Stereolab - Dots and Loops

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Poll Results

OptionVotes
Miss Modular 9
Brakhage 7
The Flower Called Nowhere 5
Refractions in the Plastic Pulse 4
Parsec 2
Contronatura 2
Diagonals 1
Rainbo Conversation 1
Prisoner of Mars 0
Ticker-Tape of the Unconscious 0


Matt P, Monday, 22 December 2008 08:55 (seventeen years ago)

mission fucking impossible

Giorgio Moderator (PappaWheelie V), Monday, 22 December 2008 08:55 (seventeen years ago)

voted The Flower Called Nowhere for the 6/8 harpsichord

Giorgio Moderator (PappaWheelie V), Monday, 22 December 2008 08:57 (seventeen years ago)

FUCKING DOTS & LOOPS

O M Y GOD
BEST STEREOLAB ALBUM EVER

Bat Penatar (Bimble Is Still More Goth Than You), Monday, 22 December 2008 08:58 (seventeen years ago)

Right now I'm thinking Diagonals, but you know (Rainbow Conversation).

x-post yesses

Matt P, Monday, 22 December 2008 08:59 (seventeen years ago)

i want the mouse on mars people who were involved with this to come back to the stereolab people who were here and make the babies that i will adopt.

Matt P, Monday, 22 December 2008 09:02 (seventeen years ago)

The previous two were the best.

Mark G, Monday, 22 December 2008 09:44 (seventeen years ago)

The next two were the best.

Jeff W, Monday, 22 December 2008 09:55 (seventeen years ago)

Isn't "Flower Called Nowhere" Pharrell Williams' favourite track ever or something? Whatever, you can hear it all over some recent Neptunes productions.

Jeff W, Monday, 22 December 2008 09:57 (seventeen years ago)

Rainbo Converstion people

Matt P, Monday, 22 December 2008 10:14 (seventeen years ago)

keep your eyes on the fucking prize

Matt P, Monday, 22 December 2008 10:16 (seventeen years ago)

Shiiiiiit I now want to hear this IMMEDIATELY

please_stanton_dont_burt_em (DJ Mencap), Monday, 22 December 2008 10:38 (seventeen years ago)

I hope everyone reading this in the next day or so is flailing back and forth between every track on this album, because yes everything here is that good.

x-post i am listening to it right now and for god's sake it is still great.

Matt P, Monday, 22 December 2008 10:41 (seventeen years ago)

I put Contronatura on a cassette comp I used to listen to all the time when I got trashed so that is the one I have fondest memories of maybe

please_stanton_dont_burt_em (DJ Mencap), Monday, 22 December 2008 10:42 (seventeen years ago)

Contronatura is fantastic

Matt P, Monday, 22 December 2008 10:45 (seventeen years ago)

MY DEAREST FRIEND YOU GAN ?????

Matt P, Monday, 22 December 2008 10:45 (seventeen years ago)

The drumming on this thing is off the fucking hook

Matt P, Monday, 22 December 2008 10:46 (seventeen years ago)

refractions in the plastic pulse should be ftw, but was this anyone else's fav song on this perfect album?

Matt P, Monday, 22 December 2008 10:53 (seventeen years ago)

Yeah, this is where it started to all go a bit wrong.

You only like him coz he's sexually appalling (Masonic Boom), Monday, 22 December 2008 10:53 (seventeen years ago)

NO! this was the apex

Matt P, Monday, 22 December 2008 10:57 (seventeen years ago)

it's the drums and the MoM involvement i think i don't kn ow whatever, it is great.

Matt P, Monday, 22 December 2008 10:57 (seventeen years ago)

SO much better than emperor tomato ketchup as much as i LOVE that thingy.

Matt P, Monday, 22 December 2008 10:58 (seventeen years ago)

I mean RAINBO (FUCKING) CONVERSATION

Matt P, Monday, 22 December 2008 10:59 (seventeen years ago)

I don't agree w/ Kate but I knew someone was gonna say that sooner or later

please_stanton_dont_burt_em (DJ Mencap), Monday, 22 December 2008 11:00 (seventeen years ago)

lol i would rate this like > transient > peng > abc sessions, dunno about the rest. ALL i know is love stereolab so much and i hope they make my baby and/or inform him/her about the world to come so i can rest assured, maybe show them a programme or two.

