LM Artist Poll No. 74 · STEREOLAB · Results Thread

This is where it all starts.

http://i.imgur.com/ExPZ3L9.jpg
58. Avant Garde MOR 4 votes, 108 points. 1 first place vote.
From: Space Age Batchelor Pad Music, 1993.
https://youtu.be/OrcaCYTErTg

I feel bad about not acknowledging SABPM in any way on my ballot. I knew I would.

That's one of the many holes I have in my Groopological knowledge, going to have to redress that!

So, there are a couple of ties in the countdown. I'll follow crut's method on the depeche mode poll: ties are broken first by number of #1 votes, then by number of total votes. If they have the same votes and points then a tie is mentioned, otherwise that will be the method of ranking them.

http://i.imgur.com/1mVeinv.jpg
57. Puncture in the Radax Permutation 5 votes, 109 points. 0 first place votes.
From: Cobra And Phases Group Play Voltage In The Milky Night, 1999.
https://youtu.be/KA6vh2wVfQM

Yeah, I did that on the Fall ballot too, accidentally or so I thought. (Xpost)

http://i.imgur.com/Q8ob6g3.jpg
56. K-Stars 5 votes, 109 points. 1 first place vote.
From: Peng!, 1992.
https://youtu.be/QzFiCRw1XAw

I love this one (everything on this album, actually). It sounds like Young Marble Giants would in the 90's, a bit of shoegaze influence in there... could be partly responsible for setting that Morr label micropop a decade earlier.

Slow down, Moka! Jesus.

Yes @ #57! You were blessed if you heard Mary sing this live. She only did it once or twice, I think.

Hahaha, sorry! I have to leave to work in 30 minutes and I want to cover all the ground possible. I promise tomorrow results will rollout very slowly.

Possibly the Peng! track least likely to be mistaken for an entirely band when juxtaposed with #57. :)

entirely DIFFERENT band

http://i.imgur.com/GVTUkCC.jpg
55. Peng! 33 4 votes, 110 points. 0 first place votes.
From: Peng!, 1992.
https://youtu.be/6993BdVL_0k

'incredible things are happening in this poll' was another alt title I was considering.

http://i.imgur.com/ydxjVXk.jpg
54. Spark Plug 5 votes, 111 points. 0 first place votes.
From: Emperor Tomato Ketchup, 1996.
https://youtu.be/Girx3PL5o-g

http://i.imgur.com/RHYgvhy.jpg
53. Nihilist Assault Group 6 votes, 111 points. 0 first place votes.
From: Mars Audiac Quintet / Wow & Flutter EP (1994)
https://youtu.be/QqdxiW7A2fY

I really should've voted in this but couldn't get myself together

(MAQ too low)

lol M.O.R. was my #1 and here it is at #58

I have to go so I leave you with the final results of the day. A tie, actually.

Apologies for the hasty rollout today. Tomorrow I'll be rolling them out with 20 mins at minimum in between.

http://i.imgur.com/vZLrmJC.jpg
TIE 51. OLV 26 5 votes, 112 points. 0 first place votes.
From: Emperor Tomato Ketchup (1996)
https://youtu.be/5Zm5H-116mQ

http://i.imgur.com/7GpCvMd.jpg
TIE 51. New Ortophony 5 votes, 112 points. 0 first place votes.
From: Mars Audiac Quintet (1994)
https://youtu.be/808qJizotKA

Gee, I might have stayed on Team "New Orthophony" if I realised it had broader support. As mentioned on the other thread, such a vote would have been very firmly for the far superior unedited (Aluminum Tunes) version. (Haha, okay, the version in the link in other words.)

I'm considering the first release as the one to mention in almost every track but yes, the new ortophony unedited v. is awesome!

just catching up now, will have some more organized thoughts on this a bit later. For now, will just say that I'm impressed that none of these dipped below 4 votes. I was expecting lots of 1 vote tunes. Also, the graphics do indeed look fantastic!

It's kind of insane how much stuff they cranked out between '92 and '96, they covered a huge amount of ground in their first few years.

I love how varied the opening songs are. Dimisses criticism of naysayers that their songs all sound the same.

