stereolab - chemical chords

Did you make that cover yourself?

06 Valley Hi!

Will this track sound more like Xiu Xiu's "I Luv the Valley OH!" or South Pacific's "Bali Ha'i"?

my gf made the same accusation : (

Wow, that cover is a special brand of ugly.

It looks like a broke ass midnight vultures.

I like the cover. Looking forward to this, Fab Future Suture was excellent.

Fab Four Suture*

looks like a Neverhood screen cap

less clayey

yeah that looks like a screencap of a late-90s flash movie

wonder if "One Finger Symphony" is a cover of the Marcel Amont song or if they've just pinched the title? its a pretty good song. http://www.discogs.com/release/660713

I want this record to sound like the cover.

They used the auto-generator for the titles again though.

the cover is freakin' great.

What a weird amateurish cover. Some of the songtitles are VERY auto-generator ("Cellulose Sunshine", "Vortical Phonotheque") but 'Self Portrait with "electric brain"' cracks me up.

aren't all their covers be based on previously created artwork of some kind or another?? if so then i've no idea where this one comes from.

It looks like a broke ass midnight vultures.

-- Display Name, Friday, April 18, 2008 7:22 PM (2 hours ago) Bookmark Link

Weird cover, bring on the album (and the inevitable show at the Detroit Bar in Costa Mesa).

I like that cover. Also, 4AD? Odd.

Tsk, tsk. The word "Ugly" comes from threadbare criteria. Though I've used it myself, casually or carelessly.

it's a date ned. taco mesa or bust. dare i dream of leaving the house at night?

didn't Eye do the Midnight Vultures artwork?

According to wikipedia, yes, I guess. Was you thinking that it was similarly crude?

it's a date ned. taco mesa or bust. dare i dream of leaving the house at night?

Bring yer wife and baby with. Just purchase the world's tiniest earplugs and the wall of sound will lull her to sleep.

Message from Pikey on the 'lab forum:

"The lead track from the new LP will be available on April 28th from iTunes; should be on other download services soon. There will probably be a news piece on Pitchfork and the video as well."

(He hints also that there may be at least one extra track with the download package)

:D

the bits of that cover that are wobbly photographed crepe paper montage are brilliant, the photoshop bits not so much. i'm pretty excited about this, i've been having a mars audiac quintet revival lately though so this needs to be a good 'un to be of any use to me. i liked fab four suture well enough but i'm sure they can do better. has anyone heard that last monade ellpee? i'd be intrigued to hear that.

http://www.beggarsgroupusa.com/mp3/stereolab_threewomen.mp3

IF THAT TURNS OUT TO BE RICK ASTLEY.......

Tour dates announced -- and yes, once again, it starts in Costa Mesa:

09-20 Costa Mesa, CA - Detroit Bar
09-21 Pomona, CA - Glass House
09-24 Austin, TX - La Zona Rosa
09-26 Atlanta, GA - Variety Playhouse
09-27 Athens, GA - 40 Watt Club
09-29 Carrboro, NC - Cat's Cradle
09-30 Washington, DC - 9:30 Club
10-01 Philadelphia, PA - Trocadero
10-02 New York, NY - Irving Plaza
10-03 New York, NY - Irving Plaza
10-04 New York, NY - Irving Plaza*
10-06 Boston, MA - Paradise *
10-07 Montreal, Quebec - Club Soda *
10-08 Toronto, Ontario - Phoenix Concert Theatre *
10-09 Detroit, MI - The Crofoot *
10-10 Chicago, IL - Vic Theatre *
10-12 Minneapolis, MN - First Avenue *
10-14 Denver, CO - Gothic Theatre *
10-17 Seattle, WA - Showbox *
10-18 Portland, OR - Wonder Ballroom *
10-19 Vancouver, British Columbia - Commodore Ballroom *
10-21 San Francisco, CA - The Fillmore
10-22 San Francisco, CA - The Fillmore *
10-23 Los Angeles, CA - Henry Fonda Theatre *
10-24 Solana Beach, CA - Belly Up Tavern *

* with Monade

Bands with overlapping rosters sharing bills: Classic or Dud?

see ya in Austin, 'lab.

