Stereolab at the Fillmore
October 22nd, 2008
So now I have seen Stereolab, the wildly inventive French-British alt-pop band, on their every visit since 1999. Last night at the Fillmore, they turned in a solid performance with lots of material from their latest release, Chemical Chords, certainly their best work since 2004’s Margarine Eclipse. While it was a loss that singer Laetitia Sadier’s trombone was apparently left at home, the addition of electric vibraphone added an acoustic tone needed to accent their wall of sound. The only misgiving for me was that so few of their well known earlier tracks were presented, but overall another great evening with this underrated band. If you don’t know their work, check it out any track from Dots and Loops!
October 23rd, 2008 at 12:23 am
I have always treated Stereolab as a guilty pleasure, to be enjoyed only on my own, in the car, remembering to quickly switch the MP3 player to something else before turning off the ignition just in case someone else uses the car after me. And here you are, telling the world!
Are they French-British? I know they sing in French but I don’t think there is one native speaker in the entire line-up, is there?
October 23rd, 2008 at 10:18 am
Hi Ro, thanks for the post. Though Laetitia resides in Britain now, she is from France, which is explained here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L%C3%A6titia_Sadier
If you find them a guilty pleasure not sharable with your ‘harder rocking’ friends, try leaving their 1994 release, “Mars Audiac Quintet” in the player - granted, they have drifted to lighter pop since then, but this earlier work will be less likely shunned by the alt-rock crowd!