Kosmik Radiation Radio - March 26, 2010 Playlist

March 26, 2010 Playlist

CLASSIC ALBUM OF THE WEEK
Stereolab "Cobra And Phases Group Play Voltage In The Milky Night" 1999 (UK/France)

Stereolab went on "indefinite hiatus" last year, which possibly marks the end of my favorite group of the 1990's era. Led by Parisian singer/lyricist/moogist Laetitia Sadier and British guitarist/songwriter Tim Gane, Stereolab managed to blaze one of the most original trails through recent rock history, while at the same time their sound is comprised almost entirely from recycled riffs of the 1960's and 70's! Some of those key influences would include "space age bachelor pad music" (hi-fi easy listening records), krautrock, tropicalia, switched-on moog records, French Ya-Ya pop, and a lot of other really hip stuff that 21st century ears are still just starting to catch up with. One of my favorite of their albums is this strange one from 1999 -- apparently "the critics" still haven't caught on that this is one of their absolute best (I had a hard time finding a halfway positive review online; it was also their worst-selling major label release.) Indeed, I would say it marked the band's artistic peak -- every record up until this one seemed to further expand the envelope of the "Stereolab sound", but after this one the group's final decade seemed like a retreat to the formula of their earlier successes.
Here's a music video for the first single released from Cobra, "The Free Design" -- a song which is named after underappreciated 1960's vocal group The Free Design. Another of their tributes to an obscure group of the past would be "Les Yper Sound", named for Pierre Henry's early electro-pop outfit (or "The Now Sound" in French.) And finally, here's a classic Stereolab rocker in which they combine the hyper motorik beat of NEU! with Europop harmonies and indie rock guitars to create "French Disko"!

(N) = New Release

Artist	Song	Album	Year (label)	Country
NEU!	Hallogallo	NEU!	1972	Germany
Can	Moonshake	Future Days	1973	Germany
Esquivel!	Surfboard (A. C. Jobim)	Space Age Bachelor Pad Music (CD compilation)	rec. 1967	Mexico
The Free Design	Now Is The Time	Heaven / Earth	1969	USA
The Free Design	Bubbles	Star Time Bubbles Love	1970	USA

Stereolab	The Free Design	Cobra And Phases Group Play Voltage In The Milky Night CLASSIC ALBUM OF THE WEEK	1999	UK/France
Stereolab	Op Hop Detonation	Cobra And Phases Group Play Voltage In The Milky Night CLASSIC ALBUM OF THE WEEK	1999	UK/France
Stereolab	Blue Milk	Cobra And Phases Group Play Voltage In The Milky Night CLASSIC ALBUM OF THE WEEK	1999	UK/France
Stereolab & Herbie Mann	One Note Samba (A. C. Jobim) / Surfboard (A. C. Jobim)	Aluminum Tunes (CD compilation)	rec. 1995	UK/France & USA

The Black Lips	Again & Again	200 Million Thousand (N)	2009 (Vice)	USA
Quasi	Everything & Nothing At All	American Gong (N)	2010 (Kill Rock Stars)	USA
Mission of Burma	Posession / Blunder	The Sound The Speed The Light (N)	2009 (Matador)	USA
Liars	The Overachievers	Sisterworld (N)	2010 (Mute)	USA
This Moment In Black History	Pollen Count	Public Square (N)	2009 (Smog Veil)	USA
Unknown Instructors (Watt & Hurley from fIREHOSE, Dave Thomas from Pere Ubu, and others)	Door Of No Return	Funland (N)	2009 (Smog Veil)	USA

The Fierce & The Dead	Part 1	Part 1 EP (N)	2010 (self release)	UK
Solus 3	Sprezzatura	The Sky Above The Roof (N)	2010 (Solus 3 Recordings)	UK

Procol Harum	Skip Softly (My Moonbeams)	Shine On Brightly	1968	UK
Steve Miller Band	Brave New World	Brave New World	1969	USA
Joe Walsh	One And One / Giant Bohemoth	Barnstorm	1972	USA
Joe Walsh	Mother Says	Barnstorm	1972	USA
John Abercrombie	Ghost Dance	Characters	1978	USA

Weather Report	The Moors	I Sing The Body Electric	1972	USA/Austria /Czech./Brazil
Barry Miles (with John Abercrombie)	Suburban Shuffle	Scatbird	1972	USA
Deodato & Airto	Tropea (live)	In Concert	1974	Brazil
Devadip Carlos Santana	Arise Awake / Light Versus Darkness / Jim Jeannie	Oneness: Silver Dreams - Golden Reality	1979	Mexico/USA

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