Stereolab

[wigwise]

I've been a fan since their first recording (Peng!) and they still continue to amaze me. I like many of their collaborations over the years, especially the "One Note Samba" date with Herbie Mann. I just saw them the other week and their performance was fantastic. I also like how they've incorporated more brass into their repertoire. They now have a classically trained French Horn/Clarinetist to play along side the Trombone.

Anyone else here a fan?

[Joe]

Big fan here. Though the latest release (FAB FOUR SUTURE) isn't doing a whole lot for me just yet.

[Guy Berger]

I like 'em.

older thread

[wigwise]

I like 'em.

older thread

My apologies. How about a discussion about their new CD? I really dig it. It takes a few listens to resonate, but I've bonded with the music and find it quite enjoyable. It's amazing how this band has stayed together given the fact that a long-time member was killed and the two principle song writers divorced.

[DatDere]

I also like Stereolab a lot. I do think 'Fab Four Suture' is somewhat of a step back compared to the previous albums (like Sound-dust, Margerine Eclipse), it seems to be more of a 'stripped down' album and I kinda miss the lush arrangements. Still a good listen though, and according to the band it's more like a 'compilation' of songs that have or will appear on EPs

I've always liked the "Cobra and Phases Group" album a lot, although that one was almost universally maligned.

Edited March 17, 2006 by DatDere

[.:.impossible]

I absolutely love Cobra and Phases.

[BruceH]

I like the name a lot. Don't know their music though.

[clifford_thornton]

Had and sold all their LPs up to Aluminum Tunes, always liked Peng and Emperor Tomato Ketchup a fair bit but they ended up getting passed on...

[.:.impossible]

I'da kept 'em for the cover art alone!

[7/4]

We can cut off the fat of many (all) genres but I gotta file this under mere pleasantry that shades towards the insipid (see also: Unrest).

What on earth does this have to do with Henry Cow?

[ghost of miles]

A close personal friend who requests anonymity has advised me that he always found them to be good music to listen to while coming down from hard drugs... back in the days when he did that sort of thing.

[.:.impossible]

The fact that Stereolab brings such a variety of music to mind says something to me. Then again, its Clem... I'd have never put Tappa Zukie and, well any of those bands in the same thread, but. Cobra and Phases, Dots and Loops both have some pretty amazing percussion arrangement in them. Combined with the horn and strings, I haven't really found that anywhere else. I don't care how many bands you list, you aren't going to get it all in one track, sometimes simultaneously, the way that Stereolab did it.

The past couple of years, I've realized how much of a cop-out this jaded music fan thing is. Nothing against anyone, honestly. I guess I should expect a backlash for statements like this, but I'm being honest. I just don't get it. I just find it sort of tired to criticize EVERYTHING by throwing out the obscure that came before it. Or maybe its just what is on the jackets laying on the hardwood floor in front of you. Anyway, the hipster pissing contest continues! Everybody wins!

I'm a fan of their recordings, moreso than their live performances and I find it surprising that they are still together. I haven't really heard anything post-Cobra and Phases yet.

P.S. I remember the music being pretty good on the way up too...

[DatDere]

Why did this thread turn into some hipster namedropping contest? "Yeah, Stereolab sucks and you should listen to Gainsbourg's "Histoire de Melody Nelson" and 70s krautrock albums with singers with bad German accents. Oh yeah, and Tappa Zukie although he's mostly known for roots and dub reggae..."

[.:.impossible]

For one thing, it ain't always about deeper, or weirder, or challenging and surprising. I've got nothing against any of them, and I've certainly got nothing against musical history.

Life is too goddam short not to enjoy. My recent trip down to Nola really reinforced this for me. Music, especially, isn't always about the above. I would argue that Stereolab is very much able to get deep into the vamp. I guess I've got time to waste...

[John B]

clem,

What an asinine last post. Why shit on people for enjoying music you don't care for?

How about simply suggesting that people who dig Stereolab (this includes me. I enjoy many of their albums) check out something a little more obscure that might float their boat?

For example:

The track "Metronomic Underground" off of Stereolab's Emperor Tomato Ketchup bears more than a passing similarity to the track "Yoo Doo Right" from Can's album Monster Movie.

Early Stereolab (pre-1995 or so) owes a lot to Neu!, so anyone who digs Peng! through Mars Audiac Quintet should check out the first, self-titled Neu! album.

I haven't the foggiest clue why you would recommend / name-drop Black Sabbath's Paranoid, Ali Farka Toure or Tappa Zukie here.

[DatDere]

I don't subscribe to dogma's that dictate that I can't listen to anything issued on a major label (Stereolab was dropped from Warner a couple of years ago though), or to music that is in some ways derivative or borrows from whatever came before. Like .:.impossible says, life is also too short to worry about futile things like that, I just enjoy the music while it's playing.

To me, Stereolab does offer an interesting and in some ways fairly unique synthesis of various influences (krautrock 'Motorik beat' stuff, exotica, etc.), and I never claimed they're the best or most innovative band ever. For what it's worth, I also like Neu!, Tappa Zukie, Henry Cow, the "Notorious Byrd Brothers" album and some of the other artists mentioned, just don't really see why it's relevant to name-check them here. But, to each his own...