Matt P, Monday, 22 December 2008 11:08 (seventeen years ago)

I was lukewarm on this album when it came out, but it has aged amazingly well. I like it just as much as ETK, if not a little bit more. That said, I'll always stand by defence of the hat-trick of TRNBWA - Mars Audiac Quintet - Refried Ectoplasm comp as being the pinnacle of their career. I'll take it all though, really, all the way up to the new one. They've had a remarkable dearth of dud moments for a band that has been around for so long and released so many records. Fuck a Cobra and Phases, but that's about it.

As for the matter at hand - there's plenty to choose from, but here they score biggest right off the bat: "Brakhage." Those skittering drum fills & organ riffs seal the deal.

Pain don't hurt. (Pillbox), Monday, 22 December 2008 11:23 (seventeen years ago)

refractions in the plastic pulse should be ftw, but was this anyone else's fav song on this perfect album?

― Matt P, Monday, December 22, 2008 9:53 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

YES

nabisco inferno (Autumn Almanac), Monday, 22 December 2008 12:41 (seventeen years ago)

Miss Modular is incredible, Flower Called Nowhere is orgasmic etc etc but Refractions is the magnum fucking opus.

Reluctant to spooge all over the thread but I do believe this is my favourite album of all time.

nabisco inferno (Autumn Almanac), Monday, 22 December 2008 12:41 (seventeen years ago)

(except Prisoner of Mars which is skippable)

nabisco inferno (Autumn Almanac), Monday, 22 December 2008 12:42 (seventeen years ago)

In fact, ahem, I can only listen to this album as an entire piece (except Prisoner of Mars sometimes) because once it starts I cannot back away. Many times I've rushed to stop one of the songs playing on random because I can't be dragged in at that time.

nabisco inferno (Autumn Almanac), Monday, 22 December 2008 12:43 (seventeen years ago)

I will spooge all over the thread with u AA

Sven Hassel Shutthefuckup (Matt P), Monday, 22 December 2008 12:45 (seventeen years ago)

^_____^

nabisco inferno (Autumn Almanac), Monday, 22 December 2008 12:46 (seventeen years ago)

There's a REALLY shitty tape dropout near the end of Ticker-Tape which bollockses the whole experience though.

nabisco inferno (Autumn Almanac), Monday, 22 December 2008 12:47 (seventeen years ago)

?????????

Sven Hassel Shutthefuckup (Matt P), Monday, 22 December 2008 12:48 (seventeen years ago)

This album rules, obv. I can't decide.

total mormon cockblock extravaganza (jaymc), Monday, 22 December 2008 14:19 (seventeen years ago)

There's a REALLY shitty tape dropout near the end of Ticker-Tape which bollockses the whole experience though.

― nabisco inferno (Autumn Almanac), Monday, December 22, 2008 6:47 AM (2 hours ago)

I've listened to this album about a million times and I have no idea what you are talking about.

Moodles, Monday, 22 December 2008 14:56 (seventeen years ago)

"Parsec" is the one that was used in the VW Beetle commercial, right?

^likes black girls (HI DERE), Monday, 22 December 2008 14:59 (seventeen years ago)

Surprised at the "Refractions" love, as it's the only song on the album I consistently skip (though "Ticker-tape of the Unconscious" occasionally gives me an itchy trigger finger).

Ended up picking "Miss Modular", because it's pretty much perfect, but just about every other track is a damn close second, especially "Rainbo Conversation" and "Contronatura". One of the greatest albums of the '90s, IMHO, and head and shoulders above every other 'Lab release.

Charlie Rose Nylund, Monday, 22 December 2008 15:09 (seventeen years ago)

Yeah, this is where it started to all go a bit wrong.

^^^^ OTM. The beginning of a long slide of mediocrity.

Chris Barrus (Elvis Telecom), Monday, 22 December 2008 15:12 (seventeen years ago)

Now we just need Ned to weigh in, and the Anglophile drone fans will have made their point.

total mormon cockblock extravaganza (jaymc), Monday, 22 December 2008 16:35 (seventeen years ago)

This album works as a whole for me and - very un-ILM comment coming - I don't think I've ever paid attention to any of the titles.

