Recorded music comes to us mostly online now, no matter how much we try to resist the streams and feeds and such. When we refer to playback media, instead of the devices storing the music (computers), we use brand names of online distribution services or shitty metaphors like "the cloud" and... streams. Artists no longer find their work restricted by the time constraints of playback formats: the gramophone seven-inch and 12-inch record, the cassette, the Compact Disc, so that the chance such limitations could play a role in the creative process, positive or negative, is diminished.
That said, there are still the three basic formats. A single is more likely perceived to be one track, but might still exist somewhere out there with its old-fashioned B-side track. There is still the Extended Play (E. P.) fulfilling its old role as a half-album or long single, for when an artist is young and new—not ready to unleash a full album—or established artists want to release a set of music with less promotional fanfare. The artist does not need these things—abstractions, after all, if a release is online-only. Or albums for that matter. Why not release music as it is finished, in whatever combination of tracks? In practice, the album still dominates, not only because artists sure would like you to spend some actual money on their work, but also because listeners, and likely the artists too, measure present-day music against past music, and the album has long since become the dominant artifact of popular music. Artifact... but not point of reference necessarily, as that often remains the song.
Before Napster and Apple and the short-attention-span listening habits they engendered (eclecticism and bounty numbing us toward apathy and small-mindedness), we lived through a period in which multiple formats proliferated, even as one of them, the C. D., stifled its competition. We had singles and E. P.s—in fact, there were multiple C. D. versions of the same single, and unique versions of seven-inch 45s taking advantage of that format's charms, and 12-inch E. P singles, often featuring remixes, keeping alive that format's connection to dance music. Some E. P.s were called "mini-albums," a curious format especially prevalent in the Nineties. To be exact, if an E. P. could be either a slightly-extended single (four songs on a 45 instead of two, or extended versions of album or 7-inch tracks on a 12-inch 45) or a half-album (likely six tracks) on a 12-inch 45, then would not the next step be something like a three-fourths-album? In practice, though, the mini-album is a full-length album, that is, released as a 12-inch, 33-and-one-third R. P. M. vinyl record (experienced by most consumers as just another C. D.), but it's an album that the band or record label or others involved in marketing the music did not want to present as a major release, either because it was not as good as the artist's major album or, more simply, not as long as albums were obscenely expected to be in the Nineties. In other words, a lot like an E. P., especially as some E. P.s, quote-unquote, were album-length. Regardless, the "mini" prefix was being used in a way that had lost all meaning.
The playing-around with formats seen in not only Indie music but also Hip Hop and Techno accompanied a contrary narrowing of options: again, the Compact Disc overwhelmed its competition after 1992; for many consumers, it had become the only practical choice. While obsessive fans sought out all the limited-edition curios that made effective use of the variety of formats available, many other listeners were left bemused, perhaps considering Napster for the first time; five or so years down the line, they were the ones selling off their entire collection of C. D.s after transferring their contents to software that is, circa 2024, more antiquated than the optical disc could ever dream of being. The extremes of collectoritis did not help here: imagine the absurdity of Record Store Day, but replace colored-vinyl rarities with, say, the MiniDisc format, which Autechre experimented with, or 3-inch Compact Discs you weren't even sure you could play.
The contrast between the later years of the Nineties and the early Aughts, on one end, and the span stretching from the mid-Eighties through the early Nineties, when vinyl, cassettes, and C. D.s competed for the mainstream's money, is important yet difficult to discern exactly. Then, the everyday consumer—at least conceivably—made a format choice every single time he bought something. Cassettes could be reserved for the car stereo, C. D.s for Classical and Jazz and other musics that benefited from the lack of surface noise. Vinyl increasingly became the reserve of a small coterie of hardcore fans and audiophiles. It did have its advantages: cheaper than the C. D., coming in superior packaging (seemingly everyone hated the C. D. "longbox"), and creating a feeling of continuity with the recent past.
