The Daily Deep Cut

The editors at JamsBio like to think of ourselves as music fans first, not critics, and that’s the sensibility we strive for at JamsBio and that we seek in other sites as well. That’s why we’re so jazzed about Damn Fine Day, a site that each day profiles a deep album cut that’s been overlooked, but deserves a place in everybody’s collection. In the name of spreading the gospel about great music, we present “The Daily Deep Cut,” where we add our two cents about the songs featured on Damn Fine Day. Once you read our unique take, we’ll send you over to Damn Fine Day so you can stream the full track and download it if you like. Sometimes we might even suggest another deep track from the same album or present some other novel twist on what their hawking.

Stereolab is really quite a remarkable group, or Groop as they refer to themselves. The band has amassed a robust and amazingly consistent catalog over the past sixteen years. Their unique brand of Krautrock motorik pop meets breezy bossa nova and lite rock has grown more refined with each record. While I prefer the hard driving chugging rhythms of earlier work like Peng! and Mars Audiac Quintet, there’s no denying the charm of the French-infused pop of later gems such as Margerine Eclipse and Fab Four Suture. But Stereolab really shines on stage, where they lock-in to a mixture of both their gritty early sounds and their smoother later sounds with the precision of a jazz band and the power of space rock monsters.

Today’s Damn Fine Day selection is a great place to start if you’re looking to explore the Groop’s more recent forays into breezy pop. But before you cool out to the smooth sounds of “The Free Design,” I suggest scroll down and take a listen to a track from the band’s stellar third record, Mars Audiac Quintet. And turn it up to 10!

Finally, if you’re interested in getting a taste of Stereolab’s prowess as a live band, go find a copy of ABC Music, a two-disc, 32-track compilation of the band’s BBC Radio 1 sessions from July 1991 to August 2001. It’s a perfect overview of the Groop during its prime.

“Nihilist Assault Group” by Stereolab (from Mars Audiac Quintet, 1994)

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

No Comments »