LM Artist Poll No. 74 · STEREOLAB · Results Thread

"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

i will buy that shirt if you are selling

Nah not selling printing for my own use but I can send you the file and you can go print it anywhere.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/like/172154472637?lpid=82&chn=ps&ul_noapp=true

Yeah, that's the one. Although if you print it yourself it wouldn't be that expensive. $20 tops... depends on the shirt you want to use. I actually made some mockups a while ago... didn't add Stereolab at the bottom just Cliff:

http://imgur.com/Mt5yUOQ

I have several of these shirts so I was thinking of doing this one for me:

http://imgur.com/Bi7B8Wd

but yes, Cliff rules. Do not hate on that logo. I love it.

that logo looks like it would work really well with screenprinting

Yeah that was the idea to make it look faded.

i love the original comic thanks for posting that! i hadn't seen it before, it's almost an animation

I've never had a music-related shirt but I've often thought I wouldn't mind a Cliff one. He's almost obscure enough that only fellow, er, cult members would even recognise it as music-related.

my ex-GF has a giant BEACH TOWEL with Cliff on it that she bought from the band at a show, great merch idea

My blue cliff shirt from that middle east gig fell apart due to overuse. Saw them for sale at Urban Outfitters about 10 years ago.

Just bought a secondhand copy of Oscillons. Somehow resisted doing so before this refresher course in groopological studies stirred up old feelings.

I've got the Stereolab laundry bag!!

Back in the 90s I saw the original "Stereolab" album that inspired Space age Bachelor Pad cover in a junk shop for a couple of bucks. I. Just thought to myself "oh I guess that's where they got it from", tried to explain to the shop guy what it was (he was watching Red Dwarf at the time). Then left without buying it. Stupid.

And I just bought my second copy of Oscillations in a pawn shop before Christmas. Stickers, the lot.

Oscillons is an incredible collection. One of the most essential compilations I own.