Either way, this time before the C. D. era (let's call it the format-turnover era) was a period of change and uncertainty: cassettes began to outsell vinyl just in time for their proclaimed replacement, the C. D., to reach the market. In some cases, differences in format during these years also lead to differences in content, usually with a L. P. being shorter than the cassette or C. D. (such as with the Cure's Disintegration), but the assumption was that the content was uniform across the three formats. With the cassette being the highest-selling format, albums got longer, if not by much. By the mid-Nineties, with the C. D. dominant, albums could become 74, then 80, minutes: that is, a double album. The disease long-album-itis already inflicting itself upon popular music further discouraged new titles being made available on cassette or vinyl; the artist sometimes had to cut tracks from the vinyl to make it shorter, or add tracks to fill up four sides. These extensions and variations of the standard L. P. are discussed in Rockissue piece on long albums in the C. D. era.
At the same time, both the cassette and the C. D. could be singles or E. P.s as easily as they could be albums, without any differences in size (except, again, those ridiculous 3-inch C. D.s) or speeds. These formats even displaced the vinyl flexidisc, as it was cheaper and easier to include a C. D. as a "covermount" freebie with a magazine or newspaper. The packaging of C. D.s may not have been as dingy and disposable as tapes. But of course they were supposed to be a high-class option. Why did they still feel tacky and cheap? No one ever denied tapes were tacky and cheap. With the Compact Disc following on the cassette's heel in imposing a "sameness" on everything—endless stacks of silver discs—artists had to take some effort to make the design and formatting particularities of their records distinct and attention-grabbing while exploiting the possibilities of multiple formats.
Of all the great Nineties/ Compact Disc-era bands who strove to meet that challenge, Stereolab excelled. Reviewing their discography, one sees many of the larger developments discussed here at work. Besides the expected albums, E. P.s, singles, and compilation appearances, there were split releases, variations on the mini-album (including several 10-inch releases), remix-specific projects, items only sold at the "merch table" at their gigs, bonus tracks on the Japanese C. D. versions of their albums, differences between vinyl and C. D. versions of an album—and of course ultimately compilations of this myriad non-album stuff, in their case the Switched On series as well as singles compilations Fab Four Suture and Oscillons in the Anti-Sun. About the only thing that did not seem to draw their particular attention is the cassette: they did not craft unique releases for that format. But even so they surpassed their contemporaries: many of their albums and even some singles and E. P.s were made available on cassette when most Rock bands and labels had left the format behind.
Stereolab were in my estimation the greatest album artist in popular music during these years, with an impressive series of full-lengths stretching from Peng! in 1992 to Margerine Eclipse in 2004. Perhaps many people have a problem accepting that an album called Emperor Tomato Ketchup is one of the greatest of Rock history, but that's their problem. That album's follow-up, Dots and Loops, successfully incorporated the new sounds of "Electronic Listening Music" and "Glitch," via collaborations with Mouse on Mars, making similar experiments by other Indie Rock acts seem incredibly ham-handed. Indeed, at this point in their career, with Chicagoans John McEntire and Jim O'Rourke working with the band as musicians and producers, Stereolab recordings were like international summits of artists whose music-making boldly mixed genres and criss-crossed scenes.
Stereolab were also crafty salesmen, every release showing attention to detail with regard to packaging, suggested most of all in that, in their native Britain, they nearly always released records on their own label, Duophonic. Any music artist who wants to be creative discographically speaking and actually turn a profit (no eight-tracks or LaserDiscs) is going to emphasize vinyl, due to the variety it offers. An Indie Rock band of the Nineties is especially going to favor vinyl, not only seeking the format's connection to the past but striving to maintain that connection for the future (leading of course to the vinyl revival of recent decades, for better or worse). Many minor Stereolab releases, intended for devoted fans, were vinyl-only. What other group had a 45 or E. P. of previously-unreleased material available for sale on virtually every tour? Yes, they had t-shirts like all the other bands, but they also made a visit to the merch table before or after a concert a cherished, even (dare we say it) wholesome, experience.
