Stereolab - Cobra and Phases Group Play Voltage in the Milky Night

I don’t think it’s quite true to say it’s ‘recorded twice.’ Each instrument or voice is either fully in the left channel or right channel - nothing centred in the mix. So you can listen to either channel by itself, or both together, and get a different experience each time.

It’s weird in headphones, that’s for sure.

 

If anyone’s interested, my current deep cuts favourites:


- Exploding Head Movie (Refried Ectoplasm)
- U.h.f-mfp (Space Age Batchelor Pad Music)
- InternationL Colouring Contest (Mars audiac Quintet)
- Les Yper Sound (Emperor Tomato Ketchup)
- Young Lungs (b-side)
- Moogie Wonderland (b-side)
- Soop Groove #1 (b-side)
- Pinball (b-side)
- Diagonals (Dots & Loops)
- Need to Be (Margerine Eclipse)
- Visionary Road Maps (Fab Four Suture)
- Three Women (Chemical Chords)
- Hallicinex (Sound dust)
- Blips, Drips & Strips (Cobra...)

 

It's been awhile since I put it on and really focused on the individual parts, but as I recall, all or most of the instruments and vocals are playing a part, different from its counterpart, in each channel. (This bothers some people who expect to hear the voices or drums centered, or each instrument in just one place.) If that's right, it suggests that they practically recorded two different arrangements for each song.

 

My overall Top Ten:

1 Cybele's Reverie
2 Pack Yr Romantic Mind
3 Miss Modular
4 Ping Pong
5 Vonal Declosion
6 Refractions In The Plastic Pulse
7 Fluorescences
8 Caliedoscopic Gaze
9 Pop Quiz
10 Brakhage

(Need to think a while longer on my favorite Deep Cuts...)

 

The whole Fluorescences EP is amazing, isn’t it. A peak moment for the group. Or Groop!

 

Definitely!!

 

It was quite a quest tracking that Flourescences 12” down living way up in northern Michigan pre-internet (for me anyway). Great ep. Along with the Margerine Eclipse, it’ll be one of my first spins once I get my move sorted out.

 

I found that 12" version at a record show in 2001 in pristine condition -- still one of my favorites.

 

Had a chance to think up a list of my favorite Deep Cuts:

-- I'm Going Out of My Way
-- International Colouring Contest
-- Pinball
-- Ticker Tape of The Unconscious
-- Allures
-- Munich Madness
-- Check and Double Check
-- Intervals
-- Nomus et Phusis
-- With Friends Like These
-- Canned Candies
-- Microclimate
-- Need To Be

 

I worked around the corner from Portobello Road in the ‘90s, so was able to get to Rough Trade and Intoxica every couple of days. Between them, they stocked pretty much Stereolab record, even the really obscure bits.

i need to re-acquaint myself with some of those.

 

Several of those are from the Miss Modular, Free Design and Captain Easychord EP's which, IMO, has some of their best stuff.

 

All collected on Oscillons from the Anti-Sun too, although the CD version of that is sadly a bit loud.

 

Yes, great collection, but I never got it, since I already had the original EPs...

 

That list would have a lot in common with mine too. They just have so many great album tracks/b-sides/rarities. “Allures” is so gorgeous, “Pinball” is so catchy.
I’d throw “Puncture In The Radax Permutation” from Cobra on my list. I love how much it features Mary’s voice, the mood it creates and how it builds.

 

Everyone on this thread might find this of interest: the father & son surf/rock duo, The Vanduras, did a fantastic instrumental version of "Cybele's Reverie" in 2002:

 

Such a great record. No surprise the NME gave it 0/10 but I suspect they were fawning over whatever act was big at that time.

 

I never really gave this album a fair shake when it came out. I think that I'd just reached a certain saturation point with Stereolab by that point and found it difficult to digest. Then, my CD got fragged somehow and I didn't bother to replace it. More recently, I finally went back and picked up the deluxe reissue and I've really been pleasantly surprised by how much I'm enjoying it. This is Stereolab at their most sophisticated and baroque, bringing a dizzying range of different influences to bear: percolating jazzy flourishes, Latin inflected exotica, Smile-mode Brian Wilson, hypnotic German trance, etc. The production is so refined and we get lovely vocal performances throughout from Laeticia and Mary. It's a sumptuous multi-course feast, almost too much to take in all at once, but well worth the effort. I snagged this one along with the Transient reissue (my initial introduction to the band) and it's amazing to hear how much the they'd evolved over the course of the 90s, an extraordinarily creative run.

 

Cobra is a little jumbled and long, maybe could have used some editing, but it has some outright gems in my book: Op-Hop, Infinity Girl, Puncture ..., Come and Play ... others as well

 

This album, I think, is super misunderstood. Caleidoscopic Gaze, Velvet Water, Puncture, The Spiracles, The Emergency Kisses.... this album holds some of the Groop’s strongest material.

 

You could say that about virtually any Lab album!

As we discussed above a lot of "Cobra"s rejection had to do with the circumstances surrounding it's original release. Happens to certain books and movies too. Re-evaluation and fresh perspectives are really important!

 

Funny enough, though, those aren't even my favorites from Cobra. Well, Puncture in the Radax Permutation is ...

 

I remember this album a bit more than some others as I was travelling and while in Montreal I ran across a Rolling Stone mag with a review of it, so I knew it had been released from that. I asked for Stereolab at the non-English speaking CD store I found where I was and they had nothing by them at all (so much for French lyrics getting them a foothold in Quebec). After I was back home I seemed to find myself too late at a couple of my usual sources for the new release (but I did buy what earlier stuff I hadn't gotten at one place). Finally I got Cobra And Phases half a year after it's release!

The associated four track Duophonic release I must've ordered by mail...

 

It doesn't suck, but it's not my favorite. "The Spiracles" is one of the best things they've ever done though.

 

Same here. It's a bit like "Honky" from the Melvins. Not necessarily the album to recommend to a newbie.

It needs a certain mood. Probably will revisit it tonight.

 

This explains why Margerine Eclipse stands out so much to me when I'm listening to it compared to their other albums (I love them all). It just sounds more 'pop' to me which explains why it would appeal to me even more, seems less fuzzy or something.