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Stereolab

Based in England, Stereolab are a band whose music draws on styles from 1950s lounge to the "motorik" beat of 1970s krautrock. Noted for their use of vintage keyboard instruments such as the Moog synthesizer, their sound often overlays a droning rhythm with singsong female vocals sung in French and English. One of the first groups to which the term "post-rock" was applied, Stereolab were formed in 1990 by Tim Gane (guitar/keyboards) and Lætitia Sadier (vocals/keyboards/guitar).[1]

Gane and Sadier have remained at the helm across many lineup changes. The accidental death of Mary Hansen (vocals/keyboards) in December 2002 hit the band hard, both emotionally and musically. She had been with the group since 1992, and the vocal interplay between her and Sadier had become an integral part of the band's sound. Despite the loss the band never considered stopping, and has continued to release new material.[2]

Stereolab have received much attention for incorporating socio-political themes into their work. The Surrealist and Situationist movements are self-admitted influences, and critics see a strong Marxist message in the group's lyrics. However, Time Gane is skeptical of labels like "Marxist pop", and defends the band against accusations of "sloganeering".[3]

Although many of the band's releases have been underground hits, they have not found larger commercial success. The band formed their own label, Duophonic Records, in 1993. Duophonic and its sub-labels are responsible for Stereolab's U.K. market releases, along with limited edition CD and vinyl records.[4]

History

Over the years, Gane and Sadier have enlisted a large number of other musicians to accompany them on stage and on record. The initial line-up featured Martin Kean, formerly of The Chills, on bass, and Joe Dilworth (from their Too Pure label-mates Th' Faith Healers) on drums, with Russell Yates (of Moose) and Mick Conroy (ex-Modern English) also appearing at early live shows. In 1993 they recruited Andy Ramsay (drums), who has remained in the group line-up ever since, and Mary Hansen (vocals, guitar, keyboards, percussion). Hansen's distinctive backing vocals became an important aspect of the Stereolab sound, and she remained a regular feature of the line-up until her death in a cycling accident on December 9 2002. Multi-instrumentalist Sean O'Hagan of The High Llamas has also been a frequent contributor, particularly with string, brass and keyboard arrangements to the band's studio albums. Other members have come and (in some cases) gone over the years, including Duncan Brown, David Pajo (from Slint, Tortoise and Billy Corgan's Zwan), Richard Harrison and Simon Johns (all bass); Gina Morris (vocals); and Katharine Gifford (Snowpony) and Morgane Lhote (both on keyboards).

The present lineup (as of August 2006) consists of: Tim Gane, Lætitia Sadier, Andy Ramsay, Simon Johns, Dominic Jeffery, Joseph Watson, and Joseph Walters.

Musical style

Stereolab's music combines a droning rock sound with lounge instrumentals, and overlays it with sing-song female vocals and pop melodies.[5] Their earlier records were heavily influenced by the motorik technique of 1970s krautrock groups such as Neu! and Faust, as was shown by the band's reliance on repetitive guitar or keyboard riffs. Tim Gane himself has explicitly drawn the comparison: "Neu! did minimalism and drones, but in a very pop way."[6] The band's style evolved to incorporate that of experimental and easy-listening music of the 1950s and '60s.[7] They allude to this in the name of their 1993 EP Space Age Batchelor Pad Music, which is a reference to the work of the lounge musician Juan García Esquivel.[8]

Stereolab make heavy use of vintage analog electronic instruments like the Farfisa organ (a favorite of early garage and punk bands), as well the Moog synthesizer and the Vox organ.[9] The Moog in particular is featured prominently on their 1994 album Mars Audiac Quintet.[10] Gane praises these older instruments for their superior controllability: "We use the older effects because they're more direct, more extreme, and they're more like plasticine: you can shape them into loads of things."[11]

Funk influences can be found on 1996's Emperor Tomato Ketchup, and the band has also dabbled in Brazilian and jazz arrangements (notably on the 2001 album Sound-Dust).[12] The compositions of minimalist composers Philip Glass and Steve Reich have inspired the group as well, most notably on 1999's Cobra and Phases Group ….[13] Several critics have said that the band's later work, like Margerine Eclipse (2004) and Instant 0 in the Universe (2006), sound less like their later avant-garde sound and more like their guitar-driven earlier style.[14]