The "throwback" vinyl-centric mentality found in Nineties Indie Rock (driven as it was by disgust with the post-Nirvana "Alternative" moment) was in accord with Stereolab's cheeky appropriations of Fifties and Sixties designs, beaucoup references to past artists and others whom their audiences were likely to consider exotic or obscure, and a colorful, welcoming, non-Punk demeanor (despite the dour philosophical and sociopolitical musings found in their lyrics). No surprise, then, that they found fans among those who would otherwise find their complex music off-putting or their historical-minded, academic-like lyrics and designs to be excessively unemotive and pretentious.
Several non-album, minor Stereolab releases, if not only available on vinyl then at least crafted for that format, did not require marketing, as they surpassed the band's major albums. The 1992 10-inch Low Fi is better than the full-length Peng! released earlier the same year, for example. The singles released 2005-2006 and collected on Fab Four Suture are certainly more immediate, and arguably superior overall, to the preceding full-length Margerine Eclipse. Plenty of listeners prefer the simplicity of another 10-inch, Music for the Amorphous Body Study Center, despite its limited palette, to the later albums where denser mixes and complex arrangements didn't always pay off, especially, again, Margerine Eclipse but also Cobra and Phases Group Play Voltage in the Milky Night, never a fan or critics' favorite and definitely the point at which the band's records began to feel more like "processed" studio concoctions. Most notable of all, several of the single-only tracks collected on the second Switched On collection, Refried Ectoplasm, especially ‘Lo Boo Oscillator’, ‘John Cage Bubblegum’, and ‘French Disko’, rank among their greatest songs. Who else besides Stereolab would release a full-on album, The First of the Microbe Hunters, just under 40 minutes in length (a double E. P. on vinyl, because... why not?), and call it a mini-album, even as they promoted it with a major tour opening for Sonic Youth?
On the other hand, the messiness of Stereolab's discography is distracting. The progression from 45 to E. P. to album that marked the discographies of many Punk and Indie bands entices the listener by way of the narrative at work: a band slowly finding its sound, translating that sound and their working methods to a studio setting, releasing the amount of material that feels right, taking on the world. See, for example, Mission of Burma from ‘Academy Fight Song’ to Signals, Calls, and Marches to Vs. Any movement away from this simple set-up requires attention on the listener's part not spent on music. Then there is the question of album length. If, in the late Eighties-early Nineties, long-album-itis left many listeners wishing for the old days of 40-minute slabs of vinyl, Stereolab had the opposite problem: double albums that rarely would have been better if shorter (Mars Audiac Quintet being an exception) but which, when listened-to on C. D., without the break provided by switching sides of a L. P. or cassette, can lead to later portions of the album being given short shrift. Meanwhile, a listener forced to figure out which rare releases have good songs, or which compilations include those songs, is an annoyed listener. This situation becomes dreadful when a band does not handle its reissues well. Despite effectively crafting the Switched On compilations throughout their career, giving their fans an easy way to hear most of their rarities, Stereolab's 2019 reissue campaign surprisingly drifted into problematic territory, as noted below, with alternate edits of tracks replacing originals, little to no explanation provided.
The Stereolab discography presented here (excluding for now some compilation appearances and a few other curios, to be added in time) hopefully clarifies while celebrating the multi-format bounty offered by their body of work. The pesky "mini-album" is given an especial emphasis. I am not sure if all of the differences between the reissues released since 2019 and the original versions are noted; I describe the differences for those tracks with different timings. Other reissued tracks could be of the same length but still include elements not found in the originals. For now, ABC Music, documented the band's sessions for the British Broadcasting Corpoation's Radio 1, is not included. A discography like this, with the songs listed by release date within format sections, immediately suggests an alternate arrangement: the songs listed solely by release date; our contemporary online listening environment is conducive to such re-arrangements of an artist's work.
If a track is featured on any of the five Switched On compilations, a tag appears next to it: "Switched 1," "Switched 2," and so on. Those compilations are:
Switched On, 1992
Refried Ectoplasm (Switched On Volume 2), 1995
Aluminum Tunes (Switched On Volume 3), 1998
Electrically Processed (Switched On Volume 4), 2021
Pulse of the Early Brain (Switched On Volume 5), 2022
albums
Peng!