Daniel Giraffe, Monday, 22 December 2008 16:40 (seventeen years ago)

Miss Modular is the best song here

zeus, Monday, 22 December 2008 16:45 (seventeen years ago)

for some reason this album seems like the end of something for Stereolab; it was certainly the end of the run where I thought everything they put out was brilliant (next two releases were the first disappointments I had with them). Can't pick a song.

akm, Monday, 22 December 2008 17:03 (seventeen years ago)

This is the only Stereolab album I own, largely because of "Parsec".

^likes black girls (HI DERE), Monday, 22 December 2008 17:14 (seventeen years ago)

This is tough, but I'm gonna go with "Brakhage". One of the best openers ever.

maybe i'll let you touch it for a dollar or more (The Brainwasher), Monday, 22 December 2008 17:39 (seventeen years ago)

My favorite Stereolab album by a mile. When PBS You (RIP) first started, they would run the opening of "Refractions in the Plastic Pulse" in a loop between programs that almost burned me out on that song.

I'm halfway through a run-through right now, but I'm probably going to vote "Diagonals."

WmC, Monday, 22 December 2008 18:22 (seventeen years ago)

Isn't "Flower Called Nowhere" Pharrell Williams' favourite track ever or something? Whatever, you can hear it all over some recent Neptunes productions.

― Jeff W, Monday, December 22, 2008 4:57 AM (8 hours ago) Bookmark

Also, a Dilla production for Busta samples Stereolab (in a similar vein that he did with Towa Tei for Tribe):

Giorgio Moderator (PappaWheelie V), Monday, 22 December 2008 18:39 (seventeen years ago)

The Automator remix of "Miss Modular" is the best thing he ever did and better than anything on this record (which admittedly I've not listened to in ages.)

Alex in SF, Monday, 22 December 2008 20:03 (seventeen years ago)

Their best album! Yes! I guess I can understand being bitter when one of your favorite bands stops sounding like one of your favorite bands. But - if you just take this album on its own terms - Dots and Loops is very, very, very good at doing what it's trying to do.

I almost went with Diagonals, ended up going with Miss Modular...which I'm guessing will win?

Also: Sound-Dust deserves wayyy more respect.

iatee, Monday, 22 December 2008 20:13 (seventeen years ago)

"I guess I can understand being bitter when one of your favorite bands stops sounding like one of your favorite bands."

That would really be the previous album though (which was great!)

Alex in SF, Monday, 22 December 2008 20:13 (seventeen years ago)

True, but it still seems to be the most common criticism of D&L?

iatee, Monday, 22 December 2008 20:17 (seventeen years ago)

I thought the most common criticism was that it was kind of boring.

Alex in SF, Monday, 22 December 2008 20:22 (seventeen years ago)

Also: Sound-Dust deserves wayyy more respect.

― iatee, Monday, December 22, 2008 3:13 PM (10 minutes ago) Bookmark

OTM

True, but it still seems to be the most common criticism of D&L?

― iatee, Monday, December 22, 2008 3:17 PM (6 minutes ago) Bookmark

OTM

Giorgio Moderator (PappaWheelie V), Monday, 22 December 2008 20:25 (seventeen years ago)

I thought the most common criticism was that it was kind of boring.

Couldn't someone say that about just about any Stereolab album that they personally didn't like?

iatee, Monday, 22 December 2008 20:31 (seventeen years ago)

Couldn't someone say that about just about any album that they personally didn't like?

Alex in SF, Monday, 22 December 2008 20:32 (seventeen years ago)

Or impersonally for that matter.

Alex in SF, Monday, 22 December 2008 20:33 (seventeen years ago)

Which is to suggest that it's not a very good criticism?

iatee, Monday, 22 December 2008 20:34 (seventeen years ago)

Sure, but it's very good reason not to like an album.

Alex in SF, Monday, 22 December 2008 20:38 (seventeen years ago)

Probably not a reason worth sharing though.

iatee, Monday, 22 December 2008 20:47 (seventeen years ago)

There's a REALLY shitty tape dropout near the end of Ticker-Tape which bollockses the whole experience though.