Vocals

Lætitia Sadier's bilingual French and English vocals have been a part of the band since its formation. She writes the the group's lyrics, which have a tendency towards Marxist social commentary rather than "affairs of the heart" (according to one critic).[15] In reference to Sadier's laid-back delivery, journalist Peter Shapiro wrote that Sadier has all the "emotional histrionics of [1960s German singer] Nico."[16] Before Mary Hansen's death in 2001, the pair would often trade vocals back-and-forth in a sing-song manner that has been described as "eerie" and "hypnotic".[17] Jim Harrington wrote in the Oakland Tribune that Hansen's absence is noticeable on live performances of their older tracks; he also wrote that Stereolab's newer songs could have benefited from her backing vocals.[18]

Vision

In interviews, Gane and Sadier have discussed their musical philosophy. According to Gane, a prolific collector of rare and obscure records, "to be unique was more important than to be good."[19] On the subject of being too obscure, he said (in a 1996 interview) that "maybe the area where we're on dodgy ground, is this idea that you need great knowledge [of] esoteric music to understand what we're doing."[20] In the same interview Sadier responds to Gane, saying that she "think[s] we have achieved a music that will make sense to a lot of people whether they know about Steve Reich or not."[21] The duo is up-front about their desire to grow the group's sound—for Gane, "otherwise it just sounds like what other people are doing",[22] and for Sadier, "you trust that there is more and that it can be done more interesting".[23]

On stage

Stereolab tour regularly to support their album releases; outside of the U.K., they've played in the United States, continental Europe, and Japan.[24] "Listening to Stereolab play can be a life-affirming, mind-boggling, even religious experience," according to music journalist Ryan Gilbey.[25] The band is not afraid to turn up the volume in concert. In a 1996 Washington Post gig review, Mark Jenkins wrote that Stereolab started out favoring an "easy-listening syncopation", but eventually reverted to a "messier, more urgent sound" characteristic of its earlier performances.[26] In another review Jenkins said that the band's live songs "frequently veer[ed] into more cacophonous, guitar-dominated territory," in contrast to lighter albums like Cobra and Phases Group ….[27] In the Minneapolis Star Tribune John Bream compared the band's live sound to feedback-driven rock bands like the Velvet Underground, Sonic Youth and My Bloody Valentine.[28] However, critics have said that Stereolab lacks stage presence, arguing that Sadier's vocal delivery is too subdued and that the band tends to play instead of perform its music.[29]

Lyrics and titles

Stereolab's music is politically and philosophically charged.[30] Lætitia Sadier, who writes the group's lyrics, has reportedly been inspired by her anger at the Iraq War.[31] The Surrealist and Situationist cultural and political movements are also inspirations, as noted by Sadier and Tim Gane in a 1999 Salon.com interview.[32] Stewart Mason commented in an All-Music Guide' review that the lyrics from "Miss Modular" (found on the 1997 album Dots and Loops) "sound influenced by the Situationist theory of the 'spectacle' ".[33] When asked to explain her intentions in a 1991 Melody Maker interview, Sadier responded that "Basically I want to change the world. I want to make people think about how they live every day, shake them a bit."[34]

Critics see Marxist allusions in the band's lyrics, and several have gone so far as to call the band itself Marxist.[35] "Ping Pong", a single included on 1994's Mars Audiac Quintet, has been put forward as evidence.[36] In the song, Sadier sings "about capitalism's cruel cycles of slump and recovery"[37] with lyrics that constitute "a plainspoken explanation of one of the central tenets of Marxian economic analysis"[38] (according to Simon Reynolds and Stewart Mason, respectively). However, Tim Gane resists such comparisons. In a 1999 Washington Post interview, Gane stated that "none of us are Marxists … I've never even read Marx."[39] Although he admitted that Sadier's lyrics touch on political topics, he argued that they do not cross the line into "sloganeering".[40] Sadier herself has mentioned that she has read very little Marx.[41]

