LM Artist Poll No. 74 · STEREOLAB · Results Thread

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.

Oscillons almost made it to the top 10. Would've have if the last ballot received didn't pushed it down in lieu of space age.

Btw, here's the full album results:

ALBUM YEAR POINTS # VOTES 1 votes
1 Emperor Tomato Ketchup 1996 863 26 4
2 Transient Random-Noise Bursts with Announcements 1993 752 23 4
3 Refried Ectoplasm (Switched On Vol. 2) 1995 660 19 6
4 Mars Audiac Quintet 1994 558 17 3
5 Dots and Loops 1997 533 15 5
6 Sound-Dust 2001 444 13 5
7 Cobra and Phases Group Play Voltage in the Milky Night 1999 300 9 2
8 Peng! 1992 268 8 2
9 Switched On Vol. 1 1992 231 7 1
10 The Groop Played Space Age Batchelor Pad Music 1993 183 6
11 Oscillons from the Anti-Sun 2005 168 5
12 Aluminum Tunes 1998 132 4 1
13 Fluorescences EP 1996 97 3
14 The First Of The Microbe Hunters 2000 89 3
15 Chemical Chords 2008 72 2
16 Music for the Amorphous Body Study Center EP 1995 64 2
17 Fab Four Suture 2006 61 2
18 Super 45 40 1 1
19 Low Fi EP 1992 36 1
19 The Free Design EP 1999 36 1
21 ABC Music 2002 33 1
22 Instant 0 in the Universe EP 2003 30 1
23 Margerine Eclipse 2004 28 1

Not Music the only zero then? It's good good stuff but feels so low-key, even non-canonical.

OK I surrender. I LOVE CLIFF.

Oscillons is a non-trivial distance ahead of Aluminum Tunes too! I guess I slightly prefer AT (nice to see it got a #1 vote), not least for bonkers stuff like "Iron Man" and "Speedy Car", etc. But I'm pretty sure both comps each house a greater number of my track selections than of any of the standard LPs!

xp: LOL

I am absolutely shocked at Microbe Hunters outplacing Amorphous, and deeply saddened at Margerine finishing 23rd. I should have voted. Since there won't be any focused discussion of Marge, I should point out that the album is mixed dual-mono, i.e. a separate mono mix of track elements was created for each channel, rather than a mix with the elements placed in a stereo field. Makes the headphone experience immersive, with separate things going on in each ear.

Amorphous (and Fluorences) may have got a raw deal, their contents being major contributors to the greatness of the aforementioned comps.

yeah how did Margerine Eclipse finish last. Does anyone actually think it's their worst record?

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

― AdamVania (Adam Bruneau), Wednesday, April 6, 2016 5:45 PM (4 hours ago)

I think I have that shirt somewhere? 22 years old!

To be fair, asking people for five favourites is not much of a measure of their position on the albums they didn't mention. ETK wasn't on my ballot either. I think I'd prefer that be read as at least as much of a rejection of ETK (which I don't really need to hear anymore) as a rejection of ME or NM!

https://www.instagram.com/p/3HQdo-tKs2/

If I was living on a desert island and could bring only one Stereolab album, it would probably be "ABC Music". As mentioned upthread, many of the live versions are better (and heavier!) than the recorded ones, and it covers the best ten or so years of their career. It's the closest thing to a comprehensive "best of" in their catalogue.

That said, I didn't vote for it in the albums poll because I've never thought of it as a "proper" studio album, and I guess most other people don't either seeing as it finished third from the bottom in the poll. But about half of my tracks ballot is made up of songs that appeared on "ABC Music".

Marge is a fantastic album - all of the dual mono recordings* are startling great, a conceit that Tim pulled off brilliantly - but I just couldn't find a place for it in a Stereolab all-time Top 5. I guess nearly everyone felt likewise.

*see also 'Instant 0 in the Universe' (which I voted for), "Variation One" and the 'Rose, My Rocket-Brain!' tour single

One thing which strikes me is how incredibly successful Stereolab were at achieving what they set out to do. From that first 10" single to Not Music they nailed their aesthetic every single time. There was never a moment which felt commercially calculated or compromised. Some records were far better than others, but they were always absolutely, inimitably, wholeheartedly Stereolab. That's an incredible thing to pull off amid the wreckage of the record industry and the wholesale transformation of recorded music, across two decades. Perfect. I can't think of many groups or artists who can say the same - Autechre, maybe.

(well, Autechre definitely, but it's pretty rare huh)

I did get that "Shimmies" double-set, it was somewhat expensive. The idea was, I could make a copy recording of it, then sell it on for the same price as I paid.

Which was pretty much what happened.

one of my favorites, voted it ["Animal or Vegetable"] high

― the 'major tom guy' (sleeve)

Me two! #2 on my ballot after thee immaculate "K-Stars", though it isn't really my 2nd favorite Stereolab track. Or even really a Stereolab track at all. But such a wonderful headphone ride.

http://i.imgur.com/SdZ4oV2.jpg
20. Mountain 8 votes, 185 points. 0 first place votes.
From: Mountain 7" (1993)
http://youtu.be/t-66TiJ1pY4

"mountain" and "revox" for ever and ever and ever and ever and

"Mountain" is one of my favorite early-period (ie. Martin Kean) deep cuts. Despite the release date, it comes from the Low-Fi session (which also had Revox, Sadistic, and [i think] John Cage Bubblegum).

btw I just got a mail from a mix by Tim on fact... haven't listened to it but thought you guys might care: http://www.factmag.com/2016/04/04/fact-mix-544-tim-gane-cavern-anti-matter-stereolab/

More Peng! Yessir: