When you hear of a band that has been producing music for 15 years and have put out 10 full-length albums, four collections of EPs, and many singles, you would think that they would be a fairly well-known mainstream act- a household name, like Aerosmith or U2. Stereolab, however, is definitely not mainstream and definitely not a household name, but that doesn't make their music any less appealing. Stereolab formed in London in 1991 and rose from the underground scene to become one of the most influential alternative groups of the 90s by creating innovative music which merges avant-garde experimentalism and infectious pop melodies and is driven by hypnotic rhythm tracks and melodic chorus vocals, often in French. Founding members Tim Ganes and Laetitia Sadier started the band with a grant from a charity organization and over the past fifteen years have created music that has explored the same droning chord formula. Since Stereolab has always created nice mix albums and with so much material at hand, it was inevitable that they would eventually get around to doing a mix compilation of the history of their work. That has been realized in their newest release, Serene Velocity.
Serene Velocity is the band's first retrospective compilation, a sixteen-track mix CD of sorts, and it includes a pair of songs released as 7" singles. The album covers selections recorded between 1993 and 2004 that appeared originally on Stereolab's seven Elektra studio albums, while all tracks were re-mastered by Stereolab's Tim Gane at Abbey Road Studios. The length and breadth of their continued exploration of musical potential can be both awe-inspiring and intimidating at the same time, and on this CD we see Stereolab bringing samples from the past and combining them with the current to create an experience that can be hauntingly beautiful at one end and somewhat tedious and boring at the other. We see this from the beginning in the 7" edit of "Jenny Ondioline" that is a 18-minute bit of droning pop that first put them on the map and made people start talking about them. "French Disko" is another track that is included that showcases the band's signature organ-rush pop sound, while "Ping Pong" was a minor hit that hinted to Stereolab's fixation on retro-futurism, where the past and future gel together to create something that stands the test of time.
Despite their electronic sound and prominent beats, Stereolab isn't really a dance band as you might think. The track "Metronomic Underground" is about as close as the group comes to traditional dance music with bass and drums being mixed with Sadier's vocals to blend as another instrument. Most of these songs, however, show how the group incorporated jazz, funk, hip-hop, and pop into what many consider their best songs. Toward the end of the anthology we find the more abstract sound and feel of Stereolab's later work from Dots and Loops to Sound-Dust which is well represented by "Brakhage," "Infinity Girl," and "Double Rocker," while "Vonal Declosion" and "...Sudden Stars" show Stereolab's return to more pop-oriented sounds on their album Margerine Eclipse. Songs like "Brakhage" and "Miss Modular" showed Stereolab experimenting more with jazz, which doesn't flow as nicely as their previous music.
Stereolab's mix of 50s and 60s lounge, vintage electronic music, and easy-listening indie pop may not be for everyone, though their music is consistent and pretty. With their massive collection of work, narrowing down their music to a one-disc greatest hits collection would seem a bit crazy, but they have done an amazing job with it by honing in on each release's best tracks. It is definitely a testament to their skill and craft and their knowledge of their music while remaining consistent during their constant experimentations. Not many artists can say that, especially after releasing so many albums. This album accomplishes what it was set out to do... to help those new listeners get acquainted with their previous works and to allow old fans to remember what they loved about their music. What is wrong with that?
