P.S. Not just Perrey-Kingsley, but Perrey-Kingsley playing back to Brazil with "One Note Samba"
― nabisco, Wednesday, 24 October 2007 22:01 (ten years ago) Permalink
http://www.danacountryman.com/jjp1/auto/Ondioline.jpg
The Ondioline was a vacuum tube-powered keyboard instrument, invented in 1941 [1] by the Frenchman Georges Jenny, and was a forerunner of today's synthesizers.
― dan selzer, Wednesday, 24 October 2007 22:06 (ten years ago) Permalink
One of their songs namedrops about 40 different Blue Jam sketches, which is pretty awesome bizarre.
― Just got offed, Wednesday, 24 October 2007 22:09 (ten years ago) Permalink
looking up these links was occasionally very frustrating -- five years ago it was easy to google the direct reference, but at this point you've got to go through about sixty pages worth of stereolab lyrics pages / retail sites / review pages / playlists playlists playlists. the difference between acknowledging an influence and eclipsing the source by borrowing the title for your own successful project is growing.
the fact that the referents are baldly sitting there doesn't necessarily mean anyone thinks to look (and why would they, it's a pop band). it's not as if there's a place for endless trainspotting in most reviews but sometimes I wonder if this band has ever offered a single intuitive or non-pilfered moment or if the whole point is wholesale representation / recombination, in which case you'd expect the referents to be mentioned a little more often than they are
― Milton Parker, Wednesday, 24 October 2007 22:14 (ten years ago) Permalink
http://popsike.com/pix/20060911/190030441794.jpg
― scott seward, Wednesday, 24 October 2007 22:16 (ten years ago) Permalink
ok a bit of overstatement there but the depth of their borrowing sometimes leaves me a bit stunned
xpost ok if we're just going to begin posting covers of albums
http://ochtendeditie.radio6.nl/files/2007/04/tusoa.jpg
― Milton Parker, Wednesday, 24 October 2007 22:17 (ten years ago) Permalink
Which song is that Louis? Or is it easily Googlable?
― DJ Mencap, Wednesday, 24 October 2007 22:20 (ten years ago) Permalink
http://delia-derbyshire.dyndns.org/images/B00006LEPF.02.LZZZZZZZ.jpg http://quimby.gnus.org/circus/jukebox.php?image=thumbnail.png&group=Stereolab&album=Oscillons%20from%20the%20Anti-Sun%20%283%29
― Milton Parker, Wednesday, 24 October 2007 22:20 (ten years ago) Permalink
http://popsike.com/pix/20060129/4828460304.jpg
― scott seward, Wednesday, 24 October 2007 22:25 (ten years ago) Permalink
sorry, i'm lazy.
Nothing To Do With Me (aka Moonflies (aka Chris Morris))
(as seen on This is the thread where you talk about Chris Morris - genius, and the finest satirist of modern times )
― Just got offed, Wednesday, 24 October 2007 22:27 (ten years ago) Permalink
Does one of those links go to Gil Scott-Heron?
― James Redd and the Blecchs, Wednesday, 24 October 2007 22:45 (ten years ago) Permalink
i'm not a huge stereolab fan, but this list is mindboggling. good work, guys.
― ian, Wednesday, 24 October 2007 22:53 (ten years ago) Permalink
Here's an obscure one - the title of "Animal Or Vegetable (A Wonderful Wooden Reason)" which was on the Crumbduck EP, is a line from a Faust song (at least the bit in brackets is).
― everything, Wednesday, 24 October 2007 22:55 (ten years ago) Permalink
Should also mention the later McCarthy releases which offer a neat segueway into the first Stereolab record. (eg: "The Home Secretary Briefs the Forces of Law and Order").
― everything, Wednesday, 24 October 2007 22:58 (ten years ago) Permalink
http://www.uh.edu/engines/switchedonbach.jpg
― dmr, Wednesday, 24 October 2007 23:07 (ten years ago) Permalink
You're talking about the bass line to "Metronomic Underground," I take it?
― jaymc, Wednesday, 24 October 2007 23:13 (ten years ago) Permalink
Song on Aluminum Tunes:
http://www.reel.com/Content/Reelimages/hollconf/1013_getcarter.jpg
― jaymc, Wednesday, 24 October 2007 23:18 (ten years ago) Permalink
Pack Yr Romantic Mind from Transient Random-Noise Bursts With Announcements begins with a sample from "Pop Orbite", a song on Chico Magnetic Band's album.