I am playing the new album now. It appears to be pretty on point. 4AD have issues this, some might say retarded and demeaning, promo that cuts off every track after about three minutes - no proper edit or anything, just bouncing along nicely and then STOP

issues = issued

I can understand why they've released it like that, but it sure as fuck sucks out any real enjoyment one can usually derive from the delicious flow of ideas that usually makes up a 'Lab album.

As such, I've only listened to it once, rather than the usual 237-times-on-the-trot. Meh.

is neon beanbag are the first three minutes of neon beanbag as good as i imagine? i saw them the other day and it was super, really boppy and spiky.

09-24 Austin, TX - La Zona Rosa

stephen isn't this an acl aftershow and as such like dead-impossible to get into?

i have no idea if it's an aftershow. it is however the venue they usually play. i doubt it's packed to capacity. let's go! i love stereolab, you should too.

have promos for this gone out yet?

The Wire reviewed it this month, so I suppose so.

just wondered. promotions people be ignoring my emails (I think).

there's a version floating around out there with the endings cut off.

Yeah the first wave of promos were in "snippets" form.

But I saw a post on the stereolab forum yesterday by someone who said the place where he works had received the whole thing.

sigh.. another stereolab record, another dissapointment.

probably yes. i gave up on them a while ago. they're always going to have have a couple decent tracks on anything they put out, but thats about it

Their new stuff is actually pretty good. Sigh...

i'm into that cover

i think that i like stereolab as much as anyone here and the 1st track sounded great but then the rest just went into that (admittedly lovely) mire of nice chords and doo-be-doos and mooging synths and crisp drumming that we've all heard a hundred times before.

i usually go into a stereolab experience expecting that, which probably helps me enjoy it

hahaha. Nobody ever accused BB King of 'doing that blues thing again.' You know what Stereolab is by now, so why complain about it?

(Mind, I've not heard Chemical Chords yet...)

there's a version floating around out there with the endings cut off.

larry crane gets apopleptic about this in the latest issue of Tape Op; I guess this is standard promo strategy from bigger labels these days (in addition to sending out non-downloadable streams that you can only hear once, and other DRM-attempted bullshit).

"You know what Stereolab is by now, so why complain about it?"

cause it's the same, but worse

This is the 1st Stereolab album I've listened to since errr Cobra & Phases I think which I didn't like much. I like this new one a lot - now I'm thinking I should go back and investigate the post-Cobra & Phases albums I've missed!

You should. Even if it's to prove to yourself that they all sound the same and you oughtn't have bothered.

(not a slab flame; I actually like that about the band, but most people don't)

I don't really think all their pre-Cobra & Phases albums do sound the same, although obv not having heard the later stuff can't comment on those.

Instant 0 in the Universe sounds like Margerine Eclipse sounds like Fab Four Suture sounds like Rose My Rocket Brain sounds like Chemical Chords. Really. They're all great, though.

So wouldn't you be better off just getting the one, if they're all the same? Think of all the money you'd save!

I know what you mean, though - it's the Boards of Canada "comforting" variety of "all sounding the same."

i think beneath the sameness there lies a world of significant differences. mind you i long ago resigned myself to the economic implications of being prepared to buy infinte iterations of a record i enjoy.

They're significantly different, if you spend enough time with it all.

I know what you mean, though - it's the Boards of Canada "comforting" variety of "all sounding the same."

but... none of their albums sound the same either...?

This is a great record.

Well, I listened to it last night and on first listen, um, it's kinda... dull? Nothing really reached out and grabbed me as particularly memorable - either tune-wise or texture-wise. Which was really disappointing, as the one thing I rely on Stereolab for is good poppy tunes and chewy textures.

