Stereolab
Cobra And Phases Group Play Voltage In The Milky Night CD
by Keith McLachlan.
October 16, 1999.
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First off, the cover. Are they big Cleveland Browns fans?
What with the lovely colour motif of orange and brown.
Second, this title, is it taken from a Tortoise Lp or
something? It certainly is almost ridiculously pretentious
enough for a cred-inducing John Mcentire endorsement. The
last Slab record was a bit too immersed in coctail nation
for a lot of folks, except of course for those lovely lads
at Volkswagen who decided to use 'Parsec' in a beetle
advert. Myself, I thought it was nice but it was just
another Stereolab record and I wondered if I should even
consider buying the new one.
nbsp; However after listening to a few of the songs on the local college radio station here, a station that brags so intensely of its independence and yet in its chart of top 34 records includes like 1/3rd major label releases including this one but then I digress, after listening I decided I'd get it and small wonder for little miracles (I think i completely butchered that little cliche) but it is probably my favourite Slab record of all time, well at least since the days of 'Super Electric' when I would go around for days man this sounds an awful lot like Snapper.
The NME review for this album is really rather silly because they attack the Slab for their superficial faux-marxism, I see selling your music to Nazi-sympathizing megacorporations is really a subversive plot that will surely lead to the destruction of Adam Smith's capitalistic farce? Anyhow I don't take my political lead from pop stars and besides that who can truly understand Laetitia's political ramblings anyhow? Tim Gane is your basic shambolic pop kid who has a fondness for eclecticism that ends up resulting in lovely harmonies layered over bubbling synths, repetitive riffs and now the lovely inclusion of harpsichord! Kate likes song 4 best. I think I like the harpsichord ones best. It is less than 80 minutes long too, clocking in at a near sprint of 75 minutes. One could hardly ask for more, except maybe a Morgan solo, but that would be like Christmas 365 days a year.
Stereolab
Sound-Dust CD
Elektra.
by Keith Mclachalan.
November 3, 2001.
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One might feel sorry for Baby Stereolab for with
parents like Tim and Laetitia it is almost certain
that the usual lullabies and hymns of youth are
undoubtedly rendered impeccably gauche and
unfashionable. I can imagine a child's shrieks and
disconcertedness as John Cage's variations on
'Rock-a-bye Baby' are piped through the sound system
at the space age bachelor pad, or maybe it's Charles
Mingus remixing the classic 'Puff the Magic Dragon'
into some bestial relic of neo-futurism. And what of
the days at the communist summer youth camps surely
somewhere in the future, where little Stereolab can
re-enact the bombings of Hiroshima and Bahgdad and
reject Republicanism as fascism and write letters to
the children in the Palestine authority who live under
apartheid like conditions, according to the european
press, and decry the oppressive nature of the
Judeo-Christian western tradition. Pity the poor
child, but then I suppose it could be worse he could
be a Gifford. And actually no pity really cause it
seems he's brought about a serenity in mommy and daddy
and caused them to abandon the frenetic jazz-inflected
doodlings of their last few records and made them
embrace fully the concept of pop music. The record
almost ends where other s'lab records would just be
reaching the 3/4 pole not that it isn't overlong as
really should not all pop records be 35 minutes or
less. The lyrics seem to revolve around funny things
like relationships and love and you know while I am
listening I can't help but think of the Fifth
Dimension channeled through Karen Carpenter's pinebox.
It is all actually lovely and charming and not at
all knowing or complex. Surprise!
Super Furry Animals
"Herman Loves Pauline" 7" vinyl
Creation. cd252.
by Keith McLachlan.
January 8, 1998.
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ELO can just get lost really, to
me it is funny how someone will attach a label to a band and all reviewers
like the sheep they are will fall back on that original load of bull to
describe a record. For the record, SFA don't sound like ELO, let's face
it even when ELO were young they sounded like old men with colostomies.
But SFA are completely bonkers and talented enough to pull it off. This
single is a tribute to Einstein's parents and how they were basically
complete losers until little Al came along, it rocks more than any of
their other singles. It may also be their most psychedelic yet
straightforward and accessible single yet. 'Herman loves Pauline, and
Pauline loves Herman, they make love and produce a little German' hahaha,
gruff is a great storyteller and all three tunes here are worth the price
of admission.
Super Furry Animals
Guerilla CD
by Keith McLachlan.
