LM Artist Poll No. 74 · STEREOLAB · Results Thread

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Digging the Amorphous Body Study Centre love. It missed out on explicit vote from me, but yep, it's the #1 reason why Aluminum Tunes was on my compilation-heavy ballot.

Maximum big surprise! (Nag! Nag! Nag!), Tuesday, 5 April 2016 12:20 (eight years ago) link

I'm still slightly terrified by "sur ... des ... rosiers ardents" TBH. Likewise OLV26.

MatthewK, Tuesday, 5 April 2016 12:30 (eight years ago) link

Holy crap "Blips, Drips and Strips". I'd forgotten how much I like Cobra.

MatthewK, Tuesday, 5 April 2016 13:05 (eight years ago) link

Percolator would have been my number one if i voted, what a bassline

thom yorke state of mind (voodoo chili), Tuesday, 5 April 2016 13:06 (eight years ago) link

Glad to see "K-Stars", but sad that it's so low. Was my #1, and I would have said the same in '92-'93. As simple and beautiful a sound/song as they ever made. Gorgeous, lambent drone medicine, like a five-watt filament in a darkened hash fugue. Lovely lyrics, too.

"K-Stars" is one of those tracks on Peng (like "Super Falling Star" and "Stomach Worm") that seem to have more to do with the wider world of indie at the time than their own hermetic method
This feels profoundly OTM for a pretty big proportion of Peng!. Working backwards after SABPM and RTNBWA had been released, this definitely made for a "this isn't really the shtick I thought I'd signed up for" sort of post-purchase experience.

Genuinely shocked by these comments. Shocked! To my mind, "K-Stars" is Stereolab, The Groop in their most essential form. Which is to say a bunch of jewelers crafting settings for Laetitia (and, later, Mary). I hear a clear through-tone from this sound to later favorites like "Puncture in the Radax Permutation" and the first couple-three minutes of "Caleidoscopic Gaze".

Vote better.

Keks + Nuss (contenderizer), Tuesday, 5 April 2016 14:54 (eight years ago) link

Hello everyone! We'll start the day with an epic song that gives this poll its pun title!

✖✖✖ (Moka), Tuesday, 5 April 2016 15:57 (eight years ago) link

http://i.imgur.com/TI8e6Fg.jpg
49. Refractions in the Plastic Pulse 5 votes, 113 points. 1 first place vote.
From: Dots & Loops (1997)
https://youtu.be/RQOrv1EmrJk

✖✖✖ (Moka), Tuesday, 5 April 2016 15:57 (eight years ago) link

nice, didn't vote for this one, but probably would have if the first part could be taken as it's own song. I love the melancholy vibe of this and various other tracks from D&L. That ascending line they sing together is so great, like a sad spaceship climbing into space and then landing on an alien world.

Check Yr Scrobbles (Moodles), Tuesday, 5 April 2016 15:59 (eight years ago) link

re: Percolator - one of my favorites, seemed like such a bizarro track compared to just about everything they did before. When they performed this on the ETK tour, it escalated into a climactic moment where the whole band came together and the entire mix was fed through a distorted Moog. It sounded absolutely insane.

Check Yr Scrobbles (Moodles), Tuesday, 5 April 2016 16:02 (eight years ago) link

A few more notes

Pop Quiz - this was one of the first indications that they were starting to move in a different direction, although I didn't expect they'd come up with something as radically different as ETK.

Puncture in Radax Permutation - One of the best features for Mary Hansen

K-Stars - I agree with contenderizer that this sounds like pure Stereolab, such a nice moody piece. But yeah, at this point, they maybe hadn't quite differentiated themselves from other shoegaze or dreampop bands.

Peng! 33 - Lyrics cribbed from One Hundred Years of Solitude

Spark Plug - This is a great example of how ETK just piles layers upon layers of sounds to an overwhelming extent. They got more subtle with this later on, for better or worse.