― oscar, Wednesday, 24 October 2007 23:32 (ten years ago) Permalink
Obvious one, they recorded a split record with her. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brigitte_Fontaine http://www.discogs.com/release/256204
― oscar, Wednesday, 24 October 2007 23:34 (ten years ago) Permalink
I always thought Speedy Car had a bit of the Soft Machine about them.
But if you want to talk United States of America, it's Broadcast on their first album that really rips that.
― dan selzer, Wednesday, 24 October 2007 23:35 (ten years ago) Permalink
On Dots and Loops. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stan_Brakhage
― oscar, Wednesday, 24 October 2007 23:36 (ten years ago) Permalink
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On_the_Road_Again_(Canned_Heat)
― oscar, Wednesday, 24 October 2007 23:39 (ten years ago) Permalink
I agree, I'd prefer to keep this to direct references / uncredited samples / lyrical lifts rather than vaguer incorporated influences or else I'd just be Sylvie Vartaning it up over here
first track on Refried Ectoplasm, 'Harmonium', where the 70's DJ spools up a tape which promptly breaks and falls off the reel is lifted from an aircheck of Negativland's 'Over the Edge Vol 4 - Dick Vaughan'
― Milton Parker, Wednesday, 24 October 2007 23:44 (ten years ago) Permalink
http://www.filmpolski.pl/z1/47o/7547_1.jpg
http://www.film.org.pl/images2/fearless_vampire_killers/plakat.jpg
― Autumn Almanac, Wednesday, 24 October 2007 23:47 (ten years ago) Permalink
http://www.comparestoreprices.co.uk/images/si/silver-cross-sleepover-classic-pram.jpg
― Autumn Almanac, Wednesday, 24 October 2007 23:48 (ten years ago) Permalink
http://www.indiatomorrow.net/health/images/lemonade.jpg
- le
― Autumn Almanac, Wednesday, 24 October 2007 23:49 (ten years ago) Permalink
great work, Milton!
― sleeve, Thursday, 25 October 2007 00:00 (ten years ago) Permalink
This http://www.yellowmelodies.com/e-zine/numero5/portadas/Stereol7.jpg
is supposed to be based on the comic series Pravda la Survireuse by Guy Peellaert. http://www.bedetheque.com/thb_couv/pravda.jpg
― Elvis Telecom, Thursday, 25 October 2007 00:00 (ten years ago) Permalink
Yes, this is a nice thread. Milton rocks.
nabisco, do they really reference _À Rebours_? That's one of my favorite books ever.
― Turangalila, Thursday, 25 October 2007 00:04 (ten years ago) Permalink
Here are the YouTube dissections of musical origins I was talking about. Apart from a couple things that seem too basic to see as steals (e.g., the Canned Heat), they're mostly pretty clear lifts or pastiches, without too many stretches -- and a couple disappointing "oh man, I can't believe you lifted the melody" parts. Mostly it's rhythmic grooves and feels they're snipping from things and using as a basis for their own stuff.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=IrFdR7I_kjM http://youtube.com/watch?v=s9N1uwNEraM http://youtube.com/watch?v=E9iiJy0jWSg http://youtube.com/watch?v=LNAO-vqa6R0
Artists mentioned: Faust, Piero Piccioni, Canned Heat, Gal Costa, Krzystzof Komeda, Kraftwerk, Jean-Michel Jarre, Sun Ra, Snapper, Wanderlea, Laurie Anderson, the Association, the Archies, Serge Gainsbourg, Neu!, Silver Apples, Steve Reich, and Plastic Ono Band (as source of "Emperor Tomato Ketchup" bass line -- this was the only one that kinda surprised me!)
― nabisco, Thursday, 25 October 2007 00:09 (ten years ago) Permalink
xpost turangalila I'm not 100% sure. 'against nature' is the title in translation and a direct reference would have used the original french. the lyrics do seem to me like a commentary or response to the book, I linked them upthread
― Milton Parker, Thursday, 25 October 2007 00:26 (ten years ago) Permalink
if it is a reference it's admittedly not a very direct one (though I'm sure they've read it) -- with those lines about 'war', probably something else made the song's orbit as well
I actually liked this translation better, but I went for the pop edition to underscore the reference
― Milton Parker, Thursday, 25 October 2007 00:31 (ten years ago) Permalink
You're talking about the bass line to "Metronomic Underground," I take it? Yup, that's what I'm talking about, jaymc.