September 29, 1999.
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Apparently this is the pop album? HA! On which planet is
this considered accessible pop fare might be my first
question. The second question might be exactly why is it
that Wales has engendered a species so obviously different
from the rest of the world's hominids? Do the school
children go mad trying to learn the language? So barkers
that life outside their quaint little country seems leaden
and vanilla, so much so that they seem forever to paint
vividly exacting scenes of life that we outsiders see as
bizarre but they as freaks see as completely benign everyday
existence? Who knows? Gruff was a champion of Welsh
sovereignty so perhaps he is not so insulated from the real
world as one might think when examining the subjects that he
finds worthy to memorialize in song, or perhaps he has the
keys to the portal between the two worlds and won't invite
any of us to the party. Aurora Borealis (latin songtitles
are out of the question of course), possibly fatal chewing
gum episodes, cell phone induced cancer and panda teams!!!
Oh to witness the carnival exisiting within the gruffster's
fertile lobes! To see why steel drums are suddenly so
relevant in pop music, to fancy the seamless fusion of
schizoid beats and offhand electronics and classically
surreal imagery. Yay for bands that sell records and do not
suck and yas for those who also trudge along giant
inflatables wherever they may roam.
Super Furry Animals
Ice Hockey Hair CD-EP
Creation. crescd288.
by Keith McLachlan.
September 4, 1998.
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The Super Furries are the best singles band in existence now. I know I am
prone to overstatement but if you compare their last 6 or 7 single
to any other band and judge both quality and diversity well then you will
see that they really are special.
This is especially the case on the in-betweener eps, the ones released between albums, when they lose their sly subtlety and pretty much bang you over the head with their brilliance. Last time it was 'The Man Don't Give a F**k' and here it is 'Ice Hockey Hair' though that title is deceiving because the real gem here is a track called 'Smoking' which comes first and probably would have been the title track were it not an ode to getting toasted performed in a fantastically P-Funkish attitude and groove with the obvious chorus of 'I just want to smoke it'.
Second is the title track which is the densest thing SFA have ever concocted and which lasts six minutes and makes five or six turns all centered around something vaguely similar to a Brian Wilson number. 'Mu Tron' is a cozy little instrumental which is maybe the cousin of 'Furryvision,' the song which opened their last lp. Then finally comes the outro where they spout their pro-puff mantra some more. This is one Wales of a record-d'oh!
Super Furry Animals
Mwng CDx2
Flydaddy. Fly040.
by Keith McLachlan.
July 17, 2000.
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Maybe you have heard the Supercute song 'Welsh Bands
Suck' or have you? It is his usual rant but there is
one entirely hilarious bit when he goes 'Oh No!
they're singing in welsh grrgrrwwgglluk'. Supercute
of course is a welsh guy who doesn't sing in Welsh.
Super Furry Animals are a Welsh band who originally
sang in Welsh but were forced to agree to sing in
English when Alan Mcgee signed them to Creation.
Now Creation is dead and Welsh is back on the menu. And truly that is slightly disappointing to me. Sure I could take the online Welsh course at the Brown University website to attempt a quick uptake of the perplexing tongue, but as fantastic as I find this record I just can't help remembering that I will not be singing along to any of these songs anytime soon, perhaps phonetically but never in emotional concert with Gruff.
It truly is their most beautiful record yet. I guess they had tried almost everything else so this time around they sight their sights on gorgeous and clearly hit the target. The last record 'Geurilla' is still their masterpiece but this is likely destined to be their 'Fables of the Reconstruction' album. Everyone hates that REM record including the band themselves but I find that to be the only REM record I can stomach these days as I long ago outgrew them. SFA surely will never be as dull as Michael Stipe and Buck Peter but in 20 years when Q magazine writes a career retrospective of the most creative band ever (see SFA) they will come back to this record as the quiet gem. Most of it is laid back and with the languge as barrier to all but the million or so welsh speakers on this planet the songs will never reach as far into the hearts of the listeners as the SFA anthems of the past have.
It is very reminiscent of the 70s, no bad thing though, the songs are meandering and taut, it misses Cian's electronic tinkering which has been so crucial on the last two records but the arrangements still sparkle and the music sounds more textured and lush than ever. They are the only band in England who will never be of the times, they will always defy the order of the day and this time around they will make you heart ache with their display of beauty.