1992 L. P. and C. D.
‘Super Falling Star’
‘Orgiastic’
‘Peng! 33’
‘K-Stars’
‘Perversion’
‘You Little Shits’
‘The Seeming and the Meaning’
‘Mellotron’
‘Enivrez-Vous’
‘Stomach Worm’
‘Surrealchemist’
- Remastered 2018 for digital-only reissue.
~
Transient Random-Noise Bursts with Announcements
1993 double L. P. and C. D.
‘Tone Burst’
‘Our Trinitone Blast’
‘Pack Yr Romantic Mind’
‘I'm Going Out of My Way’
‘Golden Ball’
‘Pause’
‘Jenny Ondioline’
‘Analogue Rock’
‘Crest’
‘Lock-Groove Lullaby’
- Reissued 2019 with a bonus disc featuring 13 previously-unreleased tracks: demos, alternate mixes, and out-takes.
- The 2019 reissue features extended versions of ‘Pause’ and ‘Analogue Rock’. The latter has a longer fade-out, a total of around 25 extra seconds. The former is only seven-eight seconds longer; the edit on the 1993 original came soon after the four-minute mark. As far as the lowly listener knows (the liner notes of all of the 2019 reissues make only brief, unclear references to these changes), these two tracks are the same recordings/ performances in both their 1993 and 2019 versions; the differences come only in the editing process.
~
Mars Audiac Quintet
1994 double L. P. and C. D.
‘Three-Dee Melodie’
‘Wow and Flutter’
‘Transona Five’
‘Des Étoiles Électroniques’
‘Ping Pong’
‘Anamorphose’
‘Three Longers Later’
‘Nihilist Assault Group’
‘International Colouring Contest’
‘The Stars Our Destination’
‘Transporté sans Bouger’
‘L'Enfer des Formes’
‘Outer Accelerator’
‘New Orthophony’
‘Fiery Yellow’
- Early pressings of the U. K. version of the C. D. included a second disc with two tracks: ‘Klang Tone’ Switched 3 and ‘Ulan Bator’ Switched 3.
- Reissued 2019 with a bonus disc featuring ‘Klang Tone’, an abridged version of ‘Ulan Bator’, and 10 previously-unreleased tracks: demos, alternate mixes, and out-takes.
- Seven tracks on the original album are presented in extended versions on the 2019 reissue: ‘Three-Dee Melodie’, ‘Transona Five’; ‘Des Étoiles Électroniques’; ‘Three Longers Later’; ‘International Colouring Contest’, ‘The Stars Our Destination’, ‘Fiery Yellow’. As with all of these 2019 edits, the original shorter versions are only available on the earlier issues. Thankfully, six of these edits are simple: ‘Three-Dee Melodie’, ‘Des Étoiles Électroniques’, ‘International Colouring Contest’, and ‘Fiery Yellow’ have longer fade-outs, the differences at times being almost unnoticeable. The original ‘Three Longers Later’ and ‘The Stars Our Destination’, on the other hand, were both cut towards the beginning of the tracks: about 16 seconds of the former, about 35 seconds of the latter. ‘The Stars Our Destination’ also fades out later, making it overall about a minute longer. The change to ‘Transona Five’, in contrast, makes for a significant alteration of the listening experience. The 1994 original cut off suddenly at about five-minutes-and-thirty seconds into the track, leading directly to ‘Des Étoiles Électroniques’. The 2019 edit gives us (presumably) the full recording, as the performance gradually comes to an end past the six-minute mark. While the listener might prefer hearing the full track, the abrupt cut on the original album was a defining characteristic, a rare tactic in the sequencing of albums. The extended version could have been made available elsewhere (as with the longer ‘New Orthophony’ on Aluminum Tunes).