― nabisco inferno (Autumn Almanac), Monday, December 22, 2008 6:47 AM (2 hours ago)

I've listened to this album about a million times and I have no idea what you are talking about.

― Moodles, Tuesday, December 23, 2008 1:56 AM (5 hours ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

I've never been able to find a version that doesn't feature the dropout, despite trying really quite hard.

nabisco inferno (Autumn Almanac), Monday, 22 December 2008 20:48 (seventeen years ago)

"Probably not a reason worth sharing though."

Yeah I'll let everyone who told me back in '98 know that, kay.

Alex in SF, Monday, 22 December 2008 20:54 (seventeen years ago)

Maybe you should have!

iatee, Monday, 22 December 2008 20:58 (seventeen years ago)

Ticker-tape dropouts occur at 3:38 and 4:10 on every copy I've ever been able to find.

sonderangerbots and loops (Autumn Almanac), Tuesday, 23 December 2008 01:48 (seventeen years ago)

well, if they recorded it on ticker tape, no wonder!

Mark G, Tuesday, 23 December 2008 08:11 (seventeen years ago)

Nope. I've listened to this album a thousand times and it slides off my ears every time.

I Am Bored Of This Screen Name (Masonic Boom), Tuesday, 23 December 2008 11:16 (seventeen years ago)

I listened to it again last night, and there's not one song that makes me sit up and go Boy Howdy!

I Am Bored Of This Screen Name (Masonic Boom), Tuesday, 23 December 2008 11:21 (seventeen years ago)

I thought the single they released about this time was possibly their best, but after that, nope never got what I got before.

"You fell, are you OK" etc..

Mark G, Tuesday, 23 December 2008 11:40 (seventeen years ago)

Ticker-tape dropouts occur at 3:38 and 4:10 on every copy I've ever been able to find.

Wow, those are very subtle glitches. Maybe it'd be more obvious if I were listening on a high-end system, but on the system I have, even with decent headphones, I have to listen really carefully to even notice it.

Most of the people I know who dislike Dots and Loops are fans of the older Stereolab sound, but most of the bad things they say about it -- cold, slick, kitschy -- seem to apply way more to the albums that followed, especially Cobra, which was mostly disastrous.

What's strange is that many of the same people love Emperor Tomato Ketchup, which seems like the worst of both worlds to me. I guess it's just a question of which point in the transition you find most congenial.

(Don't get me wrong, there are some great songs on ETK, but as an album I find it almost impossible to get through. Lots of filler and a Rubber Soul-ish lack of focus.)

Charlie Rose Nylund, Tuesday, 23 December 2008 19:43 (seventeen years ago)

Yeah I agree about ETK...a few great songs, but it doesn't feel like a coherent album the way the few before and after do. Always seemed to me like a Greatest Hits album in a world where Stereolab were a worse band. Never understood its place as the canon's favorite Stereolab album.

(Don't agree about Rubber Soul, however)

iatee, Tuesday, 23 December 2008 20:32 (seventeen years ago)

xp Yeah, I've always enjoyed the new albums and cannot stand the old drony stuff.

Pope Bend + Dick XVI (Autumn Almanac), Tuesday, 23 December 2008 21:08 (seventeen years ago)

I pretty much like everything they've done, but my favorite era is 1994-99.

total mormon cockblock extravaganza (jaymc), Tuesday, 23 December 2008 21:12 (seventeen years ago)

ETK album and tour is where I got on board. And I like pretty much everything I've heard from them. I need to go relisten to D&L to choose a favorite track. I think of their albums as one long track most of the time. They are generally so consistent...

Nate Carson, Tuesday, 23 December 2008 21:24 (seventeen years ago)

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

System, Friday, 2 January 2009 00:01 (seventeen years ago)

there are some great songs on ETK, but as an album I find it almost impossible to get through. Lots of filler and a Rubber Soul-ish lack of focus.

OTM. Although this seems to be a rare opinion. I was sure I was off the Stereolab wagon after ETK, and wasn't initially impressed by "Miss Modular" either. Hearing "Brakhage" on the radio finally prompted me to part with my money. It still gets my vote.

Nag! Nag! Nag!, Friday, 2 January 2009 03:12 (seventeen years ago)

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

System, Saturday, 3 January 2009 00:01 (seventeen years ago)

four years pass...