Nihilist Assault Group - probably my favorite MAQ track. I love how they come back in the end with a more amped up version of the main tune. The distorted Farfisa drones are huge.

Check Yr Scrobbles (Moodles), Tuesday, 5 April 2016 16:10 (eight years ago) link

http://i.imgur.com/Wf8TeIW.jpg
48. Baby Lulu 4 votes, 116 points. 0 first place votes.
From: Sound-Dust (2001)
https://youtu.be/-eqHVGscSpg

✖✖✖ (Moka), Tuesday, 5 April 2016 16:23 (eight years ago) link

Love the horn section in this one. Is 25 mins in between tracks ok?

✖✖✖ (Moka), Tuesday, 5 April 2016 16:24 (eight years ago) link

in case any of you haven't seen this essential thread:

List The Direct References of Stereolab

the 'major tom guy' (sleeve), Tuesday, 5 April 2016 16:33 (eight years ago) link

Yes to 25 mins.

Nice to see a bit of pink at last. Sound-Dust did well in the albums poll so hopefully some more to come.

Jeff W, Tuesday, 5 April 2016 16:35 (eight years ago) link

Baby Lulu was the last song I cut from my list. Happy to see get a decent position.

Really should have had Refractions on my list. They just have too many incredible songs.

Kitchen Person, Tuesday, 5 April 2016 16:48 (eight years ago) link

Next up a Cobra song which might or might not be inspired by french film "baisers de secours"

✖✖✖ (Moka), Tuesday, 5 April 2016 16:48 (eight years ago) link

http://i.imgur.com/DrTScew.jpg
47. The Emergency Kisses 5 votes, 118 points. 0 first place votes.
From: Cobra and Phases Group Play Voltage in the Milky Night (1999)
https://youtu.be/mmfrPS4K1IQ

✖✖✖ (Moka), Tuesday, 5 April 2016 16:48 (eight years ago) link

It's good to see Cobra and Phases has its supporters. I still remember reading that NME review where it got 0/10. It was such a bizarre review.

Kitchen Person, Tuesday, 5 April 2016 16:51 (eight years ago) link

Johnny Cigarettes, I believe. He might have posted here once.

Love Cobra and Phase and the last two above were way up there in my ballot.

Michael Jones, Tuesday, 5 April 2016 16:53 (eight years ago) link

0/10 is a joke for any Stereolab album or EP. Even at their worst they're still an interesting band. They don't deserve a score below 6.

✖✖✖ (Moka), Tuesday, 5 April 2016 16:55 (eight years ago) link

Yeah it was Johnny Cigarettes. It still made their end of year albums list so it obviously wasn't an opinion shared will all the writers. It was their last album to make any of those kind of lists though. Shame as Sound-Dust and Margarine Eclipse were really strong.

Kitchen Person, Tuesday, 5 April 2016 16:57 (eight years ago) link

Coming up a tie between two early songs, one is a b-side that I hadn't heard prior to this poll.

✖✖✖ (Moka), Tuesday, 5 April 2016 17:08 (eight years ago) link

http://i.imgur.com/9pVHG4o.jpg
TIE 45. Perversion 6 votes, 120 points. 0 first place votes.
From: Peng! (1992)
https://youtu.be/MPJ_AIfntwg

http://i.imgur.com/nyev8Y5.jpg
TIE 45. Eloge D’Eros 6 votes, 120 points. 0 first place votes.
From: John Cage Bubblegum 7" (1993)
https://youtu.be/A5ZPxNzeFA4

✖✖✖ (Moka), Tuesday, 5 April 2016 17:11 (eight years ago) link

Heaven knows that I like a long song, but "Refractions" really meanders for me. :\

Hey Nag! Did you cop your handle from "Nihilist Assault Group"?