Think I'll wait for it to turn up in MVE.

Needs a few goes, Kate.

Played it 2-3 times, not doing a great deal for me. BLAND springs to mind.

-- Autumn Almanac, Sunday, 10 August 2008 13:09 (1 week ago) Bookmark Link

Repeated listenings appear to be paying off.

-- Autumn Almanac, Tuesday, 12 August 2008 16:53 (1 week ago) Bookmark Link

Album hit me in the back of the head last night while I was asleep. Woke up with Three Women on the brain, and now about half the tracks are possessing me. Valley Hi and Silver Sands are particular stand-outs.

-- Autumn Almanac, Wednesday, 13 August 2008 11:39 (1 week ago) Bookmark Link

This album completely owns me now. I did not expect that.

In fact it reminds me of a video game I've never played, and suddenly my urge to write has come thundering back.

I cannot wait to hear the ~18 tracks that didn't make this album.

-- Autumn Almanac, Friday, 15 August 2008 12:48 (6 days ago) Bookmark Link

...if it helps.

OK, I'll give it a couple of "play twice before listening" swipes.

(Problem being, though, that I bougth it in a batch with some other records that are more immediately engaging - quite frankly Mahogany's Connectivity is out-Stereolabbing Stereolab at the moment.)

Ever since Cobra I thought I've got too damn many Stereolab CDs, I'm not gettin' it. But the MP3s always grow on me until months or years later, I have to have 'em. I've given up, I just went ahead and bought it unheard. Its subtle variations will take months to unfold, and I'll be there with my headphones when they do.

I would really like to try this record because I haven't tried a Stereolab record in a long ass time. I quit with Cobra, too, actually.

Dull and monotonous...

Yeah, I had something similar happen with finding this really unmemorable on first listen and then it getting much better with subsequent listens.

I can totally represent for the "listen to it a couple of times and it really grows on you" school of thought now.

It takes a while to worm its way into your hips and shoulders, but once it's there, oh yes. It's charming. They're exploring textures in terms of melody and rhythmic arrangements, rather than the usual "let's throw on loads of drones and moogs" thing. And it actually works for them this time round.

finally heard this today and love it.

i actually think it's a perfect counterpart to Portishead's Third, the light poppy fun summery album as opposed to Third's almost total lack of those qualities. it seems like the two albums take a lot of the same influences and make something totally different from them, like using similar ingredients to bake different cakes, maybe a "secret" ingredient of sorts. because i think the two albums have a lot of parallels in their sound, influences, intentions, but somehow are almost polar opposites.

i'm not sure how to better explain but does this make sense to anyone who's heard both albums?

I actually paid for this on iTunes, but haven't listened yet. Thanks, Stephen.

These polarized comments are complete deja vu for every album they've put since Cobra.

Show last night in Costa Mesa one of the best I've seen them do. And they finished with the full twenty minute "Jenny Ondioline!" Never thought I'd get to see them do that again!

Further thoughts and a blurry photo here.

They have been brilliant live lately, I will give them that.

The album showed diminishing returns for me, haven't listened to it again, since "getting" it.

Oh, this is good to hear as I bought tickets for the Chicago shows. I like the new album a lot actually, although I still argue that "Margerine Eclipse" is their best record of the last ten years.

http://i269.photobucket.com/albums/jj58/vzbx/chem.gif

Still not that keen, though my children love it. "Cellulose Sunshine" is terrific, however.

Last night was my first Stereolab show (at the 40 Watt in Athens) and it was spectacular! So much fun dancing with my friends to all those songs I listened to for years and never got the chance to dance to. I expected it to be a good show but I was really blown away. Plus Atlas Sound opened up with a groovy Disneyland-on-acid pop set and Bradford joined up with the lab at the encore for a psychedelic jam! After the show I snuck backstage and talked to Lætitia for a while - she's a really sweet person!

