Stereolab on the Phone

Albert Hall
31/7/19

Morton Subotnick - Until Spring

I've just bought this record and am giving it a second listen. It's probably one of less well known (well known? It's all relative) Morton Subotnick recordings, from 1976.

Light on melody, but instead consisting primarily of some incredibly dense electronic percussion and textures, this could easily pass as a long lost Autechre album.

I love the diagram on the back sleeve too.

Wrangler On The Phone

Soup Kitchen
6/7/19

Margerine Eclipse

I was supposed to be seeing Stereolab at the Albert Hall tonight, but they've had to postpone due to ill health, so I'm at home listening to latter day classic Margerine Eclipse - one of their finest, but most overlooked albums.

It demands your full attention and has a slightly bonkers sound thanks to it being recorded in "Dual-Mono", which sends your head into a spin and makes concentrating on anything else almost impossible -  I had to write this post twice as I managed to somehow delete my initial one. This is the first spin the album has had since I upgraded my turntable cartridge and it sounds even more intense and immersive than I recall.

Margerine Eclipse was the first Stereolab album since Mary Hansen was killed in a cycling accident. It's a fitting tribute and touchingly signs off with the inner sleeve message "we will love you till the end". This still makes me a bit sad.

Thursday: A 7" Sorting Kind of Day

12, 11, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2... Inches

Every inch from 2 to 12 on vinyl.

Records chosen:
12" AFX - Analord 10 (picture disc)
11" Wagon Christ - London is a Country (glow in the dark ginyl)
10" Julian Cope - China Doll (picture disc)
9" Nine Inch Nails - Sin
8" Electronic Audio Research - Falling / Tail Chaser (picture disc)
7" Ultravox - Visions in Blue (picture disc)
6" Jona Lewie - Big Shot Momentarily
5" Squeeze - If I Didn't Love You
4" The Happenings - Go Away Little Girl
3" Foo Fighters - Big Me
2" Various Artists - Pea Brian Presents the ADHD EP

Selected Ambient Works Volume II

I can't "casually" listen to this album, simply allowing it to drift in the background whilst I get on with something else. It belies the "aural wallpaper" idea of ambient music - there's just too much going on and each track and, rather than becoming part of the the background, it creates it's own ambience that invites you in.

It's one of those rare albums that, even 25 years later, I can STILL hear new things in each time I listen to it. There's a remarkable depth and complexity for something so minimal.