― James Redd and the Blecchs, Thursday, 25 October 2007 00:53 (ten years ago) Permalink
Milton I can't believe you didn't post this -
http://files.myopera.com/E.%20Driver/albums/35120/JohnCage.jpg
― Stormy Davis, Thursday, 25 October 2007 01:58 (ten years ago) Permalink
xxpost Milton
Hmm... yes. "Living fantasy of the immortal"
thanks!
I've actually only read it in Spanish. Going to buy this version you recommend!
― Turangalila, Thursday, 25 October 2007 02:01 (ten years ago) Permalink
Gastr del Sol opened for Stereolab at the Metro in Chicago back in the mid-90s, and a couple weeks before the show I bumped into David Grubbs at the Hyde Park Kinko's on 57th St. He showed me the gig flyer he was printing up which read "Stereolab - 'John Cage Bubblegum' / Gastr del Sol - 'Steve Reich n Roll'"
― Stormy Davis, Thursday, 25 October 2007 02:03 (ten years ago) Permalink
I didn't actually go that show tho. Dumb! I never saw Stereolab.
― Stormy Davis, Thursday, 25 October 2007 02:04 (ten years ago) Permalink
I HAVE THAT FIRST RECORD!
― jaxon, Thursday, 25 October 2007 02:21 (ten years ago) Permalink
it's been so long, but they ripped the bassline for a song directly from a yoko ono tune from her first or second solo album
― jaxon, Thursday, 25 October 2007 02:22 (ten years ago) Permalink
http://www.zenker.se/Books/the_stars_my_destination.jpg
― dad a, Thursday, 25 October 2007 04:17 (ten years ago) Permalink
http://www.see.com.au/blog/archives/Darren%20002.jpg
― Mark Rich@rdson, Thursday, 25 October 2007 04:26 (ten years ago) Permalink
Prokofiev's Symphonie Diabolique: http://website.lineone.net/~dmitrismirnov/image020.jpg
― dad a, Thursday, 25 October 2007 04:32 (ten years ago) Permalink
http://ec1.images-amazon.com/images/I/51It1cvE6cL._SS500_.jpg
― dad a, Thursday, 25 October 2007 05:27 (ten years ago) Permalink
This is the future of an illusion Aggressive culture of despotism Living fantasy of the immortal The reality of an animal
― These Robust Cookies, Thursday, 25 October 2007 06:27 (ten years ago) Permalink
One of their tracks is based on "Disco Rough" by Mathématiques Modernes.
― Raw Patrick, Thursday, 25 October 2007 09:20 (ten years ago) Permalink
Can't think of anything less obvious right now (I thought I was a genius for spotting the 100 Years of Solitude thing once and then googled it and nabisco had already written about it on Pitchfork, thus I lose), but "Enivrez-Vous!" from Peng! takes its lyrics from a Baudelaire prose-poem.
I'd always wondered about some of these! Thanks.
― a passing spacecadet, Thursday, 25 October 2007 10:27 (ten years ago) Permalink
Maybe someone knows what that French Disco line really is: Bubble Withdrawal?
― Mark G, Thursday, 25 October 2007 10:33 (ten years ago) Permalink
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucia_Pamela
― zeus, Thursday, 25 October 2007 11:21 (ten years ago) Permalink
I have her CD somewhere, it is bats!
― Mark G, Thursday, 25 October 2007 11:23 (ten years ago) Permalink
Miss Modular <- Jean-Pierre Mirouze - Sexopolis?
(sorry if already posted, couldn't see it)
― a passing spacecadet, Friday, 23 September 2016 15:05 (two years ago) Permalink
ooh, good one!
― Al Moon Faced Poon (Moodles), Friday, 23 September 2016 15:18 (two years ago) Permalink
The first time I ever heard Stereolab, the immediate connection I made was Sesame Street. The first song I heard was Brakhage and it immediately reminded me of a vintage Sesame Street vignette. It might have been this, specifically. But I've never heard them list Sesame Street as an influence.
I've read a handful of 90s Stereolab articles that cite Esquivel as an influence, but I don't know that Stereolab themselves cite Esquivel, and I don't actually here the connection there at all.