Also early stuff is very charming.

There weren't many other tracks on the compilations that weren't previously on singles/etc were there? That long "NO", countrified "Tone Burst", "Sadistic" and... perhaps a couple of further things on Aluminum Tunes. Does this mean 20-something-th anniversary deluxe reissues with squillions of bona fide outtakes are on the horizon? Bwahaha.

WHOA

https://www.discogs.com/Stereolab-Eaten-Horizons-Or-The-Electrocution-Of-Rock/release/1124263

I have MP3s of this that I never listened to, just figured out what they were

Gosh! Seems it's on YT too: https://youtu.be/MGBF9aZkum8

Haven't heard these, checking them out now.

WHOA

https://www.discogs.com/Stereolab-Eaten-Horizons-Or-The-Electrocution-Of-Rock/release/1124263

I have MP3s of this that I never listened to, just figured out what they were

    Last Sold: 16 May 13
    Lowest: $427.17
    Median: $463.59
    Highest: $500.00

I know!

Stereolab could have made a whole career out of stripped-down Joao Gilberto-style acoustic-guitar-and-voice arrangements, I'm now thinking.

Bummer, I'm traveling this week, so few chances to check in on the rollout.
Concerned about the state of my ballot after seeing my #2 crossed off (Olv 26).

Terrific early results, and I'm especially happy to see two ETK standouts - over the years, "Spark Plug" and especially "OLV 26" have really deepened for me. "K-Stars" is one of those tracks on Peng (like "Super Falling Star" and "Stomach Worm") that seem to have more to do with the wider world of indie at the time than their own hermetic method; looking back, I think they were generally really good at straight pastiche and I kinda wish they had done more. Likewise: those giant swooning strings on "Pop Quiz"!

I'm going to be busy tomorrow so I'll be posting only 10 songs throughout the morning. Actually 9 since I'll post number 50 right now from my mobile to see if the code and ordering doesn't fuck up and make sure I can post from mobile without problem.

Without further ado. Number 50!

http://i.imgur.com/uOoagoi.jpg
50. Percolator 6 votes, 113 points. 0 first place votes.
From: Noises EP / Emperor Tomato Ketchup (1996)
https://youtu.be/KmvUPGaMeGw

It works. Excellent! I'll see you tomorrow!

Wednesday I'll do 40-21 then and Thursday 20-1.

The Spotify playlist will not be updated until evening, the youtube links should work unless I didn't copy them correctly.

IF I HAD VOTED I would have voted for "Percolations" which is my all-time favourite remix.

That is a great remix!

Here it is for anyone curious: https://youtu.be/UBXCGy5emEY

I'm a little surprised that MAQ and Refried Ectoplasm are so well-loved.

I didn't vote - too many choices plus have had crazy stressful week - but these are my top two albums so I feel reassured we are in safe hands! (insert whatever the more tastefully ironic modern equivalent of a winking emoticon is here)

Loving the graphics. Always a fan of colour gradients.

Thought Peng! 33 might be a lot higher and NAG too maybe, but I am excited for what is ahead. Hope to see some favourites high up but my knowledge is patchy post-2000 and also for the very early era so I look forward to new discoveries too. Thanks Moka and thanks to all voters!

"K-Stars" is one of those tracks on Peng (like "Super Falling Star" and "Stomach Worm") that seem to have more to do with the wider world of indie at the time than their own hermetic method

This feels profoundly OTM for a pretty big proportion of Peng!. Working backwards after SABPM and RTNBWA had been released, this definitely made for a "this isn't really the shtick I thought I'd signed up for" sort of post-purchase experience. Which is not to say I actually regretted purchasing it.

Adding to what others are saying about the graphics ... they look amazing!

No real surprises from the albums poll, except maybe for "Refried Ectoplasm" at #3. I thought "Dots and Loops" was an ILM favourite, but at least on this poll the damage was limited and it came in at #5. It's by far the worst of the top ten.

dots and loops and sound dust each had 5 first place votes so they woulda been 2nd/3rd if everyone only had one vote, they just had less consensus support

Thanks for putting this together, Moka!