Jenny Ondioleeene (Leee), Tuesday, 5 April 2016 17:14 (eight years ago) link

Cabaret Voltaire, surely? ;)

Michael Jones, Tuesday, 5 April 2016 17:16 (eight years ago) link

0/10 is a joke for any Stereolab album or EP. Even at their worst they're still an interesting band. They don't deserve a score below 6.

otm, and why I found the prospect of ranking them so daunting. Going through these songs as you post them, and really enjoying them. Early stuff particularly, because my first record by them was actually Microbe Hunters, and didn't even try to go really far back until much later.

I remember a bunch of bad reviews for that stuff then too (I think pfork also had a really bad Cobra & Phases review?), and not getting it. Like, what was there to hate? Not like, find boring, that's fine, but saying a record is completely worthless implies some kind of offense taken -- and I can't imagine taking offense at anything these guys and girls did.

Dominique, Tuesday, 5 April 2016 17:17 (eight years ago) link

Recapping. . .

'Refractions': My #15. The phased out moogs are so dreamy.

'Baby Lulu': My #5. That bassline is so good. Sounds like Carol Kaye on a David Axelrod song.

'Emergency Kisses': My #8. The violin is just sublime.

Austin, Tuesday, 5 April 2016 17:20 (eight years ago) link

i remember finding cobra & phases a bit dull, but only because i was stupid

Keks + Nuss (contenderizer), Tuesday, 5 April 2016 17:21 (eight years ago) link

Yes , for a casual listener you can accuse them of being boring or homogenic sounding maybe, but saying a whole album by them is worthless requires some very strong opinion against them, and you're right they don't seem the kind of band that you actively hate. They're easy to ignore and were mostly private about their life and creative process.

✖✖✖ (Moka), Tuesday, 5 April 2016 17:23 (eight years ago) link

Cobra and Phases feels a bit unfocused and unambitious compared to the albums that came before it, but really it has a ton of great tracks

Check Yr Scrobbles (Moodles), Tuesday, 5 April 2016 17:25 (eight years ago) link

yeah, I do think it's kind of too long. However, if I'd voted, I would for sure have included its longest tune "Blue Milk", IMO one of the best distillations of krautrock ever

Dominique, Tuesday, 5 April 2016 17:25 (eight years ago) link

Perhaps Cobra is the album where the easy listening music started bleeding too much into every track, but they keep things interesting with complex rhythm arrangements I love Blips Drips and Fuses.

✖✖✖ (Moka), Tuesday, 5 April 2016 17:28 (eight years ago) link

and Free Design, which might actually be my favorite Lab track

Dominique, Tuesday, 5 April 2016 17:28 (eight years ago) link

Well, being inoffensive could be the very crime they were getting slammed for, right? I'm sure Mr Cigarettes (real name Sharp) had a visceral distaste for the sort of vision of pop music Stereolab were peddling, and Cobra & Phases was the crest of the particular creative curve they were on at the time - a kind of refinement (and enlargement - Blue Milk!) of everything that anyone who went off them in '93 (or never liked them) would find annoying. The British inkies had a grand tradition of giving LPs (or gigs) to the writer who would give it the most florid trashing. S'lab have had a few savagings in here!

It made me angry at the time, and that was the idea.

xxxp

Michael Jones, Tuesday, 5 April 2016 17:29 (eight years ago) link

"Baby Lulu" and "Emergency Kisses" = two favorites that didn't make my top 20.

"Refractions" is a fascinating experiment, but I really only love the last part, from 12:45 on thru. Someone from Plaid must have been involved, right? Plinky-plonky bit sounds very Plaid.

Keks + Nuss (contenderizer), Tuesday, 5 April 2016 17:31 (eight years ago) link

Coming up another track from an ep I didn't know about but seems to have heavy support. Even a first place vote in there.

✖✖✖ (Moka), Tuesday, 5 April 2016 17:38 (eight years ago) link

http://i.imgur.com/aDndUPv.jpg
44. Check and Double Check 5 votes, 124 points. 1 first place votes.
From: Laminations EP (1996)
https://youtu.be/h8qqdyGrHcQ

✖✖✖ (Moka), Tuesday, 5 April 2016 17:38 (eight years ago) link

great track!

