LM Artist Poll No. 74 · STEREOLAB · Results Thread

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:

http://i.imgur.com/z3CnD6n.jpg
19. The Seeming & the Meaning 9 votes, 189 points. 0 first place votes.
From: Peng! (1992)
https://youtu.be/5k4dRo48BaI

They seem to come in pairs. Here's another one. Very beautiful sounds but thought it was piano magic, not stereolab the first time I heard it.

http://i.imgur.com/ePHCL18.jpg
18. Super Falling Star 8 votes, 205 points. 0 first place votes.
From: Peng! (1992)
https://youtu.be/r1T4Lrg2Nx8

it will leave them with a pounding dream

voted for each of the last 4

cool song. Something to be said for early Stereolab, they never were a "genre" band, in that none of the songs ever really seem like excuses to use a particular synth, or particular Bacharach chord progression. Even when I don't like all the early stuff, the songs seem more synthesis than homage or exercise.

http://i.imgur.com/ysIboSA.jpg
17. Come and Play In the Milky Night 9 votes, 206 points. 0 first place votes.
From:Voltage in the Milky Night (1999)
https://youtu.be/C2RRpNd1-0s

This is on spotify and Amazon music as 'Come Andy Play' instead of 'Come And Play' is that a typo or was the title changed?

Opening has been sampled in at least 4 hip hop tracks... notably by Jaylib and Busta Rhymes. It's a really good bassline to sample.

Jaylib - the message: https://youtu.be/v9jVajloBpY

Busta - show me what you got: https://youtu.be/fHROoYCyBpE

another weird Deerhoof-y melody, can see them doing a version of this. Cool track, wouldn't necessarily have been out of place on earlier records

xxpost typo, but an amusing one

xxpost typo, but an amusing one

― Jeff W

Yeah it's weird. At first I thought I had fucked up but everywhere else it's as 'come and play'. Thought for a minute it was the real title and they were referencing their drummer Andy Ramsay at first.

Super falling star has got this time-machine madeleine quality. It beams me back into luxembourg 1992. Listening to it is like falling into a hole and coming out at the other side more than 20 years younger. It's less motorik beat and more wistful tune. Early Stereolab always has got this innocent childlike quality which touches something deep inside me. A very essential song.

The next section is where the points start increasing dramatically instead of one or two points between songs:

http://i.imgur.com/HUJh4a8.jpg
16. We’re Not Adult Orientated 12 votes, 258 points. 0 first place votes.
From:Space Age Batchelor Pad Music (1993)
https://youtu.be/I30I3jTbtfI

One of those votes is for the New Wave Live version.

d'oh neu

ok, Neu Wave Live sorry---

just wanted to use the harbly formed "joke"

On deezer it is come andy play as well. Much cooler than the other title. I didn't know it but it's quite nice. Her high-pitch singing reminds indeed a little of japanese singers like from deerhoof or blonde redhead.

wait more Peng! songs that I thought. never heard mountain before, terrific.

We're not adult orientated was pretty much on top of my ballot but it went down to #13. It feels too familiar, one of their songs i have listened to most often. Still a phantastic groove.

My 10 year old cousin loves the next one one. Have no idea where she got it from but I got very excited and nerded out talking about Stereolab with her but she clearly didn't care about the band just this one song. Was it featured on a cartoon channel ad or something?

http://i.imgur.com/latPFnE.jpg
15. Lo Boob Oscillator 13 votes, 286 points. 1 first place vote.
From:Lo Boob Oscillator (1993)
https://youtu.be/f8258BP42q8

was in the Hi Fidelity movie

My barely conscious brain at 4:30am thought "Hmmm, I wonder what number Moka is up to".

I didn't know to expect more Peng! at this point either, though I vaguely knew "SFS" was popular. All the others were on my ballot until quite late.

Fun fact: "We Are Not Adult Orientated" is the first groop track I knowingly heard. That video with the winding mountain road was on late night TV. Sounded cool. I think the vocals brought to mind...Shonen Knife.

Probably my all-time favorite 'Lab song

and omg shoulda kept my t-shirts (well I never meant to lose them)