Hey, neat that Bradford joined in with the band -- didn't happen at the Costa Mesa show but then again that was the start of the tour.

He did it at the Variety Playhouse show too but i missed that one. He's living out his teenage fantasies! And mine!

I so wanted to catch the Austin show but it happened a mere three days after ATP New York and my ears were still bleeding.

Still love the new record!

McCain's daughter is now shilling "Ping Pong" on her ridiculous blog, mccainblogette.com.

Ha, holy CRAP: the day after the first debate, as the bailout plan is failing, her Song of the Day is "Ping Pong?" Is this willful perversity on her part? I mean, let's meditate on these lyrics:

it's alright 'cos the historical pattern has shown
how the economical cycle tends to revolve
in a round of decades three stages stand out in a loop
a slump and war then peel back to square one and back for more

bigger slump and bigger wars and a smaller recovery
huger slump and greater wars and a shallower recovery

you see the recovery always comes 'round again
there's nothing to worry for things will look after themselves
it's alright recovery always comes 'round again
there's nothing to worry if things can only get better

there's only millions that lose their jobs and homes and sometimes accents
there's only millions that die in their bloody wars, it's alright

it's only their lives and the lives of their next of kin that they are losing

don't worry be happy things will get better naturally
don't worry shut up sit down go with it and be happy

dum, dum, dum, de dum dum, de duh de duh de dum dum dum... ah ah

Wait, NOT the day after the debate, Monday ... still

someone has to run with this

MCCAIN DAUGHTER PROMOTING MARXIST BAND SHOCKER

(She would have to be super-clever to think of this as some sort of criticism of Congressional inaction, though I suppose that's plausible...)

Haha, god. How bizarre that she should choose that song in particular. I wonder if she gets what it's actually about, or does the irony of the lyric go over her head? I could see how a particularly dense person might take the words at face value, but you'd think the "millions that die in their bloody wars" might tip them off. Does she only pay attention to the "Don't worry, be happy, things will get better naturally" bit?

I dunno, you kind of have to hand it to her that it is superb soundtracking -- millions lose their jobs and homes! I don't think she's anywhere near dumb, so I'm tempted to think it's just a slightly perverse choice, one that could easily be defended by someone in that position saying, say, "I think this song would reflect many Americans' frustration at the failure of congress to agree on a bailout plan (which failure, contrary to all evidence, was not actually the fault of House Republicans and somehow had something to do with Obama and/or Pelosi hurting their feelings)"

The word got out:

http://yglesias.thinkprogress.org/archives/2008/10/ping_pong.php

Maybe she's like me and doesn't listen to the lyrics.

That said, where's the love for "Daisy Click Clack"? It's like they're a band in an Old West saloon.

I am about to say the most indie thing I have ever said on ILM ever:

I just met Sean O'Hagan while working in an indie record shop in Dulwich.

We talked about the new Stereolab stuff. It was like being in the 90s all over again!

i love stereolab and i love sean o'hagan. that said, has anyone heard that soundtrack sean and tim gane did last year maybe? is it worth getting? i pretty much love the high llamas string arrangements, so i should probably just get it. seeing stereolab (for the first time!) in a week or so! :D

I have the soundtrack. It sounds exactly how you would expect a Gane-O'Hagan 50-50 collaboration to sound. Lots of pleasant High Llamas-y strings. Some quirky cues for keyboards and drum machines. Very little rocking out. A bit of chanson at the end. I suspect you will like it.

This is my favourite thing they've done in ages. Just listened to it 5 times in a row.

http://photos-f.ak.fbcdn.net/photos-ak-snc1/v2263/190/4/637939427/n637939427_2023229_1666.jpg

Any closer and I'd be able to see what she had for etc etc

That Gane/O'Hagan soundtrack is on Spotify. Very High Llamas-ish (unsurprisingly I guess).

It might save folks ten seconds or so each if I note that the name of the soundtrack is "La vie d'artiste".