The slogan you’ve come a long way baby can be used for more than Virginia Slims cigarettes. Over the past eight years, Stereolab has gone from avant-garde electronic music to laid-back lounge pop. Now on its latest album, Cobra and Phases Group Play Voltage in the Milky Night (Elektra), the band combines all of its styles and influences in one album.
Stereolab always stood out among pop groups. By using old analog synthesizers, the group went back to the Krautrock drone sound of bands like Kraftwerk and Neu!. Stereolab also incorporated the pop sound of the 1960s with upbeat rhythms and a bachelor-pad feel. It is probably the first band to sing songs about Marxist theory in French and make them catchy enough to stick in your head.
The opening track, Fuses, is a great example of far-out styles coming together. The song merges free jazz (snare drums and trumpets fly out of the speakers with no seeming pattern) and 1960s pop (characterized by xylophones and electric guitar). The effect is jarring at first but shows just how far into left field Stereolab can go.
After the first song, the album smoothes out with tracks like People Do It All the Time and The Free Design. These tunes are more laid-back songs. Warm washes of Moog synthesizers create a psychedelic-type effect. The finishing touch is vocalist Morgane Lhote’s voice lilting over the music. You can’t make out the lyrics, but they’ve never been a strong point for Stereolab. Instead, the vocals are like another instrument blending into the music. Songs like these – and the album is filled with them – can’t help but put a smile on your face.
Other songs, while not exceedingly upbeat, create different effects on the listener. The slow pace of Italian Shoes Continuum is the aural equivalent of lying in a warm bubble bath. It’s an incredibly relaxing and dreamy song. Op Hop Detonation is a song that would fit right in the world of Austin Powers and the swinging 1960s scene in London. Listening to it, you can picture women in miniskirts and go-go boots dancing to the song in a room with shag carpeting. Although the song looks to the past, the sound isn’t dated or nostalgic. Stereolab does a great job of giving the 1960s pop sound a 1990s twist.
Music and sound aside, you have to love Stereolab for its titles. Past albums include Emperor Tomato Ketchup and The Groop Played Space Age Batchelor Pad Music. Song titles on the latest album include Blips Drips and Strips, Come Play In The Milky Night and Puncture In The Radar Permutation. The titles are just another way the members of Stereolab show how far out their minds can go.
A couple of songs on the album don’t follow the traditional tight pop formula. Songs such as Blue Milk are long, jam-style songs. They’re not self-indulgent like many jam-style tunes but instead take all the best parts of a jazz improvisation session. The music slowly builds and develops, drawing you into the small world the song creates.
The music Stereolab makes won’t appeal to everyone’s tastes. Cobra and Phases Group Play Voltage in the Milky Night isn’t going to be appreciated by Stereolab newcomers. New listeners would do better with an album like the great Dots and Loops to ease their way into the band’s sound. Starting with the latest album is like jumping into the deep end right away. Still, if you’re looking for something odd, quirky and fun, Stereolab and this album will be right up your alley.
