- - - - -
- - - - - - - -
- - - - - - - -
- - - - - - - -
- - - - - - - -
- - - - - - - -
[an error occurred while processing this directive]
- - - - - - - -
- - - - - - - -
[an error occurred while processing this directive]
- - - - - - - -
Pif Magazine
ISSN: 1094-2726
Published by:
Pif, LLC
PMB 248
4820 Yelm Hwy SE
Suite B
Lacey, WA 98503-4903
|
|
| PAST MUSIC REVIEWS | MORE REVIEWS |
Even Better Than The Real Thing: Page 1, 2, 3
Rock music is always either band-oriented or solo artist-oriented. But lounge music is traditionally played by for-hire musicians who are only together for short periods of time. Lounge musicians don't tour. They play nights and weekends in, wonder of wonders, lounges. Recorded lounge music need not be played by authentic lounge musicians. Just hire some decent session musicians for the weekend, show them what to play, and then hire a new batch for the next project. Lounge music resembles classical music in that its musicians need be proficient, but not necessarily unique. Is the London Philharmonic comprised of the exact same musicians year after year? No, and nobody cares.
There's another genre of music whose musicians are largely irrelevant, and that's Muzak. It is no surprise, then, that Stereolab is so often used by alternative types as background or wallpaper music. But Stereolab is a band, they do tour, and their unique musicianship is important to the music they make. On their latest CD, Cobra and Phases Group Play Voltage in the Milky Night, Stereolab retains all of lounge music's cool detachment, and then they imbue it with a sense of reverence, ingenuity, and skill. The results mesmerize – not just as wallpaper, but straight in your ear, amped up, all week long.
Yes, the rumba rhythms are present. The stupid modulating chord progressions that go nowhere are present. The do-de-do's and the la-la-la's are also present. The silky-smooth immaculate production is mondo-present. So what distinguishes Stereolab from "real" lounge music? Well, lots of stuff. The da-daist title of the CD for one. Stereolab's drums are different – really funky, mixed loud, recorded dry and unapologetic. The socially critical lyrics are another Stereolab hallmark. The juxtaposition of perfectly harmonized and enunciated liquid female vocals singing, "suffer you little children/ remain passive and fearful/ suffer, don't grow out of it/ revel, and lets celebrate," is ironic to the point of being either bitterly sardonic or absurdly blithe. Either way, Stereolab is charting new realms of cynicism heretofore unexplored by most musicians, lounge or otherwise (with the possible exception of Steely Dan. But then Steely Dan is always the possible exception of everything, with the possible exception of Steely Dan.)
The main thing that makes Cobra and Phases Group smarter than your average lounge music is its techno instrumentation. There are harpsichord sounds, string quartet sounds, vibe sounds, distorted guitar feedback sounds, and all manner of phased-out, tricked-out, tripped-out synthesizery special-effect sounds. All this wacky instrumentation is so artfully arranged, you don't really notice it.
If I were Stereolab, I'd go overboard with all the effects and mix everything into a blurry psychedelic freakfest. But Stereolab stays true to their bizarre conviction to make legitimate, quality lounge music. They don't want to be a techno band, an experimental band, or even an alternative band. You get the feeling Stereolab is actually trying to be the very best lounge band that ever was. And they are that, easily (but they were that five albums ago). Why such a dogged quest for perfection amidst this blip of a musical genre not exactly known for its devoted practitioners? Perhaps it's a European thing, beyond my limited redneck sensibilities. To reverse-quote a Sonic Youth lyric, "I can't understand it, but I highly recommend it."
Cobra and Phases Group is less boring than Stereolab's previous effort, Dots and Loops. It took me a week of continuous listening to figure out why. Yes, Cobra's drums are less electronic and more acoustic, making the entire project more human and less pre-programmed. But more importantly, while Dots and Loops is basically the same all the way through, two-thirds of the way through Cobra and Phases Group, Stereolab exits the lounge proper and re-enters some strange alterna-lounge/modern-composer realm populated by the metaphorical likes of Philip Glass and Steve Reich. Guest guitarist Jim O'Rourke is the catalyst of this departure, which lasts for two ten-minute songs ("Blue Milk" and "Caleidoscopic Gaze").
