Stereolab "Interlock"

I’m not totally positive what the “Fab Four” refers to, but when paired with “Suture”, all I get is “Strawberry Fields”, “A Day in the Life”, sliced-up tape reels and George Martin piecing them together. And the ingenuity it takes to wrench from your surroundings (analog tape and 4-Track recording) two masterpieces—one made from layer upon layer, and the other from two completely disparate elements being sewn together. Essentially, the working template for Stereolab’s last two albums, as well as the soon to be released Fab Four Suture. It’s unquestionably their best single-disc collection of all-new material since Emperor Tomato Ketchup, flaunting the growth gained from the experiments of the last few albums over the course of twelve intricate, tightly wound, dense-yet-flashy songs. And six of which, in true Beatles-style, were totally already released as singles last year.

“Interlock” (mp3) is the best song on Fab Four Suture. It is, unsurprisingly, the product of a bit of studio stapling—but I’d like to imagine they planned it that way. After all, their May ’68 political leanings could do worse than to metastisize themselves into a bit of Godard-style aural montage. It’s not like their equally politicized lyrics, which have always troubled me, rise much beyond the level of turtlenecked sloganeering—fun sloganeering—which gives this song the repeated line “What good is all this knowledge we’ve acquired in the face of deep nihilism?” Or at least that’s what I’m assuming Laetitia’s saying. Her lyrics have never really meant much to me; I’ve always been much more fascinated with the way they present themselves within songs. In “Interlock”, they come as part of a mannered procession—first a pair of a snappy, hyper-Motown set of drum rolls, then a distinctly Stereolab vamp, which consists of multiple hi-hats, a Shaft guitar lick that only plays a single “wah”, beepy analog synth providing the “lab” component, and quacking trumpets coming by to sprinkle shit around the edge of the plate. Then, after about a minute and a half, we hit the stitches, after which we’re witness to the last 2/3 of the song, a cold disco bulge that uses the same instruments, but in a kinkier fashion. The last chunk of the song does what Stereolab has always done best—situates their listeners as minor characters in an imaginary movie where coldness and sterility directly equate to hyper-modernity and insufferable hipness.

Fab Four Suture will release itself through Too Pure on March 7.

marathonpacks will see Stereolab in concert for the first time ever four days later. You should go as well.