The group's album and song titles occasionally reference avant-garde political groups and artists. Gane said that the title of their 1999 album Cobra and Phases Group Play Voltage in the Milky Night contains the names of two Surrealist organizations, "Cobra" and "Phases Group".[42] The title of the first song on Dots and Loops, "Brakhage", is a nod to experimental filmmaker Stan Brakhage.[43] Other examples include their 1992 compilation Switched On, named after a 1969 Wendy Carlos album, and the 1992 single "John Cage Bubblegum", named after experimental composer John Cage.[44]

Impact

Critical

Stereolab have been called one of the most "influential alternative bands of the 90's",[45] and one of "the decade's most innovative British bands".[46] Simon Reynolds commented in Rolling Stone that the group's earlier records form "an endlessly seductive body of work that sounds always the same, always different."[47] In The Wire, Peter Shapiro compared the band favorably to the "post-rock mortuaries of Oasis and Blur", defending their music against the charge that it is "nothing but the sum total of its arcane reference points".[48] Stereolab was one of the first groups to be called post-rock—in a 1996 article, journalist Angela Lewis applies the "new term" to Stereolab and three other bands who have connections to the group.[49] The band's 1996 album Emperor Tomato Ketchup has been called their "high-water mark",[50] and was a critical success and underground hit.[51] Stereolab has received negative press, however. Journalist Barney Hoskyns questioned the longevity of their music, saying that their records "sound more like arid experiments than music born of emotional need".[52] Stereolab's 1999 album Cobra and Phases Group … has been called "slightly disappointing" and "not fully realized",[53] and author Stuart Shea wrote that Lætitia Sadier's English lyrics are often "indecipherable".[54]

Artistic

A variety of artists—musical and otherwise—have collaborated with Stereolab. In 1995 the group teamed up with sculptor Charles Long for an interactive art show in New York City, for which Long provided the exhibits and Stereolab the music.[55] They have released tracks by and toured with post-rock band Tortoise, while John McEntire of Tortoise has in turn worked on several Stereolab albums.[56] In the 1990s Stereolab and veteran industrial band Nurse With Wound released two limited-edition records togther; both contained Nurse With Wound remixes of original tracks provided by Stereolab.[57] Stereolab even attracted the notice of quintessential Britpop band Blur, who invited Sadier to provide vocals on "To The End" from 1994's Parklife.[58]

Stylistically, journalist J. D. Considine credits the band for anticipating and driving the late 90s revival of vintage analog instruments among indie rock bands.[59] Alternative band Pavement (who also toured with Stereolab) acknowledged the group's sound on their song "Half A Canyon".[60] Stereolab alumni have also helped found groups of their own. Guitarist Sean O'Hagan went on to form the critically-lauded group The High Llamas, while keyboardist Katharine Gifford created Snowpony with a former member of My Bloody Valentine.[61] Sadier herself has released two albums with her four-piece side-project Monade, whose sound has been called a "little more Parisian" than Stereolab's.[62]

Commercial

Despite garnering critical acclaim and a sizable fanbase, commercial success has eluded the group. Early in their career, their 1993 single "French Disko" (off of the Jenny Ondioline EP) received extensive U.K. airplay, but the band was unable to provide the market with enough records due to financial issues.[63] When Elektra Records was closed down by Warner Music in 2004, Stereolab was dropped along with many other artists, reportedly because of poor sales.[64] Since then, Stereolab's self-owned label Duophonic Super 45 (more commonly known as "Duophonic") has inked a worldwide distribution deal with independent label Too Pure.[65] The band has achieved a degree of commercial independence with Duophonic Super 45 and its offshoot, Ultra High Frequency Discs; through it they both license their music and release it directly (depending on geographic market). According to Tim Gane, "… we license our recordings and just give them to people, then we don't have to ask for permission if we want to use it. We just want to be in control of our own music."[66]

Selected discography

Main article: Stereolab discography

Stereolab have released dozens of studio albums, EPs, and singles in their career. They have made it a practice to eventually release almost all of their more obscure material through compilations.[67]

