LM Artist Poll No. 74 · STEREOLAB · Results Thread

I was somewhat mm on "Dots and Loops", then about two years ago I was in Oxfam Reading, and they played it and of sounded so good I bought it. (I was fair, I went away and came back an hour later for it when they had finished playing it).

The double lp, obv.

Going back to the start for the next one.

http://i.imgur.com/dnKAEUx.jpg
22. Doubt 7 votes, 175 points. 0 first place votes.
From: Stunning Debut Album 7” (1991)
https://youtu.be/eiB_atFYAck

Oh shoot I ate up number 23... ignore 22 for a bit, we'll come back to it in a moment.

http://i.imgur.com/Xa1kwnq.jpg
23. The Black Arts 7 votes, 169 points. 0 first place votes.
From: Sound-Dust (2001)
https://youtu.be/CDbYgV1Wmr4

Did NOT know that about 'Ono'! It's as sensible a working title as any. Yeah those lyrics... the more I look at them, the more mysterious they seem. That's praise, of course. xps

I actually hated The Black Arts the first times I heard it... I'm not used to hearing Laetitia doing 'emotion' and the break sounds very awkward. In Captain Easychord the different sections work fine but in this one it feels very abrupt. Then I started hearing its beauty. The vocals sound stylized like a 60's Brazilian song... like Astrud Gilberto or something.

The break still sounds a bit awkward to me.

Should have voted for Doubt. ABC Music version is my favourite - sounds like McCarthy.

Haha, I'm a sucker for her at her most emotional

Xpost

I located all my S albums (proper) to see what I was missing: basically, their first and the last two.

should track 'em down with Discogs, really.

Not many people in here appreciate or are acquainted with their late albums/eps/singles. I should probably start a Stereolab 2000 - 2010 appreciation thread after the poll is over.

So much catchy up to do.

Moka, Tim has said the most recent vinyl reissues are really poor quality. He's planning to remaster them and do them himself but it has been held up for legal reasons. I'd love to get some more of their stuff on vinyl (I have Margarine Eclipse, Peng and the coloured vinyls of Dots & Loops, Emperor Tomato Ketchup and Refried Ectoplasm). I'm just going to wait until these new ones come out before getting anymore. See also Saint Etienne who are getting proper reissues done by the band who also said to stay away from the recent reissues.

Going back to Margarine Eclipse, That would have been in my top five if it had just been studio albums.

Oh I didn't know that. Any place I can check updates when those go for sale?

Those two albums I have Peng! and D&L are not reissues... at least not the recent ones, I've had them for almost a decade now.

I read that in an interview he did for the Cavern of Anti-Matter album. I'm not sure where I'd check for announcement. I'll be obsessively keeping an eye out for them, so I'll let you know on one of their threads or send you a message. Sadly, I got the impression it might take a while. He's desperate to get them out there.

Last song of the day! Apologies for the slight fuckup upthread. Coming up tomorrow: The heavy hitters. There's a significant point bump #16 onwards and keeps scalating from there, so I guess it means there's a more defined consensus on their top 15 songs.

http://i.imgur.com/niHqzJ8.jpg
21. Golden Ball 9 votes, 176 points. 0 first place votes.
From: Jenny Ondioline 7” / Transient Random Noise-Bursts (1993)
https://youtu.be/_sTN9ozglRo

"The Black Art" was one of my discoveries in preparing my ballot. Such an un-Stereolab song, too -- classically beautiful.

XPs WOOOOOH GOLDEN BALL.

Catching up on some of the songs. Great selection from Emperor Tomato Ketchup today. The title track ended up high on my list.

I remember hearing the single edit of Captain Easychord on the John Peel show and really not liking it. Then I heard the album version which changed everything. Great to see that and The Black Arts appear. Two of the songs that make Sound-Dust such a great song.

Totally thought Wow & Flutter would be in the top 10. Possibly the first song I ever heard of theirs.

I'm still so surprised when I see people saying Dots & Loops is one of their weakest albums. It's my second favourite behind Emperor Tomato Ketchup. Gorgeous songs with some really wonderful production.

So is it safe to say nothing post Sound-Dust is placing?

I don't think I voted for any even though there are plenty of worthy later tunes. It'd kind of interesting statement on the band's later years.

I was hoping Vonal Declosion would sneak in. I put it in my top five.

