Stereolab – In Concert At UCLA – All Tomorrow’s Parties Festival – March 17, 2002 – Band soundboard
Stereolab in concert during the 2002 All Tomorrow’s Parties Festival taking place at UCLA’s Ackerman Grand Ballroom on March 17.
Although many feel it’s a shame Stereolab haven’t achieved the level of commercial success that other bands of vaguely similar temperament are enjoying, you’re more than likely to breathe a sigh of relief that a band like Stereolab focuses on their form and their exploration and if you want to come along for the ride, great. They do have a massive following in the underground community and they are extremely influential among artists and bands who understand and admire them – and truths to tell, that’s worth a lot more than having chart success – particularly for a band like Stereolab, who have some 10 albums, a huge number of eps and a mountain of singles to their credit.
Stereolab have been called one of the most “influential” and “fiercely independent and original groups of the Nineties” by writers Stephen Thomas Erlewine and Pierre Perrone respectively; as well as one of “the decade’s most innovative British bands.” by Mark Jenkins. Simon Reynolds commented in Rolling Stone that the group’s earlier records form “an endlessly seductive body of work that sounds always the same, always different.”In a review for the 1992 single “John Cage Bubblegum”, Jason Ankeny said that “No other artist of its generation fused the high-minded daring of the avant-garde and the lowbrow infectiousness of pop with as much invention, skill, and appeal.” In The Wire, Peter Shapiro compared the band to Britpop bands Oasis and Blur, and defended their music against the charge that it is “nothing but the sum total of its arcane reference points.” They were one of the first groups to be termed post-rock—in a 1996 article, journalist Angela Lewis applied the “new term” to Stereolab and three other bands who have connections to the group. Stylistically, music journalist J. D. Considine credits the band for anticipating and driving the late 1990s revival of vintage analogue instruments among indie rock bands. Stephen Christian, a creative director of Warp Records, said that the group “exists in the gap between the experimentation of the underground and the appeal of the wider world of pop music”.
In case you missed their UCLA gig, here it is – crank it up and enjoy.
As you know, we’ve suspended indefinitely our ads in order to make Past Daily a better experience for you without all the distractions and pop-ups. Because of that, we’re relying more on your support through Patreon to keep us up and running every day. For as little as $5.00 a month you can make a huge difference as well as be able to download all of our posts for free (news, history, music). You’ll see a banner just below. Click on that and become a subscriber – it’s easy, painless and does a world of good.
