Stereolab, 1996-2012

In the fall of 1996, a friend of mine handed me Stereolab's Transient Random Noise-Bursts with Announcements CD.  He was confident that I would like the music as it had elements of music I liked at that time, a mix of easy listening lounge and 1960s pop/rock.  At first, I was skeptical, but by winter break, I was listening to the album nearly everyday.  I couldn't believe that I was liking a contemporary band.

In the spring of 1997, I learned that a closer friend of mine was a bigger fan of Stereolab and she lent me a few of her CDs, which I promptly recorded on cassettes.  I think they were Emperor Tomato Ketchup and Refried Ectoplasm.  The former of these became one of my favorite albums for a while, even though I was in the midst of my obsession with and collection of music from 1967.

I thought my interest in Stereolab was a passing fad, but when my wife bought Cobra and Phases Group Play Voltage in the Milky Night when we lived in Japan, I couldn't stop listening to that album.  In fact, I have associated many memories of my time in Japan with this album.  I clearly remember hanging out in Yokohama with friends of ours when my wife bought the album, and I also remember listening to a song ("Blue Milk") that sounded like the Japanese railroad crossing alarm while I was riding on the shinkansen to Takasaki.

But it wasn't until we left Japan that I actively started collecting the rest of the Stereolab albums.  The first of these, Sound-Dust, was a therapeutic purchase as it was released around the time of 9/11.  I still associate the album's title with the dusty debris in Manhattan of that day.  Fortunately, most of my memories associated with this album are less terrifying.  I often listened to Sound-Dust on my way to and from my graduate school, UMBC.  So when I listen to the album today, I'm often transported to that campus or to our apartment in Baltimore.

While we were in Korea, I quickly collected the remaining Stereolab albums.  And one of the reasons I don't listen to Stereolab as much these days is that it reminds me of days that are becoming more and more distant.  I don't feel like the same person I was in Korea, which is now almost 7 years ago.  I only recently felt a disconnect from that person who was/is me.

After Korea, Stereolab was still releasing new albums, but unfortunately one of their members, Mary Hansen, died in a bicycle accident.  I felt that the band was finished as their strongest albums were behind them.  The only time I went to a Stereolab concert was shortly after her death, and although I enjoyed the music, I felt uncomfortable because I believe the band up on stage probably had moments where they suddenly missed Ms. Hansen tremendously.  I know I would.

Since her death, it's been difficult to listen to their newer albums as they feel haunted by her absence.  However, one of the newer albums, Chemical Chords, is now just beginning to grow on me.  Perhaps I needed the four years since its release to come to terms with the haunting absence of Ms. Hansen.  Nonetheless, I feel that my Stereolab days are waning.  Perhaps they will end once my PhD studies are completed.  I'm noticing, through this blog, that many music periods in my life end during a dramatic life change.  Only time will tell.  For now, I still enjoy Stereolab, and their music hasn't grown old on me yet.