Transient Random-Noise Bursts with Announcements – Stereolab
I want to start by saying as I have matured but those who know me might smirk at that. So, as my taste has developed, I have become increasingly drawn to music that might be described by your mum’s social circle as ‘that awful racket’. This Stereolab album fits that description in the best way possible, making all those menopausal toes curl up in their Veja trainers. I was put on to Stereolab by some J Dilla sampling and a slightly less ignorant listener than myself who I will refer to as Mango. That was over a year ago. I didn’t take to this album until a random shuffle in Puregym reminded me that it existed in my library. It was a bizarre place to pop my Stereolab cherry.
If you wanted a summation of the 61 minutes I endured, the title is a fairly accurate description. This album exists in a space between dreamy reflection and St. Vitus dance-inducing grooves. Opener ‘Tone Burst’ is a test sample for the experience, bursting out of the trap with this glitchy guitar gallop, but by the end of those five minutes you will have ascended to another realm. There’s a sensual thread running through much of this album too. As if the French wasn’t enough for you, go translate the lyrics to this song and see what I mean.
They say your taste in music doesn’t change past 22. Whatever you’re into up until that point, that’s your lot. I can firmly call bullshit on that statement because I have never listened to Motorik ( ‘motor skill’ for the linguistically challenged) or Krautrock. I won’t reiterate a definition that you can look up yourself, but the chugging guitars and rhythm section create these pumping, diesel-powered grooves. ‘Analogue Rock’ is a perfect example of this effect.
A lot of the time I have no bloody clue what Lætitia Sadier is saying, and it’s brilliant. The vocals often stray into unintelligibility to the point of assimilating with the groove and becoming an instrument of its own. ‘Our Trinitone Blast’ and ‘Golden Ball’ are major offenders, the former sounding like a rally cry delivered through a megaphone and the latter creeping along under the weight of the vocal distortion. I have a love for the Ol’ Dirty Bastards of the world. Not to compare Stereolab to Wu-tang, but the manner in which the vocals are approached can be more impactful to me than what is being said. In this, ODB and Lætitia Sadier meet on the Wu-Tang – Stereolab Venn diagram overlap. The songs don’t have a typical structure either. They feel like explorations centred around these refrains and repeated notes that simmer until they’ve all melded into a broth. I promise that’s not a snobbishly expressed exaggeration.
‘Pack Yr Romantic Mind’ is the standout track for me, making the summer playlist I feel pressured to curate every year. The best way to describe the sound of this song is like the theme music to receiving a postcard from a sandy, white beach in 1950s France. There’s a suaveness and sexiness to it that almost makes me feel voyeuristic, not helped by the, as my nan would say, ‘saucy’ lyrics.
Don’t be scared by the 18-minute behemoth ‘Jenny Ondioline’. The driving groove turns it into the Jamie’s 15-minute meals of tracks. That is a metaphor for its brevity. Of course, content wise this track is far more appealing. It discusses fighting political turmoil with the very creativity it fuels. It’s also nice to hear a political song that flips the two smoking barrels in a positive manner, a sentiment shared with the track ‘Crest’.
Some of the songs on this album pull a fast one on you with what I am going to refer to as ‘funky little interludes’. That’s not to diminish the digital meanderings on tracks such as ‘I’m Going Out of My Way’ and ‘Pause’. These remind me of Blur’s 13 which I think might be one of my podium albums.
A confession. I genuinely cannot think of anyone influenced by or anyone that may have influenced this sound. I’m a naïve man in this field. But that makes the album exciting to me and I’m eager to explore this side of rock. In the absence of any truly insightful wisdom, I will offer what I believe to be the mission statement of the album, best summed up in closer ‘Lock-Groove Lullaby’: “Express through the body what is meant unconsciously”.
