Dream Wired
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Celebrity
  • DramaAlert
  • Gossip
  • Movie
  • TV
  • Music
  • Comics
  • Shop
  • Home
  • Celebrity
  • DramaAlert
  • Gossip
  • Movie
  • TV
  • Music
  • Comics
  • Shop
No Result
View All Result
Dream Wired
No Result
View All Result
Home Music

Stereolab Disorients the Dream of the ‘90s

rmtsa by rmtsa
May 24, 2025
in Music
0
Stereolab Disorients the Dream of the ‘90s
74
SHARES
1.2k
VIEWS
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter


You might also like

Foolio’s Friend Gives Tearful Testimony During Murder Trial

Ace Frehley Honored at Memorial Attended by Ex-Kiss Bandmates

The Alchemist & Hit-Boy Share Tracklist & Features For ‘Goldfish’ Album

Stereolab Disorients the Dream of the ‘90s

It’s easy to forget that it’s been more than 15 years since Stereolab released a studio album. Since the group’s reemergence toward the end of the last decade, we’ve gotten reissues of their ‘90s classics, new compilations of archival material, and even a couple of tours, all of which have kept the European avant-pop band visible. And then there’s the music: Stereolab’s mix of EZ-listening, vintage electronics, cruise-control grooves, and Velvet Underground drone has always sounded at home in any decade, from the esoteric tail end of the millennium to the sunset of the aughts, when the band’s prior album, 2009’s capable Chemical Chords dropped.

So, it’s hard to call Instant Holograms on Metal Film (out May 23 via Duophonic UHF/Warp) a comeback exactly. But it does balance a return to fundamentals with forays into new territory while making a case for the band’s continued relevance. Only songwriters Tim Gane (guitar-synths), Lætitia Sadier (vocals-synths-guitar), and longtime drummer Andy Ramsay remain from the old days, but Xavi Muñoz (bass) and Joe Watson (keys) have been touring members long enough to know how to produce the kind of chilled-out modular grooves that a good Stereolab song depends on. Tracks like “Melodie Is a Wound” and “Transmuted Matter” blend subdued digital pulses with slinky melodies and stiffly funky rhythms, elegantly recapturing the mojo of the ‘lab’s heyday, while suggesting links to younger weird-pop outfits like Magdalena Bay and Dummy.

More from Spin:

5 Albums I Can’t Live Without: Thomas Mack Lauderdale of Pink Martini

The Sparks Effect: Ron and Russell Mael’s Enduring Magic

See Trailer For Miley Cyrus’ ‘Beautiful’ Visual Album

Sadier’s purring, intensely detached vocals, and politically pointed lyrics still take center stage: “The numbing is not working anymore / An unfillable hole / An insatiable state of consumption,” she sings in “Aerial Troubles,” over chiming keys, swaying synths, and a snaky guitar figure. Backing vocals from Muñoz, Watson (on a different song), and Marie Merlet add a contrapuntal verve not heard since the tragic death of bassist-backup vocalist Mary Hansen in 2002. Seldom have pronouncements of societal dysfunction and spiritual malaise sounded so breezy, but there’s always a little sonic darkness lurking in the mix, too. A melancholy pervades much of this material, with songs like “Immortal Hands,” which begins with a fitfully strummed acoustic guitar surrounded by a circling flock of keys, summoning the pastoral dystopia of ‘70s English folk outfits like Pentangle. Even the winsome textures of vibraphone and glockenspiel can’t dispel the hints of foreboding, but they do add a bright, rickety richness. 

Though recorded in London, the album features an array of players from Chicago’s burgeoning jazz and electronic scenes, including engineer Cooper Crain from silicon zoners Bitchin Bajas, his bandmate Rob Frye on reeds and flutes, and Ben LaMar Gay on cornet on three tracks. But it has little in common with the similarly Chicago-saturated Cobra and Phases Group Play Voltage in the Milky Night, the band’s abstract peak from 1999. Instead, the flutes, reeds, and other nonstandard rock instruments are primarily used to give hooks an added punch and beats some extra ballast. More than three decades into their career, Stereolab is still pushing boundaries, but they’re also locking things down. 

To see our running list of the top 100 greatest rock stars of all time, click here.



Source link

Tags: 90sDisorientsDreamStereolab
Share30Tweet19
rmtsa

rmtsa

Recommended For You

Foolio’s Friend Gives Tearful Testimony During Murder Trial

by rmtsa
October 23, 2025
0
Foolio’s Friend Gives Tearful Testimony During Murder Trial

Foolio's friend delivers a tearful testimony on the first day of the trial for the rapper's 2024 murder.On Wednesday (Oct. 22), opening arguments and testimony began for the...

Read more

Ace Frehley Honored at Memorial Attended by Ex-Kiss Bandmates

by rmtsa
October 23, 2025
0
Ace Frehley Honored at Memorial Attended by Ex-Kiss Bandmates

A private memorial service for original Kiss lead guitarist Ace Frehley was held on Tuesday in Yonkers, New York, and attended by fellow original Kiss members Gene Simmons,...

Read more

The Alchemist & Hit-Boy Share Tracklist & Features For ‘Goldfish’ Album

by rmtsa
October 23, 2025
0
The Alchemist & Hit-Boy Share Tracklist & Features For ‘Goldfish’ Album

The Alchemist and Hit-Boy have called on a few friends for their Goldfish album. The dynamic duo have revealed the cover art, tracklist and features for their upcoming...

Read more

Attila’s Chris Fronzak Makes a Deep Connection With a Ghost

by rmtsa
October 23, 2025
0
Attila’s Chris Fronzak Makes a Deep Connection With a Ghost

In the sixth episode of Season 3 of Paranormal Prison, our guest is Chris Fronzak of Attila.The frontman joins Josh Bernstein (The Power Hour, Z2) and Katrina Weidman, who you may...

Read more

Jelly Roll Calls Cheating on Wife Bunnie Xo One of His ‘Worst Moments’

by rmtsa
October 23, 2025
0
Jelly Roll Calls Cheating on Wife Bunnie Xo One of His ‘Worst Moments’

Since Jelly Roll arrived on the country scene over the past three years, he’s always put his wife Bunnie Xo and their relationship front and center at awards...

Read more
Next Post
How Netflix’s Slasher Movie Terrified Fans

How Netflix's Slasher Movie Terrified Fans

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Browse by Category

  • Celebrity
  • Comics
  • DramaAlert
  • Gossip
  • Movie
  • Music
  • TV
  • Uncategorized

CATEGORIES

  • Celebrity
  • Comics
  • DramaAlert
  • Gossip
  • Movie
  • Music
  • TV
  • Uncategorized
No Result
View All Result

Recent News

  • How Every Stephen King Movie Is Connected
  • Tom the Dancing Bug’s Smythe family, of Chagrin Falls, USA, get Trumped on by the president
  • Dodgers Reliever Alex Vesia Steps Away From Team on Eve of World Series

Copyright © 2023 DramaWired.
DramaWired is a content aggregator and not responsible for the content of external sites.

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Celebrity
  • DramaAlert
  • Gossip
  • Movie
  • TV
  • Music
  • Comics
  • Shop

Copyright © 2023 DramaWired.
DramaWired is a content aggregator and not responsible for the content of external sites.

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In