i've been able to snag some used goodies from reckless over the past couple of years...mostly limited edition high llamas stuff, i wouldn't say i have a lot of rare stereolab stuff...

i went absolutely apeshit when stereolab put out their box set of CD singles this year. everything on those discs is wonderful.

Anxiety said:

You talkin' 'bout "Oscillations..."? I adore it. The perfect introduction to their work. And "Ping Pong" is my official song of the summer.

yeah, 'oscillations' is great. i love 'ping pong', though i thought the song you would have liked best would be 'metronomic underground', since it sounds VERY velvet underground (not to mention it's just got a great groove to it).

Anxiety said:

Well, I love it all really. It's just that "Ping Pong" makes me so deliriously happy. I just bop around in my car, singing tons of wrong words I'm sure and generally making an ass out of myself. You know it's a good song when it can do that.

And this may seem like a strange offer, but I can hook you up with some rare Stereolab. I have like, everything.

well, you know you better hook me up then.

'ping pong' is a great song. some of their stuff is like my favorite beach boys music that the beach boys never made, though if they had made it, they would have needed to get nico to sing the lead vocals. yeah.

Anxiety said:

That would've been priceless! I hereby declare that she was in the wrong band.

laetitia sadler is almost as beautiful, plus she writes music and plays instruments...and she's not dead!

Anxiety said:

And she's got a more versatile voice and better music.

she doesn't look as sexy with a tambourine, though.

Anxiety said:

Did she have any trouble with drugs? I really know nothing about her. Tell me more.

And sorry to have jacked your thread into a Stereolab lovefest. I'm sure it just makes me look like even more of a snob.

she's pretty much the 'mastermind' behind stereolab, though there are other people who started the band with her and other very important collaborators in the band. i don't know tons and tons about her or the history of the band, but i think she's the leader of the group, at least these days.

Anxiety said:

I love her. She rules! Have you ever seen them live? What was it like?

i saw them live once when i lived in new york, back when mary hansen was still alive and in the band. they're not much for theatrics, but laetitia is so ice cold on stage that she's actually really fun to watch. their musicianship was really good, and at the show i saw, they ended with a really long free jazz improv kind of thing.

and of course, as i'm sure you can imagine, they had all kinds of neeto-groovy geometric projections flashing behind them, like their album cover art.

I've gotta see 'em. I feel like such a late bloomer!

We're going if they come around for these upcoming releases, which I've heard they're planning to.

i think you'd really enjoy it. especially considering if they're touring for some e.p.s, they'll certainly play lots of older stuff.

Anxiety said:

I'ma keep a sharp eye on ticketmaster. Will you want to go?

CLAP YOUR HANDS SAY YEAH: s/t

Anxiety said:

The only thing I know makes you

There's one song one that album I don't like, the rest; too.

I am going to have fun checking out the rest.

Do you ever check www.musicsnobs.org ????


KIDDING!

I mean www.cokemachineglow.com , which has become one of my favest sites to get a notion of the stuff you talked about in your first post.

i like the [ed. Clap Your Hands Say Yeah] album a lot, although for all intents and purposes, i think it's a perfect reproduction of an old talking heads record! the lead singer sounds JUST LIKE david byrne back in the day, and i keep expecting to hear "artists only" when i play this CD. but i like it! of course, i'm a talking heads fan and i love it when bands are influenced by them.

Anxiety said:

They do sound like Talking Heads, don't they? Arcade Fire got compared to them alot too, and even play Naieve Melody live.

It is fun how two of my 80's heroes (Byrne and Arto Lindsay from DNA and Ambitious Lovers) started incorporating Brasilian music into their music, which was logical in the case of Lindsay, being Brasilian. But still. Love the fact. Love their latter solo albums alot. Lindsay even recorded the most weird version of Erotic City I ever heard...

have YOU had a chance to hear OUT HUD yet?

