Stereolab
“Dots and Loops”
(4.5/5)

Stereolab, you’re probably wondering why I would be doing a review of this band on a Gothic, Industrial and EBM web site? I will simply tell you, they are stylish, unique sounding and an uber-synth band. To not review them would be simply sinful. This band has worldwide coverage, a very impressive web site and have been steadily releasing albums, EP’s, LP’s and videos every year since 1991. Each piece of work is unique but sounding completely different than each other, but all having similar audio properties to them.

How would you describe the general sound to Stereolab? Some would call them electronic lounge; others might call them synthpop. Stereolab formed in London in 1991 under the creative and romantic guidance of guitarist/composer Tim Gane and French singer/lyricist Laetitia Sadier. On Dots And Loops, Stereolab immediately abdicates the sweet, futurist harmony it had coined on their earlier album Emperor Tomato Ketchup and refolds “lounge” into relaxed, disengaged cocktail kitsch.

The minimalist “Brakhage,” the warbled, polyphonic “The Flower Called Nowhere” and the exotic accents of “Prisoner Of Mars” exploit the same formula to the point of nausea: a light, funky rhythm, an arrangement that’s a little bit kitschy, and a rolling chorus. At its best, it plays out in a song like “Miss Modular,” which sounds like a ’60s movie or television song, a must listen. Dots And Loops can be described as stubborn strumming of guitar and hallucinogenic, droning keyboards. And if that’s not enough, there’s a lengthy “Refraction’s In The Plastic Pulse,” which through opera-style falsettos, aquatic electronics, dreamy dub pulses and tiny, incidental cacophonies. The song ” Parsec” was used in a Volkswagen commercial, as many of their songs have found their way into trendy commercials. I think the album name Dots and Loops come from a MIDI reference.

An interesting side note on this album is that two producers lent their analog knobs: John McEntire of Tortoise in Chicago and Andi Toma and Jan Wermer in Dusseldorf, better known as Mouse On Mars. On one sad note, Stereolab subscribes to Marxist ideology. And has somewhat left-wing ideas about politics. I am glad they make most of their political references in French, since I don’t speak French I don’t have to understand. Singer Laetitia told A&E online that their Marxist labeling was merely the product of “lazy journalism.” But frankly, it’s hard not to get that idea with words like society, ideology, economy, and the general crumbling of the State thrown liberally about in your songs. Even if they’re often mumbled and/or in French.

Dots and Loops tracklist:
01 Brakhage
02 Miss Modular
03 The Flower Called Nowhere
04 Diagonals
05 Prisoner of Mars
06 Rainbo Conversation
07 Refractions in the Plastic Pulse
08 Parsec
09 Ticker Tape of the Unconscious
10 Contronatura

Sterolab are:
Tim Gane
Lætitia Sadier
Mary Hansen
Morgane Lhote
Andy Ramsay
Richard Harrison

Review by;
October1

Skinny Puppy
“Too Dark Park”
(5/5)
(1990)

Too Dark Park is a masterpiece that stands as a monument to the power and complexity of Skinny Puppy at the height of the prowess. Produced late into their career amidst the confusion of the massive heroin addictions of vocalist Ogre (Kevin Ogilive) and keyboardist Dwayne Goettel, Too Dark Park nonetheless presented a shining beacon of hope for the burgeoning industrial scene. It offered a new standard, both for the industrial genre and for Skinny Puppy. Despite the darkness their lives had become Too Dark Park was Skinny Puppy’s finest hour.

More cohesive and far more brutal than the preceding albums Rabies and VIVIsectVI, Too Dark Park pounds its listeners from start to finish. Finally, after nearly a decade of recording and touring, Skinny Puppy have at last found a perfect balance between chaos and order, between ugliness and beauty, and between noise and music. The hyperkinetic bombast of Too Dark Park is nearly perfect from the opening sweeping drones of “Convulsion” to the last bang-out of “Reclamation.”

Musically, Puppy reach out more on this album—employing hyper-complex orchestrations of music and noise layered upon themselves, albeit in a tight, terse structure. Soundwise, Too Dark Park represents a shift away from the analog sounds dominating other puppy albums, utilizing the harsh metallic sounds of digital synthesizers in an increasingly greater number. Vocally, Ogre’s voice sounds richer and has more of an overdriven tone than the pure distortion of earlier releases. The use of triggered samples and soundbites is kept to a minimum and used far more tastefully than earlier in their career. Overall, Too Dark Park represents a quantum leap in the sophistication and style of Skinny Puppy; unfortunately, Puppy soon went quickly downhill into almost pure noise (Last Rites) before finally breaking up and releasing the enigmatic The Process.

