Peng! (2018 Remaster)

Stereolab

Released on 2018-11-16 by Too Pure
Main artists: Stereolab
Genre: Alternative & Indie

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Following a string of EPs and singles in 1991 (which included their winkingly-titled third single, Stunning Debut Album), Stereolab released their true debut album Peng! in May 1992. It was quickly complemented by the October release of the singles-and-more compilation Switched On, so it's not too much of a stretch to think of Peng!'s 11 tracks and the ten cuts on Switched On as being of a singular piece. And to be sure, the guitar-focused, motorik-inspired socialist drone-pop of these songs are notably different from the synth-incorporating, exotica-adjacent vibes of subsequent material like Transient Random-Noise Bursts with Announcements. However there is a concision and cohesion to Peng! that makes this material feel more focused than some of the more experimental tracks the band released as singles.

Opening with "Super Falling Star," which leans on a repetitive and hypnotic guitar-based groove as a backing for Laetitia Sadier's bilingual lyrics, the album is a clear attempt to straddle the line between beguiling melodies and avant-garde experimentation. Other cuts like the rhythmically propulsive jangle of "Orgiastic" and the spare, spooky swoon of "K-stars" are similarly daring in their approach, seamlessly shifting between chiming guitars and burbling keyboards for their retro-futuristic vibes, while "You Little Shits" manages to find the exact sweet spot between the Velvet Underground's drone, the Beach Boys' harmonies, and a Jaki Liebezeit drum solo.

It's on the album's second half where Stereolab's more experimental ambitions and influences get a full airing, with cuts like the aptly titled "Mellotron" (a Silver Apples homage that's as dronily monotonous as it is diaphanously beautiful), "Surrealchemist" (half gentle pop, half dissonant drone) and "Stomach Worm" (a giddy, garage-pop number about the spiritual and psychic burden of sexism). While many of the elements that would make Stereolab one of the most important bands of the '90s and '00s are present here—the collision of highly avant-garde influences and pure pop structures, the refreshingly radical lyrics delivered with ethereal harmonies, the hi-fi/retro-audio fetishism, the sense of experimental fun—they had not quite jelled into the truly dazzling material of later releases. Still, had Peng! been the only album by Stereolab, it would have been a remarkable discography. © Jason Ferguson/Qobuz

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Peng! (2018 Remaster)

Stereolab

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Super Falling Star (2018 Remaster)