GangstaFam said:

well said!

look, i love my xanadu soundtrack. lord knows i do. i also love sonic youth. i also love sade. i also love the residents. i also love prince. what ties all this music together? who cares? it's stuff that i've heard and it made a connection with me.

when i was in grade school, i remember my classmates thought i was "weird" because i listened to a lot of my mom's records and it was my favorite music - beatles, hendrix, janis, sly stone - of course, none of this is considered especially obscure, but to a classroom of 3rd graders in the middle of indiana, it was. but it didn't matter to me. it's what i liked. and i was always encouraged to seek out stuff i enjoy instead of going with what was fed to me or considered trendy. i think i'm lucky, because i've had a lot of fun doing just that.

now does that mean i look down on stuff that's considered popular or mainstream? no. does that mean that i maintain some kind of appropriately obligatory respect for stuff that i think is crap? no. does that mean that i think everyone's tastes are valid? yes. would i like to see people expand their tastes and explore stuff that's new and different? HELL yes.

any kind of cultural snobbery - be it music snobbery or whatever other "scene" is out there - is just a form of insecurity to me. an indie rock snob is no better than someone who will only listen to 50 cent and ashlee simpson. people are afraid of what's different. and if someone's "norm" is someone else's "different", it doesn't matter what the variables are. the behavior is exactly the same. just different hairstyles and different drag.

"xanadu", which is a good example of considered cheese.

Cool. Its just that I have met people who talk and only buy really obscure music, often stating that "oh this is shit, its just commercial shit for the masses" etc.....Sorry, I know t aint u or gangsterfam. I remember u saying u liked "xanadu", which is a good example of considered cheese.

thesexofit said:

oh, believe me...when i go to my local independant wrecka stow, they have the greatest selection and i can always find new stuff in the used section for cheep, and i thank my lucky stars that they're in walking distance (though i'm sure my checking account curses their existance ), but whenever i ask a question or even take something up to buy, i always get the most MURDEROUS looks, as if i'm sullying their precious establishment by daring to buy something that's not on the approved indie rock cred top ten du jour. just a few weeks ago i went in asking for the new saint etienne album (and they're not exactly ashlee simpson over here, ya know), and the counter person looked at me like i'd just raped her puppy.

when i'm excited about music that's obscure, i like sharing it with people. i like music because i think it's fun or good, not because it's obscure or some kind of badge of indie cred. life's too short for that nonsense.

U should see the looks I get when I buy joey lawrence, jeremy jordan et all. A 19 year old kid, in "chav" or working class gear buying that sorta music. Pretty funny.

Still, nothing gets more looks then buying "Lovesexy".

thesexofit said:

nice thing about my local wrecka stow is that they seem to get used prince stuff in pretty regularly, and they don't appreciate any of it so they mark it down way, way, WAY low. i've been able to stock up on quite a few CD singles for my collection by getting stuff for like 1.99 a pop.

and they sell 'come' and 'chaos & disorder' for 2.99 used, too.

meanwhile, they're selling used copies of 'musicology' for 10.99 used, and they're even selling the free concert copies used for 6.99!

2.99!! Thats about £1.50 in UK money. That is cheap

Over heare, second hand shops are OK. I often see "old friends for sale" for some reason? Not like it sold anything in UK. never see "rave". Prince's early WB albums pre "purple rain" are qite hard to find where I live (on cd)

One store is so expensive and never lower any of their stock ever. £8 (or about $13) for Prince "come" is a rip off second hand!!! Gimme a break.

thesexofit said:

my local wrecka stow got some, ahem, RARE prince CDs in last summer, and they sold 'em used for 9.99 a pop. i needed someone to come in and bring me some smelling salts.

i wouldn't pay top price for "come" - it's one of my faves, but it's one that you should be able to find for a bargain, i think. it adds to the album's appeal of being overlooked and underground and dark. if i didn't already have it, i'd pay like 7.99 or so for it.