The Stereolab Albums Poll

Tosh, the last two albums are fantastic.

i always vacillate between Transient, Emperor Tomato Ketchup and Mars Audiac Quintent. Today it's Mars.

Next Switched On will be called 'Constant Vacillations'

hi boob oscillator

hi

oscillator say hi to boob

oscilator iirc

'Sound Dust' is massively underrated...it got me back into Stereolab after unloving them 'cause of 'Dots and Loops'.

fake Stereolab song titles

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Transient Ambient all the way. I was ambivalent about all their albums after that one.

Cobra was the first one where I was like "Hmm, they seem to be slipping a bit here" and, though there are moments of it I really like, I never quite warmed to it. And I've never really formed an attachment to anything since. Dots & Loops could have better songs, but that is a sonic masterpiece IMO, really next-level production. Probably Switched On Vol. 2 is my favorite now.

In retrospect I should have voted dots and loops.

oh wait... i think I just did... mmm apparently I got to vote twice ...

This poll... :-/

Had to go for Dots and Loops in the end, after battling off Emperor. But really, this is one of the most impossible polls ever on ILM.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

rockists

run tell dat

I've always kinda found the love for Transient Random-Noise Bursts With Announcements - I remember the band considering it something of a failure, had issues with the production, felt some of its experiments were not successful, etc. MAQ and ETK seem much more focused imho.

found the love odd, that should say

decided today that i really, really hate cobra and phases group

ETK is fantastic and deserves its place here. MAQ is half pop and half drone, so for me it doesn't flow as an album. TRNB has good moments but is a pretty niche experience.

xp Cobra & Phases is horribly engineered, all thin and reedy. It works for the atmosphere but there's a whole bottom end missing imo.

CHALLOPS

I want to know who the other four Cobra voters are.

i had them killed

fucking hell - three! I was a proud part of the four.

xp Transient is clearly, surely not a 'pretty niche experience'. I think its win here confirms that it's the Stereolab album that lots of different groups of listeners have affection for. And it's also possibly their tightest wall-to-wall full-length listen.

I wouldn't define the sum total of ilx as 'lots of different groups'

Not me, but I could've been. Cobra is Stereolab at its proudest free-jazziest moment and it's sublime.

xp

I can see how it's 'niche' in the wider scheme of all music released ever, sure. But I wouldn't characterise it as niche within their catalogue, no way. I think it's so widely beloved because it's as good (or better) a rock album as a pure pop one.

also it was my first (used, from the late b&d records of springdale, pennsylvania)

xp fair point

also it was my first

this is what I attribute the RTNBWA love too mostly, tbh. Seems like they first reached most people's attention with Space Age Bachelor Pad (that was certainly the first time I'd heard of them) and then the full-length fulfilled msot people's expectations.

I first them basically by accident flicking through my iTunes (I'd downloaded it a general grab-bag of acclaimed albums). A true head-turning moment.

*WITH a

also it was my first

I dunno -- I voted Transient not because it was my first (that was Switched On and the Peel Sessions disc w/ Faith Healers and PJ Harvey) but because it was the culmination of that initial sound of droney organs and loud guitars and whatnot. I fell off after Cobra, but even MAQ was a slight step back from that initial sound that I fell in love with. All of the albums have something I like about them, but that 91-93 run was just my favorite of theirs.

:/

1998 Aluminum Tunes 0

my first was the super-electric EP, which i still adore (and all of switched on) but i had to vote for refried because revox/farfisa/harmonium are some of the most amazing sounding tracks by anyone ever

seriously revox still melts my face off

Still don't love love later Stereolab, but I've been listening to the Sound-Dust on records and these are still totally respectable (albeit not one in the class of their pre-D&L work). Thinking I'm especially liking this odds & sods record Not Music.

does the character on the peng and switched on covers have a name?

Think it was Cliff.

http://stereolab.koly.com/exhibits/images/clifforig.gif

science!

I want all of these on vinyl! Even the eps would look amazing on any record collection:
http://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g28/manicdogbertpurchases/stereolab3.jpg

Anyone knows if there are any stereolab reissues coming anytime soon?

Rose My Rocket Brain, Solar Throw-Away and Free Witch & No-Bra Queen are fantastic.

Oh and no word on new releases or reissues that I've seen.

reissues of what? all the albums are in print, although there's probably enough of the tour singles etc to justify another switched on collection

I meant vinyl reissues. I might be wrong but last time I checked any of the top 3 winners on this poll (transient random, dots and loops, emperor tomato) sell for over $50+ as they've been out of print for a while.

There was mention of remasters/reissues when the break up was announced.

Found the article ...

http://pitchfork.com/news/34993-stereolab-go-on-hiatus/

"According to Pike, the band also plans both a new entry in their Switched On compilation series and a "remastering of the back catalogue." "