The Groop Ruled 1993: The Year of Stereolab
November 14th, 2008 | 8:00 am est |
For me, 1993 was the year of Stereolab (and of Steve Gregory but we’ll get to that another time). The two albums they released were a nearly perfect synthesis of their noisy, experimental leanings and sunny pop songcraft (Transient Random-Noise Bursts with Announcements) and a wonderfully playful and bubbly mini-album (The Groop Played “Space Age Bachelor Pad Music”) that captured their most easy listening-friendly side. The quite amazing Jenny Ondioline EP (the groop was often at their best in short blasts on singles and EPs) and a collaboration with Nurse with Wound (Crumb Duck) rounded out one busy and productive year. The live videos that follow the clip for “Jenny O” show that by 1993 the band had become a tight and ferocious live act as well.
“Jenny Ondioline”
“French Disko”
“John Cage Bubblegum”
“Crest”
I became obsessed with Stereolab after hearing TRNBWA, and you’re right, they really shined on their non-album singles and EPs. Unfortunately, both the quantity and quality of their output has decreased in the past 10 years. But from ‘93-’97 or so, they were simply amazing.
What a coincidence! I’ve been ripping mp3’s to my new Ipod and the top CD on the stack to do this weekend is TRNBWA. They may have better albums, but this one is still my favorite because it was the first one I bought.
Oh, I dunno. While the quantity of their output may have decreased (for many reasons, including the tragic death of Mary Hansen), you can’t deny that they’ve done some great work in the past 10 years, including their wonderful new album Chemical Chords.
Ah, Mary Hansen. Still so missed….
stereolab’s ‘emperor tomato ketchup’ changed my life. all of their records have been great, though. i really like the new one.