{"id":1782,"date":"2008-11-06T02:00:06","date_gmt":"2008-11-06T07:00:06","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2008-12-10T22:59:38","modified_gmt":"2008-12-10T22:59:38","slug":"message-to-stereolab-s-lemgchemical-chor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/message-to-stereolab-s-lemgchemical-chor\/","title":{"rendered":"Message to Stereolab&#8217;s <em>Chemical Chords<\/em>: I Am Not For Sale!"},"content":{"rendered":"<iframe class='youtube-player youtuber' type='text\/html' width='425' height='355' src='http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/l3KFwFZmjtg?rel=0&amp;fs=1&amp;ap=%252526fmt%253D18' webkitAllowFullScreen mozallowfullscreen allowFullScreen frameborder='0'><\/iframe><p>Before I deliver this stern message to <strong>Stereolab<\/strong>&#8216;s <em>Chemical Chords<\/em> album can you help me work through my reactions over the past 2 or 3 months? Since buying this CD I have spun it a good dozen times at work and in the car? Townspeople have helped me in the past in such moments of utter befuddlement, and I hope you can help me now.<\/p>\n<p><strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/media\/blogs\/rth\/NeonBeanbag.mp3\" title=\"\">Stereolab, &#8220;Neon Beanbag&#8221;<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Over the years I&#8217;ve heard some other albums by <strong>Stereolab<\/strong> with songs that make some sense to me, but this new album, <em>Chemical Chords<\/em>, which reviews and blog postings I&#8217;ve seen indicate that longtime Stereolab fans dig just fine, sounds to me like an endless stream of <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.target.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">Target<\/a><\/strong> ads. I&#8217;m reminded of the opening scene of <em>Fight Club<\/em>, with the <strong>Ed Norton Jr.<\/strong> character in his <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.ikea.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">Ikea<\/a><\/strong> catalog-like apartment, with the descriptions and price tags popping up all around him. I feel like I&#8217;m being sold something, like a neon beanbag. <em>Do I need a neon beanbag?<\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong>Stereolab, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/media\/blogs\/rth\/SelfPortraitwithElectricBrain.mp3\" title=\"\">&#8220;Self Portrait with &#8216;Electric Brain'&#8221;<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>This song title catches my eye with its hints at <a href=\"http:\/\/www.kaleochurch.com\/media\/art-duchamp-fountain.jpg\" target=\"_blank\">postmodern art<\/a> and the use of single quotes within the standard song title&#8217;s double quotes. The song title would look great on <a href=\"http:\/\/www.carpetkingdom.co.uk\/images\/pictures\/photos\/products\/glass_crome-coffee-table3-2.jpg\" target=\"_blank\">my glass and chrome coffee table<\/a>&#8230;if I had a glass and chrome coffee table! Actually, if I had such a coffee table and this slight song was playing atop it I&#8217;d half expect <a href=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=faML0QvVb2A\" target=\"_blank\"><strong>Alex<\/strong> and his droog buddies to break in and smash my living room to bits<\/a>. I know, like, and greatly respect many of you who like Stereolab. The stuff you&#8217;ve played me over the years is usually interesting. Do you like this new album, or have I been reading the reviews and blog postings of ass-kissing <strong>Cool Patrol<\/strong> wannabes? Tell me, <em>my friends<\/em>, that you know what I&#8217;m talking about &#8211; or point out the error of my ways.<\/p>\n<p><strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/media\/blogs\/rth\/FractalDreamOfAThing.mp3\" title=\"\">Stereolab, &#8220;Fractal Dream of a Thing&#8221;<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Here&#8217;s another song with a museum-piece title that, at best, makes me horny for <a href=\"http:\/\/www.hbo.com\/city\/\" target=\"_blank\">tastefully tarted-up 35-year-old women<\/a> spending their newly acquired excess cash at an upscale department store. Is this what I&#8217;m supposed to be feeling while listening to the new Stereolab album? Is this what they&#8217;d consider &#8220;mission accomplished&#8221; and high-five, or celebrate through whatever polite variant would suit their style? <\/p>\n<p>I&#8217;ve been giving this album a sincere try. I&#8217;ve been trying to get inside of the mind of someone who might fancy this platter, and all I can think of is <a href=\"http:\/\/www.laurenkerr.com\/samples\/mail\/JPetermanSweaters.jpg\" target=\"_blank\">catalog blurbs<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/janceedunn.typepad.com\/wwwjanceedunncom\/images\/2007\/09\/24\/jcpenney6.jpg\" target=\"_blank\">slim models<\/a>, and <a href=\"http:\/\/www.ubergizmo.com\/photos\/2007\/4\/sims-cc.jpg\" target=\"_blank\">my credit cards<\/a>. I badly want to dash off the following note to Stereolab&#8217;s new album:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><em><strong>I am not for sale!<\/strong><\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Before I do, can you help me check my line of reasoning? Thanks.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Before I deliver this stern message to Stereolab&#8216;s Chemical Chords album can you help me work through my reactions over the past 2 or 3 months? Since buying this CD I have spun it a good dozen times at work and in the car? Townspeople have helped me in the past in such moments of <a href='https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/message-to-stereolab-s-lemgchemical-chor\/' class='excerpt-more'>[&#8230;]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[342],"tags":[65],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1782"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1782"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1782\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1782"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1782"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1782"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}