Stereolab - Dots Loops (10 tracks) +Album Reviews

Audio Masterpeice

A. Platts | 09/16/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"As with all Stereolab Albums that drastically change their sound from previous albums, I really didn't like this album at first. I was embarrased to listen to it becuase of its happy spacious melodies and horn arrangements were reminiscent of the 1960's and go-go music.

This album could best be described as an "Impressionist-Electro-Brazilian-Lounge-Pop"

This album just gets better every time I hear it. Stereolab is a very subtle group, and the amount of complexity and work that went into making this album simply isn't apparent the first or even tenth listen. But the use of odd metric groupings, the horn voicings, the use of vocal harmonies, and all of the interlocking melodies are simply genious. I'm still discovering new layers of complexity in this beautiful music.

The horns remind me of Gil Evans, and the lush harmonies harken to Ravel or Debussy.

This album is simply genious."

Another end, leading a new beginning...

Melissa Pleasant | 03/10/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I'd first heard of Stereolab two years ago when they did a cover of 'One Note Samba' for the Red Hot + Rio collection. I loved their sound, so when some magazine (Spin?) proclaimed Dots & Loops to be one of the top albums of the year, I had to buy it. For the first 5 or 6 months that I had it, it never left my stereo -- I only put it away when I had to move out of my dorm after graduation! It is one of the most wonderfully different CDs that I own, and a refreshing change from American pop music as it stands today. 'Rainbo Conversation' is my absolute favorite song. What I like best about this CD, aside from the remade bossa nova sound, is that it still sounds new to me, maybe because the lyrics are so hard to figure out. This is not formulaic at all. Its distinctive sound may be why I was personally disappointed when I picked up 'Emperor Tomato Ketchup', since other fans, and Amazon.com, swore up and down that it is the group's best work. Those of you who are new to the group, I assure you that it is possible to be a fan even if you don't like ETK. I also have 'Cobra and Phases', which I don't think sounds like either CD but appeals to me just the same. It's to Stereolab's credit that they can sound different from CD to CD and still be original."

"Mummy! I can hear the fractals!"

David Kipp | Melbourne, Australia | 08/10/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Mere words cannot adequately describe how I treasure this record: wherein every song is a densely and intricately constructed whole unto itself and still the whole far transcends the sum of its coruscating parts. Best to describe my relationship with this record as a collection of associations and fragments: falling in love and a coffee buzz: Diagonals: angular grooves; driving at night: Contronatura: dark, effervescent pulses; holidaying in mountains at Easter: Brakhage and Parsec: shambolic cadences; above all, the company of loved friends."

Strange Reward

Cant Free | Switzerland | 11/12/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I stole my first Stereolab tune off the Internet, Refractions in the Plastic Pulse, what a place to start. Within thirty minutes, I likewise on the net, bought Dots and Loops(I'm fascinated by the reviewers who purchase by cover art; that's backwards to me). Balance, consistency, restraint, maturity, constant attention to symmetry where mugging for the listener/audience/camera through butt jiggling and/or overly decorative lyrics are supposed to be, oh brave new music industry, that there are such wondrous creatures making a living in it. I can't get over the seriousness of their enterprise. A pop band, which does not relinquish their pursuit of making good music to a petite melody designed to grab the average listener at an instant; then there are the hypno-melodies that will enwrap the casual listen as it does the choir. Dots and Loops is not a music release. It is a disc of spells."

A Standout Album.

P. Emeott | New York, NY United States | 08/24/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"When I was a college DJ in Florida, I stumbled upon Sterolab's Mars Audiac Quintet on the rack, and threw it onto my playlist because of ebullient tracks like "Wow and Flutter." I somehow missed Emperor Tomato Ketchup until later, but I was assured by friends in the know that it was their finest work to date. However, I'm glad I grabbed Dots and Loops when it hit the shelves, because it far surpasses that release, in my opinion. Dots and Loops has a cohesiveness of rhythm and production that is not present in most of their other (also brilliant) work. Here, in songs like "The Flower Called Nowhere," there seems to be a constant effort to fill every level of the audio spectrum, from grooving basslines and staccato guitar chunks to cascading marimbas, squawking horns and blooping analog synths. The end result is like an imaginary score to some late-60's travelogue TV show. Or better yet, the soundtrack to that dream you had, where you lived in a Stanley Kubrick movie. This album is a great retro-futuristic treat without being overly kitschy. It never totally copycats some old existing freeform jazz/pop style, but ventures out on its own...way out, as a matter of fact, as in the epic "Refractions in the Plastic Pulse." Here, shifted tempos and new directions for a song are buffered by moments of quiet technology, clicking and blipping while it dials into its next destination. If you can't get a handle on Stereolab from what you've heard of their other, more angular work, grab this album and skip to the single, "Miss Modular." The Stereolab ladies' (Laetitita Sadier and Mary Hansen) voices may convince you you're listening to an alt pop CD, until you realize you're hearing French. You're not where you thought you were. The horns and Moogs on other releases might keep you at a distance from "the Groop." Here, they suck you into a world you've never visited before, where Stereolab will make you feel right at home. I'm never without this disc in my CD wallet or my stereo."

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