Stereolab: Classic or Dud

I always think 'Mars Audiac Quintet' is a bit underrated ("Etoilles Electroniques" is soooo beautiful). What I heard of that last mini- album was pretty good, but hey I have so many Stereolab records, why bother with another one? Good live band as stated before, very generous and adventurous.

also they played denver and boulder on their last tour and seeing as how most other bands simply pass us by they have to be classic.

The only other band that has been that cheap was Bentley Rhythm Ace.

Dr C, Miss Modular is one of the best dancing songs ever. It may be a more subtle album but I don't think it lost anything in its mellowness. It only increased their appeal.

My favourite band of the 90s. I get a bit tired of defending them to be honest (I've been hearing "they've lost it" comments since '94 - often from people who were bemoaning their 'lack of development' in '93); they seem to be a band who're continually and obsessively refining their approach, to the inevitable result that there are few jarringly obvious stylistic leaps in their sound thesedays, just many gradations of shade. The last quarter of "Cobra and Phases..." is as delicious as anything they've ever put their name to.

Having said that, "The First Of The Microbe Hunters" was a bit of a mis-fire. The first Stereolab release to genuinely feel like it could've been culled from all the others, rather than adding something fresh to the canon. Tape comp fodder only. The looped brass stabs of "Outer Bongolia" are worth a giggle.

Why did he think he had to "go further" (and end up standing still)? I'd far rather hear O'Hagan doing sumptuous Wilson / Webb baroque concept pieces than armchair electronica.

As for Stereolab, oooh, pretty classic but losing it now. In retrospect "Dots And Loops" is the turning point; the last mini-album just drifted past without making a moment's impact. But I would still say that pretty much everything on "Switched On", "Emperor Tomato Ketchup" and "Aluminium Tunes" is marvellous. Most of the "Metronomic Underground" era just gets better (and funkier!) with repeated listenings, not least because they keep the ba-ba-bas down. I'd prefer to remember them that way.

Oh, and Tanya on the 'Lab is lazy comedy slaggery even Stuart Maconie would flinch from. So there.

I do disagree with Nick Dastoor, though. They were waff at Camber Sands. I told you so at the time, so you have no excuse for peddling these myths now.

dots and loops onwards they just seem to be a pursuing smug cleverness at the expense of a decent tune. that said, they *were* great at camber sands last year, and they reminded me of just why i'd loved them in the first place.

what puzzles me most is how such a great band could have been formed by members of mccarthy.

Recent i-D issue, question put to The Neptunes.

Q: what do you listen to in your bedroom A (Pharell): when I'm with girls I put Stereolab on, the Dots and Loops album on repeat, It makes them get naked.

The more I think about thebestbandofthe90s, the less I like them.

Have been going through old MMs and they used to gig / release records every week! Or so it seems.

what else might i fancy if i like the quite hard noisy drone-y but pop stuff, when they get better at actual song writing it goes a bit more rubbish.

you're dealing with a virtual novice here (although, growing up in the indie disco years 1991/92/93/94 means i'm familliar with 'the hits'. i think maybe their 'typical fan' has put me off liking them. hey no offence actual fans!

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

Besides their latest album, Margarine Eclipse, and "Mass Riff" from 2003's Instant O in the Universe EP, these are my favorites songs:

(a suggested compilation for one side of a 110-minute tape)

Super-Electric (1)
K-Stars (2)
Les Yper-Sound (6)
Captain Easychord (10)
Our Trinitone Blast (3)
Brakhage (8)
Wow and Flutter (4)
Orgiastic (2)
Fuses (9)
French Disko (5)
OLV 26 (6)
Super Falling Star (2)
Emperor Tomato Ketchup (6)
Les Yper Yper Sound (7)

1. Too Pure: The Peel Sessions
2. Peng!
3. Transient Random Noise Bursts with Announcements
4. Mars Audiac Quintet
5. Refried Ectoplasm: Music for the Amorphous Body Study Center
6. Emperor Tomato Ketchup
7. Noise of Carpet promotional single
8. Dots and Loops
9. Cobra and Phases Group Play Voltage in the Milky Night
10. Sound-Dust

