going to have the hippest kagoule in Berkshire. Mate.

and what would a b-sides collection be without the b-sides?

Got 99 Fall Tracks
But "Winter" ain't one.

(Though actually it is, isn't it.)

I'd forgotten about your shoe problem.

The daleks are back tomorrow.

Also, are there any in-store places that are selling it for cheaper than $23? I saw it for that at Best Buy, but I haven't gone anywhere else yet.

Quote of the day! You've just made me embarrass myself in a deathly quiet office.

I've got a dull promo copy but might have to buy the real t'ing just for the stickers innit.

The Sterolab Sticker Collection!

http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/record-reviews/s/stereolab/oscillons-from-the-anti-sun.shtml

Sonic Boom has it cheaper: $14.99..

Go to http://www.sonicboomrecords.com and click on the online store.

Yes, I suppose I could find out for myself. Fair point.

I was wrong to diss the B-sides, except for Fruition.

I know more of this stuff than I thought I would.

I have more difficulty getting certain DVDs off their platform (or some CDs even.. like the AC/DC remasters) more than I can open this box.

packaging is nice (and not hard to open at all, as long as you have fingers). dvd titles / menu nice too.

Watching the live videos made me feel sad about Mary too (assuming that's what you mean by the 'Ba Ba Ba' bits.

Hardcore early morning viewing, Koogy. Biggie props, bro! Balamorey for anoraks!

Slide them out sideways, don't pull them.

this is quite a gift to fans i think. i'm not a huge stereolab fan (i have ETK and D&L), but i bought this without thinking twice about it.

xpost...

As for the packaging, my biggest worry is that the discs will fall out and roll away down a hill.

Mine's very easy and always has been.

i listened to this today, boy Soop Groove #1 is so hypnotic!

and "Oscillations From The Anti-Sun" now has 551 htis on google. talk about lack of attention to detail.

wuz one of the tracks on this labeled wrong? Golden Ball or French Disko or another wasn't the version listed on the tracklisting and was the album version instead?

oh it was "Ping Pong" not really an unreleased version, did they ever fix that on later copies?