Stereolab

I first heard of Stereolab several years ago, when MTV2 broadcasted a series of videos from bands that were featured by John Peel. There I've seen the video of "Ping Pong", which, for some reason, I remember more fondly than other videos. I also considered it back then "strange", although when I picked up Mars Audiac Quintet, the song didn't attracted me so much. But now I know there's one reason why it had to persist in my memory.

These years I haven't forgot of Stereolab, but I just didn't thought they could have a chance to stick out in my trippy-hoppy tastes... But they were a treasure I was to reveal only in the past few months - maybe not months, actually just weeks. Slowly, it became one of my favorite bands. Only when I heard Chemical Chords, though, I realised that I like this band. Until then, I've listened to "Dots and Loops" and few other albums, but almost none left me a strong impression. But even though, come to think of it, Chemical Chords maybe isn't as great as I pictured it, it arrived just at the right time, when my life needed a change. Music and poetry are still basically my life, but I needed to switch. No more sadness for the sake of sadness, no more embarassingly pessimistic views... So my approach needed a lot more positive energy. This is where Stereolab came in. I needed something with a lot of positive energy, that would however not scrape altogether the avant-garde/surrealistic/artsy/whatever side of things. And this is exactly what Stereolab offered me. "Dots and Loops", "Sound-Dust", "Cobra & Phases Group Play Voltage in the Milky Night", "Chemical Chords" are all excellent albums that are as poppy as they are artsy, but probably the real highlight for me will be, after all, "Emperor Tomato Ketchup", which is not as polished as "Dots and Loops", but sounds cheerful rather than just mellow. "Sound-Dust" is great with all its sophistication as well, but I guess "Emperor Tomato Ketchup" is the most fun of them all. "Margerine Eclipse" and "Fab Four Suture" are still pretty hard for me to get into, but at least I like "Kyberneticka Babicka", which is quite annoying for most people... But I haven't listened to all the Switched On volumes, so I might have some surprises here as well.

Since my rant has come to an end: their music is fluffy and quite often kitschy in a Warhol way, but they should be appreciated at least just as much for their song titles (see: The Noise of Carpet, Emperor Tomato Ketchup, Ulan Bator, The Flower Called Nowhere, Italian Shoes Continuum, Blue Milk, Neon Beanbag, Spool of Collusion, Forensic Itch, One Finger Symphony, We're Not Adult Oriented, Fried Monkey Eggs, Get a Shot of the Refrigerator, How To Play Your Internal Organs Overnight, Kyberneticka Babicka, International Colouring Contest, The Incredible He Woman, et caetera) Then, I could say how masterfully they manage to combine influences from seemingly contradictory genres such as krautrock and French pop, but who cares what genre this music is when it's so great... Quite certainly, one of the cult bands of postmodernism.

Mary Hansen, singer and guitarist for the experimental pop group Stereolab, died on Monday, 9th December 2002, after being struck by a car while riding her bicycle in London. The band's official statement reads: "The suddenness of her death has shocked the band. Mary was a special person. Our thoughts are with her family and friends who will miss her greatly."

Hansen, originally from near Brisbane, Australia, joined Stereolab in 1992 after the release of Peng!. She also contributed vocals to bands such as Moonshake and The Wolfhounds, and made appearances on releases by Mouse on Mars, Brokeback, and the High Llamas, whose Sean O'Hagan has been responsible for brass and string arrangements on many a Stereolab LP. Mary Hansen was 36.