Stereolab – Chemical Chords
I’ve always had a sneaking liking for Stereolab, despite their general weirdness. I’ve never know a group flirt so successfully with the boundaries of silliness, pretension, cool, dorkiness, art, fluff and god knows what else. They are simultanously a great artisitic endeavour and hugely enjoyable piss-take.
Funnily enough, despite loving them as a band, I’ve never been an obsessive fan of their music and I don’t ever listen to Stereolab songs individually. What happens is that from time to time I find myself thinking ‘Ooh, I feel like a bit of Stereolab’ and then I put on an album and just soak in the feeling of it as a whole. Their records have fairly distinct feels to them – this one being the most Saint Etiennish twee-perk-pop one that I can think of, although I’m no expert.
Generally there’s a bit more tension and feedback and white noise about Stereolab – more of a Saint Etienne meets Yo La Tengo I suppose – but this is generally rather swoonsome and lovely and extremely enjoyable. Like I said, I’m not a massive fan, but I am a fan and I will enjoy this, without ever really becoming deeply involved with it. Shallow? Maybe, but not every band has to be a singles band, and sometimes an album works better when you just put the whole thing on and let it filter into your day, rather than obsessively trying to understand exactly what it’s all about.
Stereolab – Silver Sands
Stereolab – Three Women
Website | More mp3s | Buy direct from the band
you may resume chat about stereolab if you so choose…
I don’t know much about computers.
But I do know this:
Macs are shit.
hahaha. my dad will take you down bart. he’s not very well though so he’d probably have to use some sort of weapon rather than wrestle you. that ok?
i just want to know if there is a good music programme for the pc laptop – cause the top of the range ones are a couple of hundred cheaper than the shittiest mac.
Well I got Cubase with my mixing desk, but every music person I know swears by Logic, as you said. But don’t touch Macs, mate, they’re awful things.
yeah but is logic not specifically a mac programme? which makes it difficult to then buy a pc laptop.
is cubase good?
I think the software samplers and things are quite good in Logic if you’re recording with a little usb/midi keyboard or something, but I find it absolutely disgusting when recording or editing plain old audio tracks. Compared to something like Pro Tools which I find much simpler, and more solid. Though, with Pro Tools you’re slightly tied into what audio interfaces you can get. I’m not a huge fan of Cubase, but I know a few people that swear by Nuendo, which is a slight step up from Cubase and works on both Mac and PC. I’ve never used Sonar, but again, know a few people that swear by it, so it may be worth a look.
As for whether to get a Mac or PC… neither is shit really. If you want to use Logic though you’re right, you’ll have to get a Mac. I have a Macbook with Logic, Pro Tools and Reason running, which suits my needs.
Wow – software bingo! That’s like one of those ninja utility belts with a music program for every imaginable adventure!
I just bought a fucking gorgeous HP laptop in the states for under £300 (it has Shista, but you can gut & replace if needs be with XP pro) + a seriously fucking delicious external harddrive to host all my music stuff.
I don’t use any of the fancy stuff, to be honest. I am a luddite at heart (contradiction alert, methinks) so use all the old software because I know it inside out. I have CuBase & various other things but have never been happy with them.
I still use Audacity for any editing & havent found anything better for my purposes, whether splicing pre records/podcasts or recording & mixing music. Saying that, I do have a SoundLab mixing desk attached to the computer for creating music.
As for a MAC – some people swear by them. I just stand in front of them and swear: Cunting Bollocks Shit Piece of Satan Arse Feltch, & the like.
It’s the only language they understand, DC.
I know, sounds overkill, but I only have so many because I was using them all at uni.
It’s pretty fucking impressive nonetheless.
thanks guys. this has been a useful exercise in software and swearing. thanks.
ok, fuck stereolab up the ass. no don’t really, but I need some advice and think this might be the best place to start.
i am hoping to get myself a laptop and have had my dad doing research into prices etc – he used to be a big computers man – for the record mr toad he thought your complaints about the mac were utter nonsense and that they are lovely computers, but you get more for your money with a pc. anyway, i digress.
my question to all you musicians etc out there is this. should i get a mac laptop or a pc laptop? and secondly, what music packages are there for the pc laptop which would match logic on the mac? pc laptops at the top of the range appear far cheaper than the mac but friends I know swear by logic so if I was going to go down the pc road I’d need advice on the best music package for the pc.
and breathe. help me please people.