Anyone enjoying Stereolab might also want to check out "An electric storm" by White Noise, the self-titled United States of America lp, the first two Os Mutantes albums and the aforementioned Serge Gainsbourg album, all from the late 60s, although I suppose these are all too well-known for me to gain any hipster credentials.

Edited March 21, 2006 by DatDere

[DatDere]

Double-D: were you ever an admirer of the brilliant but short lived Dutch band, De Artsen? Fucking tremendous record-- very obscure but much loved among the few at the time.

I am familiar with their record "Conny Waves With A Shell", but I'm a bit too young to have seen them live when they were active on the Dutch scene. As you probably already know, the Dutch band Bettie Serveert are an offshoot of De Artsen and they were (and still are) pretty big on the music scene of the Netherlands and also had some international acclaim. I only discovered the Artsen record a couple of years after it was released. Still should have it on tape here somewhere. I remember liking it, but haven't listened to it in years.

[Noj]

Damn, I bet Clem would lambast me and piss on my collection if he could see it.

[DatDere]

Perhaps better to torch it right now to save yourself from humiliation.

[Noj]

Nah, I'll probably just add some Stereolab to the shelves. Everyone's got their own editing process.

[.:.impossible]

...although I suppose these are all too well-known for me to gain any hipster credentials.

Everybody wins!

"Sometimes hipness is, what it ain't."

"thanks for playin'"

[Brandon Burke]

The track "Metronomic Underground" off of Stereolab's Emperor Tomato Ketchup bears more than a passing similarity to the track "Yoo Doo Right" from Can's album Monster Movie.

....not to mention Yoko Ono's "Mindtrain"!

i was a pretty big fan of Stereolab in the mid-90's. (and i don't use the word "fan" lightly.) at the time, they seemed to come out of nowhere...musically, stylistically, politically, etc. to say nothing for how cool and collected they always appeared. over time, as i began to learn about the artists that influenced them, and magic wore away somewhat...which is fine, they're just people like everyone else. (same with Gastr del Sol, i should say, once i discovered Derek Bailey, Luc Ferrari, Morton Feldman, Gyorgy Ligeti, etc.)

i bought every Stereolab record up through Emperor Tomato Ketchup, which was the first one i didn't like. too much John McEntire...someone i've never particularly liked (musically). his production/engineering style -- i call it "Steely Can" -- is just too cold and detatched for me. consequently, i found the stylistic shift from Mars Audiac Quintet (my favorite) to Emperor TK to be the source of much bummage. especially the druming, since that record seemed to magically transfrom them into a band of robots. (Dots and Loops is particularly bad in this regard. i gave up completely after that one.)

nice people, though. a friend of mine from college was good pals with Mary Hansen before she passed away and had nothing but great things to say about the entire group.

Brandon

[Brandon Burke]

clem,

first of all, thanks for those vids, man. very cool/kind.

Gastr:

no, i guess i never saw any interviews...or none that dealt specifically with the breakup, anyway. i still like those records, actually. been buying them back up again since they seem to show up at Amoeba for cheap and i went through a phase several years ago wherein i sold all of my 90's indie records. (kept Bee Thousand, thank you very much..)

O'Rourke:

wondering if i shouldn't be paying more attention to his solo stuff than i am (which is not at all). recently re-bought the Bad Timing LP which i remember think was waaaaaay too Fahey at the time. turns out it's good. he stayed at our place once in like '96/'97. was touring with Cindy Dall (ex-Smog) and someone else as a Drag City package. this was when he was first getting into playing entire shows like Fahey. later, at the apt, he played my roomate's Tele all night, switiching between dramatic Crookt-like octave runs and silly shit like the Metallica songs his students ask him to teach them. all said, i found him to be a really good guy. and funny too. at breakfast the next morning he feigned bumping into the restaurant door on the way in. (the old kick-the-bottom-of-the-door trick...so it sounds like you hit your head).

Grubbs:

never really got into his post-Gastr stuff. too much arty, not enough farty. and whatever made him think that people want to listen to narrated dramas on LP is beyond me. (like his Red Krayola contribs, though...)

Lloyd:

remember when it didn't take 2-and-a-half years between each Eightball? (sigh...)

Zodiac:

i'll look for that. seen 'em before but never pulled the trigger.

Brandon

[Chuck Nessa]

Geez, I finally succumbed to the thread title, was ready to post a "smart ass" response, then read the damn thread.

I'm outclassed.

[Joe]

Hey, I like Unrest too... they were just perverse enough for me.

Clementine is right in the Laughing Clowns material though. And I think it is now all handily available in a 3-disc box set. Joe Bob sez check it out.

P.S.: the Secretly Canadian label -- http://www.secretlycanadian.com/home.php -- has recently reissued the first two LPs by the brilliant Swell Maps. If you dig Stereolab, check 'em out.

Edited March 22, 2006 by Joe