As I looked at the eleven Stereolab CDs crammed into my overcrowded shelf, I wondered if I really needed yet another one. After all, hasn’t every album since Emperor Tomato Ketchup (1996) sounded basically the same? Yes and no. The aforementioned album completed Stereolab’s transition in 1996 from Velvets and Neu influenced chugging rhythms and distorted organs, to percolating Muzak/exotica/lounge jazz electronica. That also happens to be when the band started doing most of their recording in Chicago with Tortoise’s John McEntire. In 1999 they added the production and arrangement wizardry of Jim O’Rourke for Cobra And Phases Play Voltage In The Milky Night. More engaging at times than Cobra And Phases, Sound-Dust is Stereolab’s most sonically rich album. Thanks partially to O’Rourke, none of the electronic gurgles, horns, flutes, bells, pianos and percussion seem superfluous.
The album is all about sonic textures. Each detail is modest yet potentially breathtaking, such as the bass on “The Black Arts” that’s Bootsy’s Rubber Band meets King Tubby. I need better headphones, and this album is a good reason to shop. Several songs, like “Spacemoth,” “Baby Lulu” and “Gus The Mynah Bird” are strongly reminiscent of former Too Pure labelmates Pram — eerie minor-key lullabies gone wrong. Songs like the disarmingly catchy “Captain EasyChord” keep Stereolab one step ahead of competition of the likes of Broadcast, High Llamas (whose Sean O’Hagen is a regular contributor), The American Analog Set, The Aluminum Group and McEntire’s The Sea And Cake. Stereolab is like an ex-lover you can’t stop sleeping with. You know it won’t lead anywhere you haven’t already been. But you also know that each time will always be slight variations of the same irresistable deliciousness.
