Word: synth
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...short, Stereolab live was very different than Stereolab in the stereo lab. The band's sound is characteristically everywhere: their records run th aural gamut from fuzzy lounge-lizard pop to gritty reverb rock (and most often are a synth-washed mix of both). Through it all, though, they manage to give you the cold shoulder. Morgane Lhote's Moog must have a special dial for "disaffected": a breath of chilling ennui blows through all their music, a vague sense of world-weary aloofness that has its heart somewhere in songwriter Sadier's low-mixed lyrics...
...Stereolab that appeared on stage at the Roxy, however, was completely different. Droning chords, insistent melodies, catchy syncopations, chanteuse vocals drowning in endless waves of synth-wash--all the innovations that Stereolab fans have come to expect --were all there. The difference was that Stereolab rocked. The aloof, polished, heavy-handed studio sound that many know the band by was shattered by gushing torrents of feedback and throbbing backbeats your ears just reveled in. From the minute they took the stage until the minute they left, the band pumped out and endless lifeblood of sound, filling the vaulted bordello-ballroom...
Where Nine Inch Nails are black, Skinny Puppy were brown. They had an industrial sound but Canadian accents, guilt but no sex appeal, jumpy synth and Depeche Mode drums but little popular success. Drugs and varied hardships put them in deep decline starting in '93, just as they were signing to major-label American Recordings. Now they've returned to their roots with Nettwerk Productions' double-release of their greatest hits and the corresponding B-sides, although it's mainly an excuse to eliminate the band's singles from the catalog. The two albums, with earlier tracks containing more guitar...
...bodied sound and great lyrics like "You make a garbage man scream," the next few tracks are the weakest on the album. They're too slow--one of the most important differences between Midnite Vultures and previous albums is the faster tempo that puts several layers of samples and synth between us and Beck's sometimes too languorous voice...
...effervescent as could be. About the only thing lacking was audience interaction--LRD never once talked to the crowd. Two more nondescript album filler songs later, a long, long house music introduction played, lu Cont and Reynolds led the audience into double handclaps and arm wavings, before the synth chorus of "From: Disco to Disco" finally kicked...