Didn't use these releases:
Switched On Stereolab
Space Age Bachelor Pad Music
Fluorescences single
Aluminum Tunes: Stereolab Sampler
The First of the Microbe Hunters

1. Cobra and Phases Group Play Voltage in the Milky Night
2. Sound-Dust
3. Emperor Tomato Ketchup
4. Dots and Loops
5. Mars Audiac Quintet
6. Transient Random Noise Bursts with Announcements
7. Peng!
8. The Groop Played Space Age Bachelor Pad Music
9. First of the Microbe Hunters
10. Refried Ectoplasm: Music for the Amorphous Body Study Center
11. Margerine Eclipse(it's official:yuck)
12. ABC Music

best EP: Instant '0' in the Universe
worst endeavor: that Uilab thing

Are you crazy? Do you just not like live Stereolab as opposed to studio Stereolab?

I think "ABC Music" contains the definitive versions of "Wow and Flutter" (the second one, the one that boogies more), "Contact", "Les Yper Sound", all of the "Sound Dust" tracks, and possibly "Changer" and "Anamorphose".

Piscesboy, Disc 1 + first two tracks of Disc 2 cover the early singles through to "MAQ". The rest of Disc 2 covers "ETK" and "Sound Dust" (nothing from the years between those albums is covered).

Wha'?! Their "St. Elmo's Fire" gives the original a run for the money (and that's saying a lot)...

xpost

Stereolab- Oscillons from the Anti-Sun

MAQ is the greatest krautrock space boogie album ever.

*cracks knuckles*

Let us humbly say there is no consensus.

Pretty great. Happily downloading the FLACs as I type...

insane, really looking forward to blasting that 2002-era 12+ minute version of John Cage Bubblegum as soon as I can

this is gonna make my weekend

this is exciting!

there are also more collections at the bottom of that archive dot org page (!)

September/October tour dates for US and Canada announced

I've had the "Dots and Loops" CD in my car for three months straight, AMA.

do you prefer the cover with the green background and the blue foreground or vice versa

although i guess there are other choices now

Blue? I see it as two different shades of green (or maybe blue-green and yellow-green)

maybe their most sparkly album

My favorite album of theirs along with Transient Random…

do you prefer the cover with the green background and the blue foreground or vice versa

although i guess there are other choices now

― mookieproof

i have no idea what color the cover of my copy of "dots and loops" is, the cd is in the car, not the cover. i guess in my mind it's green as the background and blue as the foreground but god knows if i'm remembering that right.

Peng! and Dots and Loops are constantly being played around here.

Ok ask a question, then… mm rate the songs from best to worst:

I find the original Swtiched On Stereolab to be one of the most perfect collections I know.

I keep seeing the vinyl reissues at the local shop and I'm considering getting them. the material they're made out of is pretty neat at least

they are very well done reissues, fwiw

agreed, worth it for the demos alone

yes, the reissues are very worth it, nice extras, they sound great, all have full lyrics and song-by-song liner notes

Ok ask a question, then… mm rate the songs on 'Tadpoles' by the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band from best to worst:

― ✖✖✖ (Moka), Wednesday, June 15, 2022 8:53 AM (four hours ago)

fixed

I guess my question would be, do you still refer to Laetitia Sadier as 'Ms. Sadier' or do you call her 'Tish' now?

Tish, that's French

Shirt
Canyons of Your Mind
Tubas in the Moonlight
Mr. Apollo
I'm the Urban Spaceman
Ali-Baba's Camel
Laughing Blues
Hunting Tigers Out in 'Indiah'
By A Waterfall
Monster Mash
Dr. Jazz

Laughing Blues
By A Waterfall
Tubas in the Moonlight
I'm the Urban Spaceman
Mr. Apollo
Shirt
Canyons of Your Mind
Hunting Tigers Out in'Indiah'
Ali-Baba's Camel
Monster Mash
Dr. Jazz

I keep seeing the vinyl reissues at the local shop and I'm considering getting them. the material they're made out of is pretty neat at least

― frogbs

vinyl? aren't most records made out of that?

so here are the answers i have to the questions that have been asked

Ok ask a question, then… mm rate the songs from best to worst:

― ✖✖✖ (Moka)

i hate to give a non-answer but i kind of like all the songs in different ways! i just have a hard time rating one song as being "better" than another, the reason it's been in my car for three months is because all the songs are good. if there was a song i didn't like i'd wind up skipping it, and i don't ever skip any songs.