Is this OOP now?! Judging by Amazon...

Matt Groening is MY Cousin (Leee), Tuesday, 31 December 2013 01:26 (twelve years ago)

smh @ plastic pulse losing this

J. Sam, Tuesday, 31 December 2013 02:23 (twelve years ago)

one year passes...

I hadn't listened to this in forever until today. It still sounds so great. And I'd forgotten the extent to which it served in part as a sonic prelude to Tortoise's TNT. Discovering Microstoria around the same time that this album was released made me a Jan St. Werner fan pretty quickly, as well.

Oh, Delicious! (Old Lunch), Friday, 20 February 2015 21:15 (eleven years ago)

three months pass...

deux et deux et deux et deux et deux oui

Van Horn Street, Friday, 19 June 2015 16:40 (ten years ago)

three weeks pass...

NO! this was the apex

― Matt P, Monday, December 22, 2008 4:57 AM (6 years ago)

j., Tuesday, 14 July 2015 16:43 (ten years ago)

nine months pass...

man, how the hell did "Diagonals" only get 1 vote?

flappy bird, Monday, 18 April 2016 22:13 (nine years ago)

Miss Modular >>>>>>>> 99.9% of recorded music

lute bro (brimstead), Monday, 18 April 2016 23:25 (nine years ago)

Hmm, just had to listen to the whole thing again for the first time decades. Personally I like the intro track the best, more drawn to the somewhat harder electronic excursions rather than the straight dad-rock lounge material. I have to say though that overall I really love "French Disco" and think that is really the best thing Stereolab has ever done. Was recently listening to it and thinking how underrated these guys are, along with some of the other kind of experimental late=90s stuff.

viborg, Tuesday, 19 April 2016 00:30 (nine years ago)

*Ok, apparently "French Disco" is actually from 1993 so not really late 90's at all, and there's another version called "French Disko" that may have been released later? Idk, I'm finding some conflicting info out there...whatever, it's a good song.

viborg, Tuesday, 19 April 2016 00:37 (nine years ago)

brimstead otm

reggie (qualmsley), Tuesday, 19 April 2016 00:43 (nine years ago)

one year passes...

The drumming on this thing is off the fucking hook

― Matt P, Monday, December 22, 2008 4:46 AM (eight years ago)

dope as fukk

nerdy muso time signatures too

j., Monday, 24 July 2017 02:25 (eight years ago)

It's John McEntire drumming on Brakhage and Flower, right?

Moodles, Monday, 24 July 2017 02:39 (eight years ago)

happy to see Dots & Loops get the retrospective review at p4k. the second part of 'Refractions in the Plastic Pulse' is one of my favorite things they ever did.

flappy bird, Tuesday, 25 July 2017 05:32 (eight years ago)

Refractions was robbed of number one

Week of Wonders (Ross), Tuesday, 25 July 2017 05:46 (eight years ago)

one year passes...

listening tonight is the first time i can really recall noticing that the parts on this may have actually been played at some point by a human being, one who was like in a band, before the production process kicked in

j., Friday, 14 June 2019 04:14 (six years ago)

Humans are overrated, but there are definitely some people playing instruments on this album.

Mario Meatwagon (Moodles), Friday, 14 June 2019 05:03 (six years ago)

yeah i can spot em, but i just never really give em a thought, not even the drummer, who is the most humany, ironically

j., Friday, 14 June 2019 05:13 (six years ago)

C'mon, other than a couple of swooshy overdubs Miss Modular might as well be Thee Headcoats.

everything, Friday, 14 June 2019 06:19 (six years ago)

Seriously though, Gane's very live-sounding rhythm guitar is definitive and is all over this record.

everything, Friday, 14 June 2019 06:28 (six years ago)

it's just something about how they get you from one bit to another. no one player or part ever seems to stick out as responsible for moving forward, but they don't sound like they're cooperating either, more like they're just very perfectly, conveniently coordinated.

j., Friday, 14 June 2019 06:49 (six years ago)

two months pass...

aw yeah baby

j., Friday, 13 September 2019 06:10 (six years ago)

music will never be better than this

j., Saturday, 14 September 2019 23:19 (six years ago)


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