The future of Stereolab

It seemed like a pretty significant step to me, tempered perhaps by their uncharacteristic willingness to jump on contemporary electronic trends.

My sense is that both D&L and Tortoise’s TNT were greeted by mixed critical reactions in that, in both cases, the band’s sound was being pushed forward, but in a manner that also embraced refinement and understatement, which for a lot of listeners wasn’t what they had had in mind.

At the time I thought of Stereolab as an archetypal ‘Spin’ band, which aesthetic I also associated with the bright colours of, say, Bjork’s Post or Cibo Matto’s Viva La Woman. That framing works just fine for ETK but requires adjustment to make sense for D&L.

i agree that the sound design on ETK is wonderful and they certainly put more effort into it, but the shift in the songwriting means that the immensity of their previous organ + motorik grooves isn't there anywhere near as much and i really miss it, and they hadn't yet fully embraced the lightness of D&L or CAP yet either

For me it's simply that LS's vocals just aren't up to the light/lounge stuff and are more suited to drone/noise.

I heard D&L before anything else, and was non-plussed. Another friend then lent me Switched On, which I heard before I'd heard any of its precedents (it was the late 90s, so the only access one had to Neu! was to buy a $30 bootleg CD, which I did not do, but then found it at Amoeba on a trip to SF for $15, which I did do, and first listened to "Hallo Gallo" at age 21 driving around those highways)

But Switched On was always perfect, Peng was perfect. ETK was recommended to me despite my stated aversion toward D&L and I really dug it, kind of a hi-fi version of what had come before, but hadn't descended into full-tilt goofiness.

I still do not enjoy D&L. Lots of people talk about what a watershed moment "Blue Milk" or whatever the long track on CAP is, but it means nothing to me. Just yesterday I was playing early tracks and contrasting them with later tracks for my boyfriend and he couldn't believe they were the same band.

I heard Switched On first (and Peng! and Low Fi) so that was the sound that got me into them. Transient and MAQ felt like an extension of those to a large degree, where they got louder, longer, dronier. The first time they sounded like they were really heading in some other direction was that Charles Long disc in 1995 which felt lighter or more whimsical. Even the most rocking track on it (Melochord 75) felt lighter than the stuff on MAQ just a year earlier. And I really liked ETK when it came out but it was clear they were trying new stuff on there from the sound of some of it (Metronomic Underground, Percolator, Les Yper etc) and from reading the liner notes and seeing that John McEntire was now involved. I still liked D&L but it was clear by then that they had moved on from the organ and guitar wall of noise that defined those earlier shows/albums. I still like a lot of the post D&L stuff, though oddly some of the great stuff ended up as EP tracks or tour singles.

yeah the real demarcation point (imo) is the Music For The Amorphous Body Study Center EP, Tim Gane even mentions this in the new ETK liner notes

kind of a hi-fi version of what had come before, but hadn't descended into full-tilt goofiness.

this totally nails the ETK/D&L dichotomy (again, imo)

would've been cool if Mouse on Mars & Stereolab had done a full LP in the late 90s

Oddly enough, I don’t think I ever listened to TGPSABPM until yesterday? Assumed from the title that it was an early Esquivellian foray? Nope, and it’s terrific!

(The Groop Played Space Age Bachelor Pad Music is the acronym jicymi)

yeah I love that one, along with Lo Fi it's unjustly neglected

Seems like Lo Fi isn't getting the reissue treatment for some reason.

Which sucks, because I’ve lost my copy

I remember loving everything up to Transient, which I still loved but saw as a big departure from the previous stuff. After that they reminded me of the muzak I'd hear in Whataburger on a sunny afternoon waiting for my parents to pick me up from the mall, something I reflexively wanted to get far away from then. Now years later of course I miss it, so I'm ready for their second and third acts... same goes for the latterday Siesta Records releases where they shifted from indie pop to easy listening, at the time I dropped them unceremoniously but now it's fun territory to explore.

yeah the real demarcation point (imo) is the Music For The Amorphous Body Study Center EP

Yes, for me as well, that EP was the absolute perfection of all they had been doing. I still dug ETK but D&L and Cobra left me cold, but as mentioned, subsequent EPs and tour singles often had some of their greatest post-ETK moments.

The Groop Played Space Age Bachelor Pad Music

this was the first thing of theirs I got and if I had to pick just one release to keep this would be it tbh

U.H.F. - M.F.P. is a top five track

I agree about Amorphous..., at the time it felt a bit like a fun diversion. Then they released the Cybele's Reverie single, and it still felt like more of the same. None of that prepared me for stuff like Metronomic Underground, Percolator, Spark Plug, etc. Those really felt like radical departures that were not at all hinted at by anything they'd done up to that point. The funky grooves, odd time signatures, and focus on original track-by-track sound design, was all very unexpected for me.

