Stereolab: Classic or Dud

Yup, those were some good shows. Hung around backstage with Tim and Laetitia for part of that.

And yes they toured America quite a bit, one reason why I think they survived on Elektra longer than anyone might have guessed. They regularly put in the effort. Mary's death was, frankly, a near crippling blow, and while the last couple of tours did find a way to present the material in new ways -- I think they finally figured it out in full with the last tour -- something was inevitably gone, never to return.

Saw them at Central Park summerstage with John Cale. Cant remember when.

was it this show?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C0ZMkv8D-9w

This is just a silly bit of trivia but this audio samples in this song mention that gig with Stereolab and John Cale.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ak0LpPxUUAw

I was at a Stereolab gig at St Andrews Hall in Detroit on the Mars Audiac Quintet tour where the opening act had about 15 musicians all playing Moogs.

jeez every time a stereolab thread gets pulled up I go on a new week-long stereolab binge.

Seems like a reasonable response

Did Sonic Boom ever make it over to do his thing with the lab in the US? IIRC it was all unrehearsed, he would just show up at random gigs, set up side stage with a load of analog gear and theremins etc and improvise over their whole set. Wonderful stuff. Saw them do this in Bristol one time with Millions Now Living-era Tortoise opening. When he wasn’t on stage, Sonic was glued to the venue’s pinball machine the entire time.

Sadly that was the one tour I missed, when Sonic did that -- the ETK tour no less (I was out of town so at least there was an excuse).

Stereolab are probably my fave band next to broadcast and pram

Saw them in 1994 (MAQ) with Trumans Water and then in 1996 (ETK) with Pram & Sonic Boom. Good times.

Moodles, we hardly cross around here but obv you are the figurehead of Stereolab fandom here. Yet in all these years I *never* knew about the live comps you'd made, and I've enjoyed for what, hundreds of hours, surely. They are great, just never knew you'd compiled them. <3

Just to be clear, I did not make the comp, just helped to preserve it. It was made by members of the Stereolab forum, which is where I spent most of my online time before drifting over here.

Ah I see. Regardless.

Holy shit Albert you saw pram? How was it, sadly they've more or less went on without Rosie afaik

Yes, and they covered "Eat Yrself Fitter"!

So jealous man! Anyone rate monade? Monstre cosmic is a great record

Hell, yeah. A Few Steps More is my favorite. Caught them at Emo's in Austin.

is there a non-m4a version of that comp? asking for a friend who likes FLACs...

Nice Moodles! Tney opened for stereolab on the tour I saw, double dose of Sadier

xp

I could theoretically rip the CDs into a different format, but I have no idea what format the original files were. Quite possibly they were already sub-FLAC to start with. The CDs date back to around 2001.

Im at work and I haven't checked what file Moodles uploaded but in theory if it's mp3 I can probably convert to flac

*mp4 rather

if they're from 2001 they're probably 128 or if you're lucky 192 MP3, which yeah, can convert to whatever you like but they won't sound any better.

Yeah, don't think you can up convert. Live project link was posted somewhere above.

Ross.... I have an embarrassing confession to make, I conflated Pram with Prolapse! Lol, I'm so sorry, please carry on...

Hope Switched On, Vol. 4 (or some other collection of ephemera) comes out at some point so I can buy it.

Only saw ‘em once—in 2000 with Sonic Youth—but glad it was when Mary was still around.

Wait, do any of you guys discuss Monade? That was a cool side project, definitely worth it.

I want to link this essential thread here as well:

List The Direct References of Stereolab

this is the playlist i compiled from that thread -- i think it is also largely moodles' work

The 5th Dimension - Up, Up and Away (2:45)
ABBA - Dancing Queen (3:50)
Alain Goraguer - Déshominisation (I) (3:50)
Erik Satie - Six gnossiennes - 1. Lent (3:02)
Alessandro Alessandroni - Una storia (3:08)
Olivier Messiaen - Chant d'amour 1 (8:00)
Olivier Messiaen - Turangalîla 1 (5:05)
Andrew Rudin - Hybris (7:27)
Archie Shepp - Bakai (9:59)
The Archies - Sugar, Sugar (2:47)
B.J. Thomas - Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head (3:02)
Brigitte Fontaine - Une fois mais pas deux (2:47)
Can - Father Cannot Yell (7:03)
Canned Heat - On the Road Again (4:56)
The Castaways - Liar, Liar (1:52)
The Casualeers - Dance, Dance, Dance (2:40)
The Cinderellas - Baby Baby (I Still Love You) (2:37)
Cluster - Caramel (3:09)
Don Cherry - Brown Rice (5:15)
Donna Summer - Down, Deep Inside (6:06)
Eden Ahbez - Myna Bird (2:19)
Emil Richards - Garnet (January) (2:28)
The Fall - Slates, Slags, Etc. (6:34)
Faust - It's a Rainy Day, Sunshine Girl (7:32)
Francis Hime - Passaredo (3:06)
Frank Zappa - Peaches en Regalia (3:38)
Gal Costa - Divino, maravilhoso (4:20)
Gustav Holst - Neptune, the Mystic (7:58)
John Barry - 007 and Counting (3:31)
Kraftwerk - Autobahn (22:43)
Krzysztof Komeda - Pushing the Car (1:49)
Krzysztof Komeda - Main Title (2:16)
Laurie Anderson - O Superman (For Massenet) (8:27)
Marcus Belgrave - Space Odyssey (12:34)
Neu! - Hallogallo (10:07)
Neu! - Für Immer (11:17)
New Birth - Got to Get a Knutt (7:37)
Perrey & Kingsley - One Note Samba/Spanish Flea (2:07)
Peter Thomas - Angel of Promise (1:08)
Piero Piccioni - Blue Rhythm Festival (3:45)
Sérgio Mendes - Primitivo (3:57)
Silver Apples - Ruby (2:32)
Steve Reich - Four Organs (15:38)
Steve Reich - Section VIII (3:28)
Suicide - Cheree (3:42)
Suicide - Frankie Teardrop (10:26)
Sun Ra - Angels and Demons at Play (2:54)
Sun Ra - Love in Outer Space (3:53)
The Velvet Underground - European Son (7:52)
The Velvet Underground - What Goes On (4:55)
The Velvet Underground - Sister Ray (17:27)
Yes - Starship Trooper (9:28)
Yoko Ono - Mindtrain (16:52)