~
Emperor Tomato Ketchup
1996 L. P. (U. S. version)/ double L. P. (U. K. version) and C. D.
‘Metronomic Underground’
‘Cybele's Reverie’
‘Percolator’
‘Les Yper-Sound’
‘Spark Plug’
‘OLV 26’
‘The Noise of Carpet’
‘Tomorrow Is Already Here’
‘Emperor Tomato Ketchup’
‘Monstre Sacre’
‘Motoroller Scalatron’
‘Slow Fast Hazel’
‘Anonymous Collective’
- Reissued 2019 with a bonus disc featuring 15 previously-released tracks: demos, alternate mixes, and out-takes.
- The 2019 reissue features extended versions of ‘Percolator’, and ‘Slow Fast Hazel’: the fade-out is significantly longer on the former, while the latter track is only slightly longer, a minor portion in the last minute, edited out of the original, apparently having been restored. ‘Les Yper-Sound’ is also longer in its 2019 form, but in a confusing manner. The 2019 version includes a brief Mary Hansen vocal part not heard on the original at about three-minutes-and-twenty-seconds into the song and the concluding portion of the track is longer; however, it is longer at least in part because the original version has a portion in which the tape of the backing track, if not the whole recording, is sped up; this is quite noticeable, and is absent from the 2019 version. In other words, the 2019 version could be considered an alternate mix, not merely an unabridged version. In this case, then, there is material only available on the earlier issues, making for a change more significant in terms of content than the change to ‘Transona Five’, if not as significant in terms of the overall album.
~
Dots and Loops
1997 double L. P. and C. D.
‘Brakhage’
‘Miss Modular’
‘The Flower Called Nowhere’
‘Diagonols’
‘Prisoner of Mars’
‘Rainbo Conversation’
‘Refractions in the Plastic Pulse’
‘Parsec’
‘Ticker-Tape of the Unconscious’
‘Contronatura’
- Reissued 2019 with a bonus disc featuring 14 previously-unreleased tracks: demos, alternate mixes, and out-takes.
- The 2019 reissue features versions of ‘The Flower Called Nowhere’ and ‘Prisoner of Mars’ that are slightly extended (by roughly 20 seconds in both cases), both having longer fade-out portions. Note that, for these minor changes in timtings, I am only comparing C. D. versions of the albums. Others listening to the 2019 vinyl reissues have noted that ‘The Flower Called Nowhere’ is actually shorter on the 2019 vinyl compared to the 2019 C. D. or original issues of the album.
~
Cobra and Phases Group Play Voltage in the Milky Night
1999 double L. P. and C. D.
‘Fuses’
‘People Do It All the Time’
‘The Free Design’
‘Blips Drips and Strips’
‘Italian Shoes Continuum’
‘Infinity Girl’
‘The Spiracles’
‘Op Hop Detonation’
‘Puncture in the Radax Permutation’
‘Velvet Water’
‘Blue Milk’
‘Caleidoscopic Gaze’
‘Strobo Acceleration’
‘The Emergency Kisses’
‘Come and Play in the Milky Night’
- The C. D. versions originally included an abridged version of ‘Blue Milk’. The 2019 C. D. reissues includes the complete track and thus requiring the original album to take up the first disc and a portion of the bonus disc. The rest of the bonus disc features out-takes and demos.
- The 2019 reissues also featured extended versions of ‘Fuses’ and ‘Blips Drips and Strips’. Both are only slightly longer, and the changes, as with those on Dots and Loops, border on the pointless. The portion of ‘Fuses’ not included on the original is roughly 20 seconds in length and comes at about one-minute-and-thirty-seconds into the track. The portion of ‘Blips Drips and Strips’ is roughly 25 seconds in length and comes at about three-minutes-and-forty-six seconds into the track.
~
Sound-Dust
2001 double L. P. and C. D.
‘Black Ants in Sound-Dust’
‘Space Myth’
‘Captain Easychord’
‘Baby Lulu’
‘The Black Arts’
‘Hallucinex’
‘Double Rocker’
‘Gus the Mynah Bird’
‘Naught More Terrific than Man’
‘Nothing to Do with Me’
‘Suggestion Diabolique’
‘Les Bons Bons des Raisins’
- The C. D. versions originally included an abridged version of ‘Gus the Mynah Bird’. The 2019 C. D. reissue includes the complete track. The bonus disc features demos.
