Cobra And Phases Group Play Voltage In The Milky Night, Stereolab

On this bemusingly titled album, Stereolab toss around small chunks of music as catchy and irresistable as anything they've ever recorded. The warm Moog synth that leads off "Infinity Girl" or the horns that burst out of Laetitia Sadier's dry, layered voice in "The Free Design" will significantly boost your serotonin levels. The deconstruction's these sonic scraps undergo and the analog keyboard textures around them are radically broad-minded, unveiling a separate and equally engaging architecture all their own. The ear follows one, then the other, first harmonically together, then suddenly cacophonous, all wrapped up in that familiar, '60s-a-go-go ambience. The scrupulous sensibilities of coproducers John McEntire and Jim O'Rourke are all over this record, incorporating the Chicago post-rock electronic sound and left-field musical influences at the heart of their work. Yet just when the song is sure to fall apart, Stereolab rediscovers the melody at the core. Take "Puncture in the Radax Permutation": a descending string melody mingles with a plunking xylophone-like pattern, the blend getting more and more abrasive. Suddenly the strings rise up with the drum track and a dreamy little tune reveals itself. It's not a record that's easy to get one's head around. Repeated listens, however, expose the diamonds in the rough, though the rough itself proves just as valuable.

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