Ok ask a question, then… mm rate the songs on 'Tadpoles' by the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band from best to worst:

― The 25 Best Songs Ever Ranked In Order (Deflatormouse)

you know, i respect the bonzo dog doo dah band and all but i'm not sure i've listened to any of their records straight through, including _tadpoles_. i guess maybe i'll try to do that after meditation, but if i get distracted or bored i'll probably turn it off. i know i've heard a lot of the songs, like their version of "monster mash", "mr apollo", "canyons of your mind", "i'm the urban spacemen", probably "readymades", but i can't remember what any of them _sound_ like. i like "eleven mustachioed daughters" and "cyborg signal" by vivian stanshall's big grunt. i don't like "the strain". i'm not generally interested in songs about constipation, and if i were, screamin' jay hawkins' "constipation blues" is better, especially given how much he sounds like david lee roth. i also like "unfinished words" by the rutles.

I guess my question would be, do you still refer to Laetitia Sadier as 'Ms. Sadier' or do you call her 'Tish' now?

― The 25 Best Songs Ever Ranked In Order (Deflatormouse)

i don't call anybody "tish". "tish" to me is short for "tishoumaren", not that tishoumaren comes up in conversation, but it's not a word i can particularly spell or pronounce so "tish" seems like a good way of referring to it. hopefully that's not offensive.

"laetitia" in a word mostly makes me think of the obscure but very good actually weirdo black metal band "laetitia in holocaust", which probably is _not_ a reference to laetitia sadier. also, i have a hard time spelling and pronouncing ms. sadier's (well i guess there's your answer) first _and_ last names - in my mind she is some disowned relative of sgt. barry sadler of "ballad of the green berets" fame.

i would also like to give a shout-out to Laetitia Tamko of Vagabon. i've barely heard the album but what i heard i liked.

she was listed as Seaya on their earlier records, so I assume that's her actual nickname

Great answers, Kate! "Tish" to me is reminiscent of 'Tisch School of the Arts' I guess, but that's because I live in New York. Does Tim Gane smell European?

lottery emails going out

For Switched on Vol 5? How does one get in on this, if one is not already on their mailing list?

you needed to be on their mailing list and opted in to the lottery
this is just for the limited edition though

tracklist

Simple Headphone Mind’ b/w ‘Trippin’ With The Birds’ was the second collaboration between Nurse With Wound and Stereolab. A 12” disk released on yellow vinyl [1000 copies] and black vinyl [4996 copies] The sleeve was made from a 'Mylar style’, aluminium coloured, material that was glued and sealed – each purchaser had to open the sleeve to discover which colour vinyl they had bought. The CDs were also released in a sealed sleeve. Originally released 28th April 1997 via Duophonic Super 45s. Catalogue numbers DS33-11 / DS45CD-11.

The ‘Low Fi’ EP - ‘Low Fi’, ‘[Varoom!]’, ‘Laisser-Faire’ and ‘Elektro [he held the world in his iron grip]’ was originally released as a limited edition clear vinyl 10” [approx 500 copies], black vinyl 10” and CD. Released 28th September 1992 by Too Pure. Catalogue numbers Pure 14 / Pure CD14.

‘Robot Riot’ and ‘Unity Purity Occasional’ were both written for sculptures made by Charles Long - an artist that we had previously collaborated with on the ‘Music For The Amorphous Body Study Center’ project. ‘Unity Purity Occasional’ was used in 2000 for Charles' sculpture of the same name - "Unity Purity Occasional is a sculpture with six hand-blown, tear-shaped glass cups filled with antibacterial hand gel that the visitor can pump out and disinfect their hands with. The song is channeled through three tubes that simultaneously blow the visitors’ hands dry with warm jets of air." [Text by Niki Kralli Anell]. ‘Robot Riot’ is previously unreleased.

‘Spool of Collusion’ and ‘Forensic Itch’ were originally released on August 18th 2008 as a black vinyl 7” that was given away with the initial pressing [5000 copies] of the ‘Chemical Chords’ LP. Released via Duophonic UHF Disks / 4AD. Catalogue number AD2820. ‘Spool of Collusion’ was also added, as a bonus track, to the Japanese CD release of ‘Chemical Chords’.