~
Margerine Eclipse
2004 double L. P. and C. D.
‘Vonal Declosion’
‘Need to Be’
‘“...Sudden Stars”’
‘Cosmic Country Noir’
‘La Demeure’
‘Margerine Rock’
‘The Man with 100 Cells’
‘Harmonie Melodie’
‘Hillbilly Motorbike’
‘Feel and Triple’
‘Bop Scotch’
‘Dear Marge’
- Reissued 2019 with a bonus disc featuring the four tracks previously only available on the E. P. Instant 0 in the Universe [see below] and the three tracks of the ‘Rose, My Rocket Brainz!’ single [see below].
- The 2019 version of the album includes an extended version of ‘Vonal Declosion’ (featuring an additional concluding section); the extended version of ‘Hillbilly Motorbike’, previously only available on the Japanese edition of the album, on which it took the form of both the abridged ‘Hillbilly Motorbike’ and a separate track, ‘La Spirale’, appended to it; and an extended version of ‘Bop Scotch’ (roughly 30 seconds early in the track that had been edited out now included).
- The 2019 version of ‘Dear Marge’ is also different, but it is an alternate edit, meaning that it contains portions of a (presumably) longer version that the original did not, but it also does not contain portions that the earlier version did; it is overall shorter. The track overlaps with ‘Mass Riff’, from Instant 0, in that the concluding portion of both tracks is made out of the same recording. Since the 2019 version of ‘Mass Riff’ is longer, presumably the 2019 versions of these two tracks, combined, do contain all of the material that comprised the earlier versions of the tracks, but even close inspection of them leaves unanswered questions. To a greater extent than the other 2019 changes, this begs for official sources of information.
- See also the note for Instant 0 in the Universe for information about similar differences between the original versions of other tracks on that E. P. compared to the 2019 versions.
~
Chemical Chords
2008 double L. P. and C. D.
‘Neon Beanbag’
‘Three Women’
‘One Finger Symphony’
‘Chemical Chords’
‘The Ecstatic Static’
‘Valley Hi!’
‘Silver Sands’
‘Pop Molecule (Molecular Pop 1)’
‘Self Portrait with 'Electric Brain'’
‘Nous Vous Demandons Pardon’
‘Cellulose Sunshine’
‘Fractal Dream of a Thing’
‘Daisy Click Clack’
‘Vortical Phonotheque’
- Early pressings of the double L. P. included a 7-inch 45 with two additional tracks: ‘Spool of Collusion’ Switched 5 and ‘Foresnic Itch’ Switched 5
- Early pressings of the U. K. version of the C. D. included ‘Magne-Music’ Switched 5 and ‘The Nth Degree’ Switched 5.
~
Not Music
2010 double L. P. and C. D.
‘Everybody's Weird except Me’
‘Supah Jaianto’
‘So Is Cardboard Clouds’
‘Equivalences’
‘Leleklato Sugar’
‘Silver Sands (Emperor Machine Mix)’
‘Two Finger Symphony’
‘Delugeoisie’
‘Laserblast’
‘Sun Demon’
‘Aelita’
‘Pop Molecules (Molecular Pop 2)’
‘Neon Beanbag (Atlas Sound Mix)’
~
albums?
Low Fi
1992 10-inch L. P. and C. D.
‘Low Fi’ Switched 5
‘(Varoom!)’ Switched 5
‘Laisser-Faire’ Switched 5
‘Elektro (He Held the World in His Iron Grip)’ Switched 5
The version of ‘Elektro’ on Pulse of the Early Brain is significantly longer than the original, while the version there of ‘(Varoom!)’ is extended by about 20 seconds.
~
The Groop Played "Space Age Batchelor Pad Music"
1993 L. P. and C. D.
‘Avant Garde M.O.R.’
