INSTANT HOLOGRAMS ON METAL FILM

I know these musicians have had solo/side projects, but the realization that this is the first Stereolab studio album of all new material in 15 years surprising and sad yet comforting to know they're back!

1. "Mystical Plosives" (0:56) electronic sequencing with other electronic sounds and noises woven into and around it. (4.375/5) 2. "Aerial Troubles" (3:21) opening in a dirge-like form, the song jumps into something more lively and motional around 0:25. A familiar melody line, weave of multiple vocalists in and around that of Laetitia's voice and stop and go form makes for an interesting and rather refreshing expression for the band, but the lyrical delivery is fully and completely Laetitia/Stereolab. (8.75/10)

3. "Melodie Is a Wound" (7:37) opening with a great pace for the repetition of a catchy four-chord rhythm guitar and keyboard progression. Laetitia joins in through a different sound effect using a more serious, almost maternal voice. There's something very "Germanic" in the sound here--the sound and style of Laetitia's vocal delivery, in particular. Frequent bridges and side-bars--and even a sudden left turn down an unexpected instrumental lane for the fourth and fifth minutes--gives this song quite a different, more developed sound and feel. I love the horns and "horns" introduced in that fifth minute alongside the spitting computer synths and computer drum sounds. Very cool, enjoyable, re-listenable, mostly instrumental song! A top three song for me. (14.25/15)

4. "Immortal Hands" (6:25) weird to hear "real" (acoustic) instruments dominating a Stereolab song! Almost makes them sound Indie Pop like all those jazz-inflected bands from the 1980s (The Style Council, Haircut 100, Simply Red, Danny Wilson, Aztec Camera, Swing Out Sister, Housemartins, et al.) But then we get to the synthetic mid-section of the song at the three-minute mark for a reality check--but then: surprise! The band chooses to go "back" to the "new" jazzy orientation--even bringing in horns and 1960s jazz-pop "orchestral"-imitative components like wordless choir vocals, flutes, complex yet subtle background horn arrangements. It's as if L.A.'s Wrecking Crew were here creating a Jimmy Webb song! Wonderful! Shocking! And predominantly instrumental! Definitely a top three song. (9.75/10)

5. "Vermona F Transistor" (4:37) keyboard arpeggi, spacious strums of heavily-chorused guitar, and the sultry almost- spoken voice of Laetitia Sadier make for another intriguing opening. When the band jumps into the full sound palette around 0:55 I am again finding myself transported back to the glorious "flower child" psychedelic pop of the 1960s. The classic chord progression Tim Gane picks up in the beginning of the third minute feels right out of something from The Buckinghams, The Classic IV, The Animals, or The Buoys. The full, jazzy and sultry background vocaled music then turns into something that sounds as if it could have come from peak Mary Hanson-era 'lab--but then it seems to wander into the rolling farm fields of Northern France with its instrumental finish. Awesome song! (9.25/10)

6. "Le coeur et la force" (4:21) another song that takes us back into time: this time back to early OMD (Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark). Even when Laetitia enters with a delicate little girl voice it feels like the youthful single-note drones of Andy McCluskey or Paul Humphreys. The music, however, feels very much like Sound-Dust era Stereolab. Nice! (9/10)

7. "Electrified Teenybop!" (4:17) a fun, even invigorating near-EMD jaunt through a video game race course in an old- fashioned outdoor go-cart. And it's all instrumental! (9.125/10)

8. "Transmuted Matter" (4:16) drawing from old 1960s R&B and 1990s acid-jazz and trip hop sounds and stylings, this song launches Laetitia and her vocal companions into weaves of delivering more of her observations of existential Buddhist awarenesses. Cute and enjoyable with a rich and nicely-constructed musical bed. (9.25/10)

9. "Esemplastic Creeping Eruption" (6:04) a song that feels like a kitchen full of chefs who are trying too hard to make something extraordinary out of a fridge of leftovers. (8.75/10)

10. "If You Remember I Forgot How to Dream Pt. 1" (3:41) one of those dull, one-dimensional songs that serves to deliver the New Age pseudo-scientific stream-of consciousness lyrics that Laetitia is known to throw together every once in a while. (8.667/10)

11. "Flashes From Everywhere" (5:35) kind of dull and boring despite the classic Stereolab upbeat music and melodies; there's just a lack of enthusiasm in the delivery--as if the band members are robotically going through the motions, tired of the endless repetition, practice, and overdubbing. It's not bad: it's just not great--and it lacks any clever or cute/quirky flourishes or detours (until the flutey finish). (8.75/10)

12. "Colour Television" (5:33) I love this song's PAYOLAS/JAMIE ORAM-WEST chorused two-chord rhythm guitar and the adventurous key and bass play circling in and around it. Laetitia's vocal also has that unique, quirky delivery of uniquely clever and humorous lyrics that we all became so familiar with from 1995 to 2003--and her "dee-der-da-dee- da"s in the final section are awesome! My final top three song. (9.333/10)

13. "If You Remember I Forgot How to Dream Pt. 2" (2:57) more life-lessons-learned/wisdom from Laetitia over an electro-pop reverbed drum machine rhythm track and Farfisa-sounding organ and so much else. Cool! (9/10)

Total length: 59:40

I can't tell you how refreshing, uplifting, and invigorating it is to hear new peak-era quality Stereolab music! Do the spirits of these particular humans ever dull or diminish?!! (I'm glad to hear not.) And I love how expertly and easily the band seem to weave all of the best of 1960s psychedelic pop with their modern instruments and equipment. And, of course, it is so good to have Laetitia's wonderful exhortations of humanistic wisdom streaming into my brain.

A-/five stars; an awesome trip down storage halls of alternate memory lanes. It's just so good to hear fresh, creative Stereolab! We--the world--need(s) more of this!

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