November 2001

Grandpa Loves Music: Stereolab

Stereolab Sound-Dust 2001

This is an example of how to be beautiful - French style.

Since I purchased this CD last month, it has been in a life or death fight for my attention with Tenacious D. And while I am thoroughly in love with The D, my love for this new Stereolab piece is part of a longer, more intoxicating, love affair.

At the time I bought this album, I was in need of a ride through the world of elastic, unrelenting and melodic electronic music. And, as I expected, "Sound-Dust" did not deny me.

As on previous Stereolab albums, the songs are about longing for love, loneliness and social change. And, keeping with another tradition, the lyrics are unnecessary. The voices of Mary Hansen and Laetitia Sadier make words and ideas disappear in a rush of beautiful sound and harmony.

This album is beautiful. I think it may be the best Stereolab album yet.

At times, Stereolab's music is so many things that at times it seems as if the music is nothing at all. All at once, the tracks flow in and out of themselves as you are taken from one emotion to another. The end result is a listening experience unavailable from any other band on the planet.

There is a devotion to 60's pop sound and a dedication to perfection. The convergence of pop sound and electronic sensibilities can lead to trite garbage, but in the case of Stereolab, there is never any garbage to be found. Very early Pink Floyd also fused jazz ideas with Euro-pop melodies to make a psychedelic sound that haunted long after it transfixed. But where Pink Floyd departed towards major American market success, the 'Lab have remained to explore their own potential.

Please don't get me wrong, Sound-Dust does not sound like a Pink Floyd Tribute album. But Stereolab does make music you do not dance to or sing along with. Their albums, Sound-Dust included, are best appreciated sitting comfortably in a chair surrounded by your surround sound system.

Their sound is definitely their own. But it is constantly difficult to tell someone what to expect when they are going to listen to Stereolab. On Launch.com, they are listed as both "indie rock" and "adult rock." While I can understand labeling the 'Lab as 'indie', I cannot understand how anyone ever though of Stereolab as 'adult.'

Stereolab has always been for me the greatest way to get high without burning or snorting anything. And when I get high off Stereolab, I get high French Style! In fact, everything about their music is French Style: longing for love - French Style! Loneliness - French Style! Cries for Social Change - French Style!

With all this French Style! in the band's music, it is obviously impossible for their music to be labeled 'adult', right?

That is an absurd tangent.

I want you all to buy this album. Sit in your car or your chair and feel the groove!