Check Yr Scrobbles (Moodles), Tuesday, 5 April 2016 17:39 (eight years ago) link

Cobra is overlong, tracks like "Italian Shoes Continuum" and "Op Hop Detonation" tread water, whole thing goes out of focus at/after "Velvet Water". Still a great album.

And yeah, the full immersion in "innofensive" easy listening was a difficult hurdle for me at the time.

Keks + Nuss (contenderizer), Tuesday, 5 April 2016 17:40 (eight years ago) link

Refractions is interesting. It's flowing so nicely just before the 4 minute mark. But after that it becomes a kind of strenuous exercise. Not really working, i find. Too serious, where is the lightness gone? In the second half it sounds exciting and surprising. Not like stereolab more like a slightly experimental electronic band like early autechre. But when the strings come in i'm bored again. A mixed bag.

it's the distortion, stupid! (alex in mainhattan), Tuesday, 5 April 2016 17:52 (eight years ago) link

Totally a difficult hurdle for me as well. Stuff like Cobra and Jim O'Rourke's Eureka were frightening me with the prospect of growing up and appreciating lighter fare, when what I wanted from pastiche at the time was to either have my mind blown or my ass handed to me (Cornelius, Trans Am).
xp to Contendo

Sushi and the Banchan (Spectrist), Tuesday, 5 April 2016 17:53 (eight years ago) link

http://i.imgur.com/YcKId6W.jpg
43. The Free Design 6 votes, 133 points. 0 first place votes.
From: The Free Design EP (1999)
https://youtu.be/QPcc07HqZUc

✖✖✖ (Moka), Tuesday, 5 April 2016 18:01 (eight years ago) link

aww, too low

Honor thy pisstake as a hidden intention. (WilliamC), Tuesday, 5 April 2016 18:07 (eight years ago) link

love it tho, like James Bond jazz made out of a Can loop

Dominique, Tuesday, 5 April 2016 18:12 (eight years ago) link

it's funny that people thought of cobra as easy listening. it's such a dense record, packed w/ ideas, almost proggy. I don't consider it light fare at all.

iatee, Tuesday, 5 April 2016 18:22 (eight years ago) link

http://i.imgur.com/0e17lfW.jpg
42. Diagonals 7 votes, 133 points. 0 first place votes.
From: Dots & Loops (1997)
https://youtu.be/VNyCK9Xb1SI

✖✖✖ (Moka), Tuesday, 5 April 2016 18:23 (eight years ago) link

Wow, I was the first-place vote for "Refractions" and I'm kind of shocked it's not higher. It's such an epic journey through space and time and I love every minute of it haha. Actually, the last four minutes alone would still probably be my favorite Lab track. That section has the most beguiling, chills-down-the-spine chord progression and melody. And there's a sort of reverse-"Aguas de Março" Shepard illusion going on where it seems to rise and rise into infinity without actually arriving anywhere. I hope I'm making sense, but I've gone 30 hours straight without sleeping so idk.

Also, Free Design too low :(

But K-Stars made it, so I'm happy.

J. Sam, Tuesday, 5 April 2016 18:26 (eight years ago) link

awesome! really had no idea how popular "diagonals" might be. one of my favorite phase II trax.

Keks + Nuss (contenderizer), Tuesday, 5 April 2016 18:27 (eight years ago) link

it's funny that people thought of cobra as easy listening.

it's a genre

Keks + Nuss (contenderizer), Tuesday, 5 April 2016 18:29 (eight years ago) link

I don't like diagonals. It's so repetitive in a boring, annoying kind of way. Especially the singing. I hope there will be something from switched on soon.

it's the distortion, stupid! (alex in mainhattan), Tuesday, 5 April 2016 18:42 (eight years ago) link


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