by: Sean Boy
The track listing numbers 12 songs on Stereolab’s eleventh LP 'Sound-Dust', but three songs in you swear you’ve heard seven. The epic “Space Moth” switches tempo and mood four times, for the most part transitioning smoothly between parts. Just a thin thread of a breakbeat holds together the two seemingly different songs making up “Captain Easychord.” The band names this practice on track seven, “Double Rocker,” which ironically doesn’t rock much at all however, the mellow beginning does crescendo into more upbeat Stereolab bliss-pop. Although past albums boasted more radio-friendly singles, 'Sound-Dust' is getting pegged as the band’s most commercial and accessible effort to date. That’s not saying much for this band whose sound, signified by Laetitia Sadier’s nonchanlant vocals and ever-playful lush arrangements, wonderfully suffers from a severe case of attention deficit disorder. The Beach Boys are often name dropped in describing or reviewing Stereolab, and while there are similar stylistics between the two, Stereolab, unlike The Beach Boys, rarely wrap up their songs into tidy, sub three minute radio boxes. Ten years in and Stereolab continues to create indispensable pop music.
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