Keep in mind that Tim Gane very purposefully used the exact same chords, instrumentation, and moog layers on most of MAQ to give it a unified sound.

Sorry if that wasn't clear, meant to add that in retrospect Amorphous really was a turning point.

Keep in mind that Tim Gane very purposefully used the exact same chords...

― Mario Meatwagon (Moodles)

I was looking for a tab archive to confirm this, I know there's a lot of E major....

U.H.F. - M.F.P. is a top five track

Yes!! in the Space Age reissue Tim mentions that it was to have become a b-side to We're Not Adult Orientated, and that it was unfinished in some sense that it would have had drums coming in if it were more completed. I think it's 100% perfect as is and sounds like it could have some from early 1980s UK DIY/Rough Trade band.

xp

the way Tim describes it in the MAQ liner notes, he wanted to use "the same three chord guitar shape and movement", he did this on tracks 1, 3, 8, 13, and 14.

He used the stacked Moog chords on 4, 7, 9, 10, 11, and 14.

Ah, now I'm curious about all these reissue liner notes!

They're very good and quite detailed, especially on the Elektra albums, but Peng! And Space-Age Bachelor Pad also have good ones.

the separate note on remastering, though, seems to be the same on all, or at least the three i looked at

Yep

Anyone clock the stage invasion at Chanel's Paris Fashion Week show yesterday?? The song playing seemed apt somehow!
I hope they got a kick out of it..

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/newsbeat-49897299

Numerous xposts: There's no point when Stereolab started sounding like a completely different band. With the possible exception of maybe 2 songs, they are always unmistakable throughout their whole career. Listen to Oscillations from the Anti-Sun, which has tracks from day to the Sound-Dust era all mixed up. It's cohesive work. The early and later tracks integrate perfectly.

Stereolab are eclectic in a similar way than some of their peers at the time like St Etienne or Blur. ie. they are moving through different styles and influences but specifics like certain instrumental techniques, lyrics, vocals, moods etc are always there.

ended up having severe FOMO and got tix off Craigslist for the Minneapolis show on Saturday, so stoked

i keep waffling about going next week — kinda blew my live music budget in recent weeks ... but yeah stereolab FOMO is real

@ everything, I extremely disagree with you! “Sounds like the same band” maybe, but like “the same band playing ska” vs. “the same band playing Beach Boys covers”

my boyf got tickets for slc but i'm djing that night :|

Drove 5 hrs to the Detroit show last night - only complaint would be the wankers talking loudly up-front during an otherwise sublime Bajas set.

Thought Stereolab sounded great, looked to be having a good time, and would see again (this was my first time) – Andy (?) on drums was particularly fantastic to watch propel the whole live sound. "Anamorphose" and "Percolator" and opener "Brakhage" were highlights, but I could've watched another ten songs.

Great story I'd never heard of here that I found on FB tonight:

Fun Devo/Stereolab story here I’d never heard about before. pic.twitter.com/rv7O9yzagt

— Ned Raggett (@NedRaggett) October 5, 2019

Steredevolab!

Tim Gane was a (prerecorded) guest on WFMU last night on Daniel Blumin's show -- archive at http://www.wfmu.org/playlists/shows/88723
I only caught a few minutes but it mainly seemed like Blumin's a bad interviewer and Gane's not too hot an interviewee either.

It's more of a natter than an interview. It's very long, so you have to wait for the nuggets of interest but there are a few. The records Tim brought along are the real gold though.

i would rather hear tim gane play some records for an hour than see a stereolab set in 2019 tbh

Seeing them tonight! It's my first time seeing them and I already feel emotional.

don't expect too much...

Great show last night! Sounded amazing, in great spirits, super crowd pleasing setlist. Glad I could see Bitchin Bajas again. When they came out and jammed with SL at the end was so good....

Yeah, that was wonderful. The setlist was even better than I'd even hoped. Throwing in Vonal Declosion was a nice surprise.

Was glad to see how into the show and happy Laetitia was. Even hinted at touring again.

Yeah the vibes were very good, nice to see

blue milk with BBs was really special to watch. not gonna get mad they didn't do jenny ondioline because it looks like they do a truncated portion of it. fun show, was surprised at how well the dots and loops and later stuff worked live

Does anybody know why the reissue of Cobra splits the original LP, putting tracks 12-15 on the bonus disk? Maybe it's explained in the liner notes, but that font is just too hard to read!

Is it too long to fit on one disk with the full version of Blue Milk?

Doesn't seem like it. The first disk clocks in at 59 min., which seems like it leaves enough time for the remaining tracks. (The original LP is 79 min. long.)

LP?? do you mean CD?

Yeah, CD.