― 3×5, Friday, 23 September 2016 17:55 (two years ago) Permalink
^There was an Esquivel comp called Space Age Bachelor Pad Music out at the time, is why?
― Jeff W, Friday, 23 September 2016 21:16 (two years ago) Permalink
I think it's because there was a lounge revival in the mid-90s, right when Stereolab changed their sound, and for some reason Esquivel also made a comeback, and so they got lumped together. When I listen to him, or Martin Denny, it just doesn't have that association for me. The letter h, however...
― 3×5, Sunday, 25 September 2016 05:29 (two years ago) Permalink
Esquivel is pretty awesome, one of the more experimental artists from the whole "lounge" era who used theremins and synths in his stuff. Martin Denny is pretty much straight jungle lounge music whereas Esquivel can be far freakier.
― AdamVania (Adam Bruneau), Sunday, 25 September 2016 16:23 (two years ago) Permalink
Stereolab (ft. Herbie Mann!) covered Esquivel in the latter part of this medley of "One Note Samba/Surfboard":
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nEyZSbmVoxM
― Jersey Al (Albert R. Broccoli), Sunday, 25 September 2016 17:37 (two years ago) Permalink
Here's the original:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2NglD0H-cps
― Jersey Al (Albert R. Broccoli), Sunday, 25 September 2016 17:39 (two years ago) Permalink
Also the people who are looking for Smile-era Beach Boys connections, you'd probably have a field day with Stereolab member/muse/svengali Sean O'Hagan's project The High Llamas' records Gideon Gaye & Hawaii.
― Jersey Al (Albert R. Broccoli), Sunday, 25 September 2016 17:45 (two years ago) Permalink
Another prog interlude: Camel - Migration
― 3×5, Monday, 2 January 2017 19:47 (one year ago) Permalink
Another Todd Rundgren: The Night The Carousel Burned Down
― 3×5, Monday, 25 September 2017 17:34 (one year ago) Permalink
I think that "One Note Samba/Surfboard" medley was done as reparation for nicking bits of both too blatantly previously.
― Mark G, Tuesday, 26 September 2017 06:48 (one year ago) Permalink
The bass line of Metronomic Underground is awfully close to The Revolution Will Not Be Televised... hadn't really caught that before
― cosmic brain dildo (Sparkle Motion), Tuesday, 26 September 2017 15:08 (one year ago) Permalink
iirc it's stolen directly from a Yoko Ono track on Appproximately Infinite Universe
― sleeve, Tuesday, 26 September 2017 15:09 (one year ago) Permalink
got a flexidisc of "famous instrumentals" recently that had "One Note Samba" on it
― flappy bird, Tuesday, 26 September 2017 18:10 (one year ago) Permalink
Metronomic Underground/Revolution Will Not Be Televised similarity is already noted upthread.
The Yoko Ono song in question is Mind Train, from "Fly"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PK-k0kCSJcM
― Οὖτις, Tuesday, 26 September 2017 18:23 (one year ago) Permalink
thank you!
― sleeve, Tuesday, 26 September 2017 18:25 (one year ago) Permalink
that track is so siqq
― kurt schwitterz, Tuesday, 26 September 2017 18:54 (one year ago) Permalink
That Yoko track sounds like Can with yoko instead of damo.
― ✖✖✖ (Moka), Tuesday, 26 September 2017 19:03 (one year ago) Permalink
I've often wondered how Ono & Lennon connected to krautrock - like, who actually gave them those records and what were they listening to - cuz its impact is really obvious on those first few Yoko records
― Οὖτις, Tuesday, 26 September 2017 19:07 (one year ago) Permalink
Probably Klaus, right?
― flappy bird, Tuesday, 26 September 2017 19:08 (one year ago) Permalink
that's my guess, but I've never seen it specifically discussed anywhere
― Οὖτις, Tuesday, 26 September 2017 19:09 (one year ago) Permalink
CAN seems like the most obvious thing they must have heard, maybe Faust (they initially made something of a splash in the UK press), maybe Schnitzler and Roedelius too idk
― Οὖτις, Tuesday, 26 September 2017 19:13 (one year ago) Permalink
they were jacked into the German experimental art scene from the beginning
― AdamVania (Adam Bruneau), Wednesday, 27 September 2017 14:44 (one year ago) Permalink