| | |  | Broadway | Home » » » Chemical Chords | | | | | | | Product Promotions: | | | | | Description: | | Being released by the iconic legendary label 4AD, Chemical Chords is a collection of purposefully short, dense, fast pop songs, according to Gane, brimming with Motown-like drums, O'Hagan's finest baroque-pop brass and string arrangements and etched with some of Sadier's most eloquent, mellifluous vocal performances to date, it is, nonetheless, classic Stereolab; like all their best work, a perfect equipoise between an implausibly cool past and a shamelessly exotic future. The eleventh album in an illustrious career, Chemical Chords began life in early-2007 when Tim Gane started messing with a series of about seventy tiny drum loops on top of improvised chord sequences using piano and vibraphone. Building them up from there later slowing the tracks down or speeding them up a totally new way of doing songs for us With typical prolificacy, the band laboured over the summer at their studio, Instant Zero (in Bordeaux, France), helping transform these blueprints into 32 luminous new songs, with keyboardist/technician Joe Watson manning the mixing desk. Half the new repertoire was selected for this album, which, for all the breathless spontaneity of its invention, is arguably the band's tautest, most highly focused work this century. | | | Product Details: | | | Audio CD Release Date:
| August 19, 2008 | | Studio:
| 4AD | | Number Of Discs:
| 1 | | Average Customer Rating:
|  based on 9 reviews |
| | | Track Listing: | | | 1. | Neon Beanbag | | 2. | Three Women | | 3. | One Finger Symphony | | 4. | Chemical Chords | | 5. | The Ecstatic Static | | 6. | Valley Hi! | | 7. | Silver Sands | | 8. | Pop Molecule | | 9. | Self Portrait with Electric Brain | | 10. | Nous Vous Demandons Pardons | | 11. | Cellulose Sunshine | | 12. | Fractal Dream of a Thing | | 13. | Daisy Click Clack | | 14. | Vortical Phonotheque | |
| | | Customer Reviews: | |
Average Customer Review:
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 Kind of different, but awesomeMar 24, 2010
I love this album. It's like if you took the group and sent them 50 years into the future and let them record their songs in a neon cyborg factory... The song Chemical Chords is probably the best Stereolab song ever! There are a few tracks that I don't really care for (as in every album) but they are still good. This album inspires imagination.
 Routine regimentsFeb 03, 2010
Typically solid set of electro-pop updates somehow lacks the emotional depth found prior back exponentially, in favor of refined production thriving more on the detached mechanics now than anything else.
1 of 1 found the following review helpful:
Thanks StereolabOct 23, 2009
I can't imagine what it might be like being in a band for about 20 years, having one of your vocalists die off, continue making groundbreaking albums that are ignored by the mainstream and then pull out such a positive, upbeat album. THAT is a feat and a gift. I LOVE this album and consider it one of my favorite Stereolab works. AMAZING! Thank you members of Stereolab for all the joy this album brings me everytime I play it. :-)
1 of 1 found the following review helpful:
staggeringDec 15, 2008
i'm a huge fan, but a bit like the reviewer above, while i liked margerine eclipse and fab four (both rewarded repeat listens) this thing is in stereolab's 'a' league - like dots and loops and emperor tomato ketchup. very direct, lots more driving first-beat-of-the-bar foot tappers, and motown flourishes. production wise everything is in its place. weird, beautiful, a great, great record.
2 of 2 found the following review helpful:
Kaleidoscope Sound, Fresh & Delicious!Nov 30, 2008
Another great Stereolab album.
Chemical Chords reminds of an old movie soundtrack. Practically each track on "Chemical Chords" sounds like a soundtrack to an old romantic comedy with the elements of a spy movie and the only thing that reminds of this being a XXI century album are the electronic noises and contemporary beats on some of the songs. The record opens with a funny song "Neon Beanbag" with no words that prepares us at once for something joyful, exciting and optimistic. A rhythmic composition "Three Women" pleases with wind instruments in the accompaniment and the vocal part sounding like a greeting from the 70's and "One Finger Symphony" is remarkable for an interesting electronic beat, stylish keyboards and a tune just perfect for a spy movie. The title composition is the longest on the album lasting over 5 minutes but it is far from a limit for "Stereolab" for one can find songs that are 7 or even 15 minutes long among the band's creations. A great orchestra composition "Ecstatic Static" pleases with a complicated tune and a beautiful "Valley Hi!" is refined with lyrics in French. A tangible mood change appears on "Pop Molecule (Molecular Pop 1)" this heavy composition is obviously placed here so that the listeners do not relax too much and remember that they are dealing with a rock band here but this is the only tough moment on "Chemical Chords", and as strange as it may seem it sounds quite appropriate here. All the rest of the tracks please again with merry melodies, colorful instrumental background and unobtrusive vocal parts.
Stereolab is an amazing and unique band.
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