Here's the spotify list I made based off of those origins youtubes

https://open.spotify.com/user/olken2000/playlist/06G3CvbMmQ90bj0KOPWM0b?si=cBq4uZvhS8Kp3nf6T87kfQ

I could theoretically rip the CDs into a different format, but I have no idea what format the original files were. Quite possibly they were already sub-FLAC to start with. The CDs date back to around 2001.

i'll tell "my friend" not to look a gift horse in the mouth. thanks for the link

Great post from the Doc!

--

For me, a little Stereolab goes a long way. I liked (but never loved, note)their earlier Kraut-rockin stuff. I guess the 'Refried Ectoplasm' singles/rarities compilation is all I need. The vocals work OK, until you realize that's all they can do - in other words "Ba, Ba, Ba" all the time. It's just dull. The fact that the whole 'Lab thing is a some kind of conceptual exercise in passionless irony gets in the way, and means that it is impossible for me to do more than just admire the good bits. (Rather as you could admire a well designed piece of furniture). They could never move me. The increasing involvement of O'Hagan and especially, that wretch from Tortoise, from Dots and Loops onwards has mainly killed my interest. It's also ensured that I don't need to hear another Marimba for the rest of my natural life. While I'm on a roll - I hate the way that they record brass. It's so thin and wimpy, it's like "hey we're using brass - but don't worry, you can still hear the marimbas, and the glockenspiel and the shitty vocals. So don't worry punters, even though we're using brass on this track, you won't notice and it'll still sound like all the rest"
They release too much stuff - how much could you need another Stereolab album when there's so many other bands to buy. The whole thing seems like a lifelong project to ensure that a special edition of record collector is devoted wholly to them, perhaps in 2010. (Rarest item, the 9-inch, single-sided vinyl, limited edition of 54 'Wooly Mammoth Situation' EP. Released only in Czechoslovakia in 2005)

What's the brown coloured album called? The one after Dots and Loops? Anyway I have it and whilst I don't like it much for all the above reasons, I have to come clean and say that short bursts are OK. I couldn't get through the whole thing without a gun to my head.

What's the conclusion? Dud.

― Dr. C, Wednesday, January 31, 2001

yes we are familiar with the laughable wrongness of early British posters on ILX

Seems the opposite of great to me, but I guess everyone is entitled to their opinion.

All good Albert!

I went on a trail run a few weeks ago to the first disc of ABC Music -- such perfect music

some kind of conceptual exercise in passionless irony

lol what a bad take.

there's so much heart in the music and it extends to the rigor, the references and the hopeful lyrics.

sleeve otm!

2001 was a long time ago

Smug comment ahead: the opinion of people around my generation gap (born between 1983-1990) regarding Stereolab - if they do know them - invariably affects how much I’ll consider their views and recommendations on music. If they don’t know them at all I immediatly assume the high ground.

That last sentence is not serious.

Half serious: I’ve found that people who find Stereolab boring are very boring themselves.

Dead serious: marimbas should be a required instrument when starting a band.

Stereolab were more into vibraphones and farfisa organs than marimbas though...

you had me at vibraphones/farfisa

i kind of get it, a lot of the vocals are sigh-ey, etc. the first time i saw them live it kind of blew my mind how physical they were, how funky they were. personally i would never say they were boring (in fact the opposite) but im sure there are folks that hear Neu! 2 and think it's a snoozefest.

i saw pram, in London in 2002...I think I have a soundboard recording of that as well. I'll look for it.

i saw Soop (= stereolab improvising around soop groove) supporting pram supporting EAR (with sonic boom) just to tie a few things together. the garage, 1996-05-30

each band had *their own* theremin on stage, couldn't share one, had to use their own...