Studio albums

Compilations

See also

Related bands

Notes

  1. ^ Erlewine (AMG: Stereolab); Lewis (1996), Reynolds (1996)
  2. ^ Harrington (2004); McNair (2004); Reynolds (1996); Stanley (2003)
  3. ^ Jenkins (1999-11-05); Shapiro (1996); Stark (1999)
  4. ^ Eliscu (2004); Erlewine (AMG: Stereolab); Shapiro (1996); Stevens (2003)
  5. ^ Shapiro (1996)
  6. ^ Reynolds (1994); Reynolds (1996)
  7. ^ Reynolds (1994)
  8. ^ Jenkins (1997); Reynolds (1996)
  9. ^ DeRogatis (1994); Reynolds (1996); Shapiro (2006)
  10. ^ DeRogatis (1994)
  11. ^ Taylor (2001)
  12. ^ Jenkins (1997); Klein (2001); Stark (1999)
  13. ^ Jenkins (1999-11-05)
  14. ^ DeRogatis (2003)
  15. ^ Fritch (2004); Reynolds (1996)
  16. ^ Shapiro (1996)
  17. ^ Perrone (2002)
  18. ^ Harrington (2004)
  19. ^ Hodgkinson (2001); Stark (1999)
  20. ^ Shapiro (1996)
  21. ^ Shapiro (1996)
  22. ^ Hoskyns (1999)
  23. ^ Fritch (2004)
  24. ^ Arundel (1991); Gilbey (1997); Grunebaum (Metropolis: In Person …); Harrington (2004); Perrone (2002)
  25. ^ Gilbey (1997)
  26. ^ Jenkins (1996)
  27. ^ Jenkins (1999-11-13)
  28. ^ Bream (1996)
  29. ^ Harrington (2004); Musgrove (2000)
  30. ^ Reynolds (1996)
  31. ^ Stanley (2003)
  32. ^ Fritch (2004); Stark (1999)
  33. ^ Mason (AMG: Miss Modular)
  34. ^ Arundel (1991)
  35. ^ Fritch (2004); Jenkins (1999); Reynolds (1996); Shapiro (1996)
  36. ^ DeRogatis (1994); Mason (AMG: Ping Pong); Reynolds (1996)
  37. ^ Reynolds (1996)
  38. ^ Mason (AMG: Ping Pong)
  39. ^ Jenkins (1999-11-05)
  40. ^ Jenkins (1999-11-05)
  41. ^ Stark (1999)
  42. ^ Stark (1999)
  43. ^ See:
    • Stark (1999)
    • "Discography (Dots and Loops)". Stereolab Official Site. Stereolab. Retrieved 2007-05-30.
  44. ^ Morris (1997)
  45. ^ Erlewine (AMG: Stereolab)
  46. ^ Jenkins (1998)
  47. ^ Reynolds (1996)
  48. ^ Shapiro (1996)
  49. ^ Lewis (1996)
  50. ^ Klein (2001)
  51. ^ Erlewine (AMG: Stereolab)
  52. ^ Hoskyns (1996)
  53. ^ Erlewine (AMG: Cobra and Phases Group …)
  54. ^ Shea (2002), pp.53,54
  55. ^ Reynolds (1995)
  56. ^ Jenkins (2003)
  57. ^ See:
    • "Crumb Duck". Nurse With Wound Official Site. Brainwashed Inc. Retrieved 2007-05-29.
    • "Simple Headphone Mind". Nurse With Wound Official Site. Brainwashed Inc. Retrieved 2007-05-29.
  58. ^ Stevens (2003)
  59. ^ Considine (1997)
  60. ^ See:
  61. ^ Jenkins (1998); Unterberger (The High Llamas)
  62. ^ Jenkins (2005)
  63. ^ See:
  64. ^ Eliscu (2004)
  65. ^ "Monade". Official Website. Beggars Group, USA. Retrieved 2007-05-26.
  66. ^ H2O (Chunklet: Tim Gane)
  67. ^ Phares (2007)
  68. ^ a b See:
    • "Discography". Stereolab. All Media Guide/All Music. Retrieved 2007-05-03.
    • "Discography". Stereolab Official Site. Stereolab. Retrieved 2007-05-03.

References

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