I scrambled to put together a poll yesterday afternoon, raiding Discogs and YouTube as I did so, to remind myself of titles and MY GOD, it was just an overwhelming task. It's made me want to re-rip everything I have and stick it all on my phone (I think I did that around the time of Marge Ecl but that iTunes library got lost somewhere along the way), but even that is going miss out on so much vinyl. I'm not sure how much is collated on Spotify. Agreed on Percolations - I used to play that 12" a lot.

As with Kate Bush and David Bowie, I will check my gmail Sent folder in a few months' time and think "how did I miss that out?"

I like iatee's reasoning. So really Refried is #1. :)

Once upon a time, in some circles, putting Refried at #1 would have made me boring Mr Consensus. (Non-LP tracks from their golden era! An era in which they seemed determined to put their very best tracks anywhere other than on LPs!)

I was also one of the #1's for 'Pack Yr Romantic Mind.' Such a gorgeous tune.

i think 'pack yr romantic mind' was the first song of theirs that really grabbed me ('transient' was my intro)

non-placers i voted for:

09 Lock-Groove Lullaby
10 Anonymous Collective
14 Blue Milk
15 Surrealchemist
20 Fuses

I voted for a lot of low-flyers — maybe the only Chemical Chords partisan here? Looks like at least one other person voted for it. Great poll, even if the heavy weighting toward the mid-90s is a bit predictable (must confess that though I voted for select songs I'm a bit burnt out on ETK, MAQ and Refried Ectoplasm); the biggest surprise is probably that anything from Cobra (the closing track of a very long album, no less) made it into the top 20.

Tracks (unranked)

Miss Modular
Contronatura
Fluorescences
Allures
Brigitte
Jenny Ondioline
Pack Yr Romantic Mind
Neon Beanbag
Daisy Clickclack
Vorticol Phonethèque
International Colouring Contest
U.H.F. - M.F.P.
Slow Fast Hazel
Caleidoscope Gaze
The Emergency Kisses
Iron Man
One Note Samba/Surfboard
Check and Double Check
Nought More Terrific Than Man
Eloge D’Eros

Albums (ranked)

Sound-Dust
Chemical Chords
Dots and Loops
Cobra and Phases Group Play Voltage in the Milky Night
Aluminum Tunes

I've got a lot of Stereolab on my ipod but I never know where to start so this poll (which I didn't take part in) was a godsend. I simply made a playlist of the top 15 and I'm good to go. There seems to be a fair bit of overlap between those tracks and Serene Velocity but also some other goodies not on that comp. Thanks, ILM and Moka!

Serene Velocity's tracklisting has a lot of non-album versions of the songs, I think?

Jenny Ondioline, French Disko and Wow & Flutter are the versions from singles. Other than that there's just Percolator, which is a bit longer.

Firmly coming around to the notion that Margarine Eclipse got shafted here. Been listening to it a lot and man, what a superb album! Their best of the 2000s and I kinda wish I'd voted for it now.

"Dear Marge" is crushing me beneath its emotional weight. It might be the most unashamedly beautiful song they ever recorded. WHY DID I NOT VOTE.

Totally snowed under with work at the moment and making my way through these results at a snail's pace, but:

Gee, I might have stayed on Team "New Orthophony" if I realised it had broader support. As mentioned on the other thread, such a vote would have been very firmly for the far superior unedited (Aluminum Tunes) version

I'd never heard this longer version of New Orthophony before and agree it's great.

forgot to vote for the gold chains parti

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e310Daluio8

you know what's GREAT? Play "Nihilist Assault Group" from Mars Audiac Quintet and "Nihilist Assault Group (Parts 1, 2, 3)" from Oscillons from the Anti-Sun (which is actually parts 3, 4, 5 and is mislabeled) back to back bcz they were originally supposed to be one single Jenny Odioliney suite.

Been on a Lab deep dive this week and have just woken up to how great Sound-Dust is.

"Double Rocker", my god

Yessss, Sound-Dust is so good

I also have a lot of weird memories mixed up with it because I'll always think of it as their 9/11 album.