Man, ol' Stereolab might have just sent me on a new career path. I was listening to the Beastie Boys' Paul's Boutique in the car this week and thinking about the one time I saw them. It was a Lollapolooza show with a killer line up, among the other acts were George Clinton and the P-Funk All-Stars, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds and L7, and among other bands on the side stage the Flaming Lips and Stereolab. When I saw Stereolab (on a recommendation from my friend Max, the only person I knew who had heard them) I remember coming away thinking they sounded kind of like the first Modern Lovers LP, maybe some Velvets, that kind of pleasant mind numbing repetitive plodding rhythm. Keep in mind that it was the first time hearing them.
It took a few years but I finally got a Stereolab CD. I always lag, and I knew that they would always be there. The one I got sounded nothing like what I remembered them sounding like. Several more years pass. I dabble in their back catalog but couldn't find that sound. Then, a few months ago, the local used record and CD store had about eight different titles, a lot for such a tiny store. They were cheap enough that I figured I'd just start from the beginning. I snagged their first album. The second song got my attention. That was the band I saw. I've come to love that album. In some ways it seems like it's not even the same band. That's cool with me.
It took years to hear that version of Stereolab, and it got me to thinking why I lagged so much with them. Then I remembered that I'm a habitual lagger. I am. I thought, well shit, that's something I excel at, consistently. How can I market this? There's no competition, professional laggers that is. It you think that's because there's not a market for a professional lagger, look at all the money people shell out to get that distressed look instead of letting the stuff they already have wear out from use. If there are people that pay extra to have their stuff beat to shit for them, do you really think there aren't people out there that want people to do their lagging for them? Now I'll just have to come up with a business plan. I'll get around to that later.
It took a few years but I finally got a Stereolab CD. I always lag, and I knew that they would always be there. The one I got sounded nothing like what I remembered them sounding like. Several more years pass. I dabble in their back catalog but couldn't find that sound. Then, a few months ago, the local used record and CD store had about eight different titles, a lot for such a tiny store. They were cheap enough that I figured I'd just start from the beginning. I snagged their first album. The second song got my attention. That was the band I saw. I've come to love that album. In some ways it seems like it's not even the same band. That's cool with me.
It took years to hear that version of Stereolab, and it got me to thinking why I lagged so much with them. Then I remembered that I'm a habitual lagger. I am. I thought, well shit, that's something I excel at, consistently. How can I market this? There's no competition, professional laggers that is. It you think that's because there's not a market for a professional lagger, look at all the money people shell out to get that distressed look instead of letting the stuff they already have wear out from use. If there are people that pay extra to have their stuff beat to shit for them, do you really think there aren't people out there that want people to do their lagging for them? Now I'll just have to come up with a business plan. I'll get around to that later.
~ NOTE: ALL MEDIA IS HOSTED BY THE BLOGS & SITES NAMED BELOW ~
Listen:Stereolab - Orgiastic mp3 at Heavently (?) 1992
Stereolab - Bongolia mp3 at Benoitro 2000
Stereolab - Fractal Dream of a Thing mp3 at Rock Town Hall 2008
6 comments:
Oh Tom, if you ever would have come see my band Chinchilla play you could have seen us cover "The Seeming and the Meaning" from that same record. But I guess I know better than to try to get you out of OB.... :-)
Hey TomG and JulieD -- I hope you're well. Thought of Tom when I heard this morning of Dick Dale's passing. Wanted to reach out, and then saw the Stereolab post. Definitely check out Jenny Ondioline on Transient Random Noise Bursts. Be well.
- rozi
Well this looks like a mini-reunion we've got goin' on over here. This calls for a good ol' fashioned OB speedball...oh wait, I can't have those anymore. Shit.
Hope things are good with both of you! Oh, and Julie, I might not be in the same place as you, but I do get out of OB. Don't believe the hype.
Rozi!!! What a great surprise! Hope everything is swell for you (and Tom), and that someday we all wind up in the same place at the same time again. xo!
Just checked this post again and very glad to see replies from both of you--been a while since I've been to San Diego. Still rocking it here in DC, going on 27 years. yikes. Julie, where are you living these days? Would definitely be wonderful to get together sometime. Things are great here (well, other than the recently "exonerated" orange menace a few neighborhoods over...). Ten years ago met, and five years ago married, a wonderful woman named Rachel, who is a nurse practitioner at Children's National Medical Center a mile from our house. Would love for you two to meet her.
xoxo
rozi
I feel like I've been thinking about an East Coast trip for ages now.... I've been living in Seattle since 1997, had met a boy on tour and when Chinchilla broke up I moved up here to see what would happen. The "boy" and I have been married for... 17? years now. Crazy. Anyhow, I'm working in tech and spending my spare time still playing music - currently with this semi-shoegazey outfit: https://guestdirectors.bandcamp.com/ . It's great to hear from you, and to hear that you're happy. Maybe Tom can connect us if one or the other is visiting the other coast (or if you're on FB let me know).
Tom, sorry we hijacked your post for a little reunion!!
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