It is my contention that Too Dark Park is actually a concept album, or at the very least, a conceptual album. At first glance, one may easily conclude that it is simply a collection of typical Puppy fare—animal experimentation, environmentalism, derangement, addiction. However, the sum of Too Dark Park is much greater than its individual parts.

Think of the two most common parallel themes in Too Dark Park: environmentalism and addiction. Both themes deal with the idea of pollution, albeit one in body, and the other globally. Both pollute themselves to feel good and to escape—cannot technology be as addictive and seductive as any drug? Both lead to a certain destruction, although they are born out of the need to destroy. I believe that Too Dark Park is about the depravity of mankind, man’s inevitable destruction at his own hands; as a vehicle to express this idea Skinny Puppy chose to explore the parallels between drug addiction and an apocalyptic future. I feel the metaphor is apt and artfully done on Too Dark Park.

As Too Dark Park is my personal favorite album by Skinny Puppy, one that represents the band and industrial music at its height, I am taking the liberty of analyzing the work to a greater depth than normal and procede song by song:

Convulsion
With a cold sweep of a digital soundscape “Convulsion” quickly degenerates into a pounding stacatto drum beat. Relying heavily on spoken samples and gutteral vocals, “Convulsion” quickly sets the stage for the more serious fare to follow. Dominated by a shouted chorus of “hate disease”, “Convulsion” quickly winds to a close of screams and samples leading us to….

Tormentor
Unforgiving, without mercy, conscience or pity. Beneath this violent, yet restrained, and turgid composition Puppy mend anti-pop and pop music together in an effortless, sociopathic manner. Overflowing with hostility, “Tormentor” mates cheesy overdriven organ lines and tight, punchy (almost funky) synth lines with the careful precision of reckless abandon. Like many of the best tracks of Too Dark Park, “Tormentor” has an underlying sense of a spectral, nameless fear that dances through it.

Spasmolytic
Downtown. The sound of hatred; self-hatred, misanthropy, loathing. Extremely up-tempo for Skinny Puppy, featuring cEvin kEy on a live drum kit. More strongly syncopated than other tracks on Too Dark Park, “Spasmolytic” seems rooted in a more metal vein than industrial, even though it lacks any guitar whatsoever. Kicking the habit….

Rash Reflection
Kiss the master’s feet. The carousel-like looped sample in the background goes round-and-round, the soft 606-ish drums tick like metronomes, echoed guitars gnash out dissonant tones in the extreme background… The shallow resignation of the addict giving in one more time.

Nature’s Revenge
THE standout track of the album. The dense, multi-variant orchestration of Moog-like basslines, fretless bass melodies, muted analog sweeps, and clean guitar all merge into a stream of consciousness of the reasons behind the addiction. “Nature’s Revenge” has a creepy groove, a calmness before the storm, that begins to point deeper inside the core of the narrator.

Shore Lined Poison
Crackling to a start, “Shore Lined Poison” breaks into ferocious electro-drumbeats and stabs of half-formed analog synth patches. Virtually everything is distorted, from the quasi-organ stabs, the growling, shouting vocals… until finally breaking down to apocalyptic visions of nuclear devastation.

Grave Wisdom
Almost an arena-rock song, “Grave Wisdom” stutters to a beginning before leading into a hypnotic, monotone chant over proto-EBM 16th note bass lines. Skinny Puppy keep it short and to the point.

T.F.W.O.
The only weak track on Too Dark Park, although many artists years later would end up sounding a lot like this. Maybe its the distorted guitars, maybe its the straightforwardness of the song that is contrary to the intuitive, enigmatic sound of Skinny Puppy. Either way, T.F.W.O. is the only weakness in an otherwise perfect album.

Morpheus Laughing
Harsh, dissonant, melodic. “Morpheus Laughing” is more hissed than sung, except when its being screamed to the point of overload. Strangely passive-aggressive, “Morpheus Laughing” rages over the mankind’s destruction and destructiveness—drawing the conclusion that man’s extinction is inevitable. Ultimately beautiful in its pure nihilism.

Reclamation
Like mankind’s fall, it will be with a slight bang and a whimper… drawn out, but ultimately final… reclaimed by the very nature we tried to destroy.

Too Dark Park track list:
1. Convulsion
2. Tormentor
3. Spasmolytic
4. Rash Reflection
5. Nature’s Revenge
6. Shore Lined Poison
7. Grave Wisdom
8. T.F.W.O.
9. Morpheus Laughing
10. Reclamation

Review;
Technine