‘Symbolic Logic Of Now!’ was one side of a split 7” with Soi-Disant. 100 copies on blue vinyl and 2000 copies on black vinyl. Originally released in 1998 by Luke Warm Music. Catalogue number LWM001.

‘Ronco Symphony’ demo – a demo version of the track from 1993’s 'The Groop Played "Space Age Batchelor Pad Music"’ album. Previously unreleased.

A cover of the track ‘ABC’ by The Multitude from The Godz album ‘The Third Testament’. The track was originally recorded for a Godz tribute album called ‘Godz Is Not A Put On’ and released in an edition of 500 copies by Lissy’s Records in 1996. The track was later released as one side of a yellow glitter 7” that was part of an exclusive Japanese box set edition of ‘Aluminum Tunes [Switched On Volume 3]’. Yellow glitter 7” – approximately 3000 copies. Catalogue number D-UHF-D21.

‘Magne-Music’ and ‘The Nth Degrees’ were added as bonus tracks to the UK limited edition CD of ‘Chemical Chords’ released 18th August 2008 via Duophonic UHF Disks / 4AD. Catalogue number CADD2815CD. Both tracks also appear on the Japanese edition of ‘Chemical Chords’.

‘Blaue Milch’ was recorded for a Peter Thomas Sound Orchestra compilation album – each artist on the album was sent a Peter Thomas audio track and was asked to build it into a new track. Originally released in 1998 by the Bungalow record label. Catalogue number Bung 048.2.

The original recording of ‘Plastic Mile’. The re-recording was released as a 7” b/w ‘I Was A Sunny Rainphase’ and subsequently compiled onto Stereolab’s ‘Fab Four Suture’ album. Previously unreleased.

‘Yes Sir! I Can Moogie’ was originally released in 1995 as part of a single sided 3 track 7” flexi-disk via Wurlitzer Jukebox. Catalogue number WJ03 - 1000 copies were pressed.

‘Refractions In The Plastic Pulse’, a track from the ‘Dots And Loops’ album remixed by Autechre. A 12” disk released on 20th April 1998 via Duophonic UHF Disks. Catalogue number D-UHF-D19. 500 copies pressed on translucent yellow vinyl and 2972 copies on black vinyl.

‘XXXOOO’ was originally released in 1992 as part of a single sided 3 track 7” flexi-disk via the Encore! label. The flexi-disk was given away with edition #6 of the 'Tea Time' fanzine. Catalogue number Encore 001.

A live version of the ‘Emperor Tomato Ketchup’ album track ‘Cybele's Reverie’. Recorded 26th September 2004 when Stereolab supported Air at The Hollywood Bowl, CA. USA. Previously unreleased.

This is likely the last Switched On, isn’t it?

Probably? Apparently due to licensing issues the Low-Fi EP tracks on Vol. 5 are not on the digital release, just on the CD and Vinyl versions.

After five volumes, Switched On series to be Switched Off, and here’s why/that’s ok.

Not true that Ronco Symphony Demo had never been released! I got this flexi somewhere: https://rateyourmusic.com/release/single/stereolab-submariner/space-watch/

nice to see Low-Fi get a high quality vinyl re-release

lol that was my reaction, I have that 5” flexi with the Ronco Symphony demo on it

Just listened to Robot Riot - would fit right in on MAQ so I'm a bit surprised that it was actually planned for one of the Charles Long collabs (or, to put it another way, it makes sense that it wasn't used for such in the end).

Really pleased that Unity Purity Occasional is going to be on this comp; that's the one ultra rare Lab "release" I've never heard. This is what the sculpture looks like:
https://www.magasin3.com/en/artwork/unity-purity-occasional-2/

Saw them at Roadrunner in Boston last night, which is a terrific venue. Enjoyable but the absolutely terrible sound (their live sound person's fault as the opener had great sound and a very similar lineup) made the experience a lot less pleasant than it should've been. Current band is pretty tight tho and the song selection was very good.

Gerald McBoing-Boing to thread?

Y'all want this thread. :-D

The future of Stereolab

Oh, Refried Ectoplasm! I love thee so.