Sorry, not allowed to share info or results until the end of the poll.

still holding out for Kyberneticka Babicka

I like how "Stunning Debut Album" is neither an album or their debut. "Doubt" is stunning though and probably deserved better.

XP: "Kyberneticka Babicka" is surely yet to come. (It's the middle of the night; I'm allowed to be delusional)

Hahaha. Didn't see that final comment.

The Black Art is great, that was my gateway into Sound-Dust

still didn't make my top 20, though

"Doubt" is one of my least favourite songs of theirs from the 90's.

Golden Ball would have been my number 1. That motorik like beat throughout the song does some weird things to me.

best fake-out on record ever

Yeah I remember the first time I listened to TRNBwA and during Golden Ball when the vocal distortion glitched into clean, I walked across the living room to my turntable to remove what I'd thought was a dust bunny but it was just clever audio trolling (later to be copied by Tortoise).

I will never forget how HEAVY (like Broadcast) Stereolab was live in the 94-96 era. Golden Ball was such a menacing brutal dirge. Unfortunately they will never be remembered as a heavy rock band, but they did wear that costume quite well for a brief time.

The great thing about Doubt is that it does not really need any instruments or effects. It's all in the singing. The two female voices overlapping, embracing each other. The lead voice moving up and down whereas the background singer is humming in circles. Those harmonies still haven't lost their charm after all these years. Melancholic and upbeat at the same time. I suppose it is just laetitia's voice overdubbed, n'est-ce pas? There is only one criticism i have here and it is grave. The song is cut in the middle, it is much too short, i feel like a baby catapulted out of the womb of my mother when the song stops suddenly. It is that painful.

Nitpick - "Revox!" is originally from Shimmies In Super 8, not the John Cage Bubblegum 7".

It was later paired with John Cage on a New Zealand 1995 promo CD for Refried Ectoplasm.

aw man I really wanna hear those Huggy Bear songs, damn

Oh those 7" must be worth some money today. Darlin' was Daft Punk.

Ok, nitpicker here you go:

http://i.imgur.com/8orPLDX.jpg

Last Sold: 26 Jan 16
Lowest: $120.39
Median: $134.56
Highest: $179.88

hey amazon has a "like new" vinyl copy of The Groop EP for under $20 should i get it? is that an insane deal?

Groop and Peng are the only ones I see in record shops for reasonable prices that aren't those 1972 reissues that I mentioned earlier. That is a good price but I don't think it's an insane deal or anything.

You mean space age? It's a fair price I think.

https://www.discogs.com/sell/list?master_id=21207&ev=mb&format=Vinyl

I have Peng! on vinyl, I think it is a Too Pure reissue. Sadly, it has pretty poor sound quality.

ALL RIGHT I JUST HAVE TO COME OUT AND SAY IT. I REALLY REALLY HATE THE "PENG!" GUY ON THE COVER OF ALL THE EARLY RELEASES. HATE HATE HATE.
Love the music on those records but HATE THE PENG GUY. I know he was from some obscure German animated short.
Sorry for venting, that has been building up in me for a couple of decades.

i hear u

GOLDEN BALL TOO LOW

I love 'cliff'! Why do you hate it? I might do a vectorized version of it to print on a tshirt.

chickfactor: where did you get the image of the guy with the gun? what made you give it up on space age bachelor pad?
tim: “cliff” (as well call him) was taken from a swiss political comic from 1969. he’s a figure of the establishment who is eventually shot by the forces of the revolution (peng!). the recent mini LP was based on a hi-fi stereo sound effect record of the early/mid-60s. the record doesn’t sound like that but I just like that kinda cool image shit. all of the next records will be based on the sleeves of hi-fi/stereo effect records. it’s a juvenile thing. I like themes running through the records, things that connect them together so that we can have our own “blue” period and “op art phase.”

Here's the original comic if you want to see it:

http://www.koly.com/stereolab/ex-cliff.php

FPed MatthewK

I might do a vectorized version of it to print on a tshirt.

Oooh I would like to see the end result if you do this.

Will do! I want to either make a poster for my new house or a shirt. If I do it I'll pm you and post in some stereolab thread the file.

now remembering that I returned an earlier LP reissue of Switch On cuz it sounded like garbage (maybe even close to a decade ago??), it's so unfortunate that the vinyl reissues seem to have been botched multiple times