‘Space Age Bachelor Pad Music (Mellow)’
‘The Groop Play Chord X’
‘Space Age Bachelor Pad Music (Foamy)’
‘Ronco Symphony’
‘We're Not Adult Oriented’
‘U.H.F. - MFP’
‘We're Not Adult Oriented (Neu Wave Live)’
~
Music for the Amorphous Body Study Center
1995 10-inch L. P. and C. D.
‘Pop Quiz’ Switched 3
‘Extension Trip’ Switched 3
‘How to Play Your Internal Organs Overnight’ Switched 3
‘The Brush Descends the Length’ Switched 3
‘Melochord Seventy-Five’ Switched 3
‘Space Moment’ Switched 3
[untitled track] Switched 3
- The untitled track is combined with track 6 on Aluminum Tunes
~
Fluorescences
1996 L. P. and C. D.
‘Fluorescences’
‘Pinball’
‘You Used to Call Me Sadness’
‘Soop Groove #1’
7-inch 45 version of this release includes ‘Fluorescences‘ b/w ‘Pinball’
Shorter version of ‘You Used to Call Me Sadness’ also released on a split single with Fuxa [see below]
- All four tracks included in Oscillons from the Anti-Sun
~
The First of the Microbe Hunters
2000 double E. P. and C. D.
‘Outer Bongolia’ Switched 4
‘Intervals’ Switched 4
‘Barock - Plastik’ Switched 4
‘Nomus et Phusis’ Switched 4
‘I Feel the Air (Of Another Planet)’ Switched 4
‘Household Names’ Switched 4
‘Retrograde Mirror Form’ Switched 4
- Versions of ‘Barock - Plastik’ and ‘Retrograde Mirror Form’ on Electrically Processed are slightly longer than the originals.
~
singles and E. P.s
Super 45
1991 10-inch E. P.
A:
The Light That Will Cease to Fail Switched 1
Au Grand Jour Switched 1
B:
Brittle Switched 1
Au Grand Jour' Switched 1
7-inch 45 version, released in the U. S., includes ‘The Light’ b/w ‘Au Grand Jour’
‘Super-Electric’ Switched 1
1991 10-inch E. P.
Additional A-side track: ‘High Expectation’ Switched 1
B-side tracks: ‘The Way Will Be Coming’ Switched 1; ‘Contact’ Switched 1
Stunning Debut Album
1991 7-inch 45
A:
‘Doubt’ Switched 1
B:
‘Changer’ Switched 1
‘Harmonium’ Switched 2
1992 7-inch 45
B-side track: ‘Farfisa’ Switched 2
‘John Cage Bubblegum’ Switched 2
1993 7-inch 45
B-side track: ‘Eloge d'Eros’ Switched 2
‘Lo Boob Oscillator’ Switched 2
1993 7-inch E. P.
B-side track: ‘Tempter’ Switched 2
‘Jenny Ondioline” [abridged version]
1993 7-inch 45, C. D., and 10-inch L. P.
B-side tracks: ‘Fruition’, ‘Golden Ball (Studio)’, ‘French Disco’ [longer than ‘Disko’]
All four tracks included in Oscillons from the Anti-Sun
‘French Disko’ [shorter than ‘Disco’] Switched 2
1993 7-inch 45 and C. D.
B-side track: ‘Jenny Ondioline (Version)” [included in Oscillons from the Anti-Sun]
‘Ping Pong’
1994 10-inch E. P. and C. D.
Additional A-side track: ‘Moogie Wonderland’
7-inch 45 version of this release includes ‘Ping Pong’ b/w ‘Moogie Wonderland’
B-side tracks: ‘Pain et Spectacles’; ‘Transona Five (Live)’
‘Ping Pong’ also on Mars Audiac Quintet [see above]
All four tracks included in Oscillons from the Anti-Sun
‘Wow and Flutter’
1994 10-inch L. P. and C. D.
Additional A-side track: ‘Heavy Denim’
7-inch 45 version of this release includes ‘Wow and Flutter’ b/w ‘Heavy Denim’
B-side tracks: ‘Nihilist Assault Group (Parts 3, 4, 5)’; ‘Narco Martenot’
‘Wow and Flutter’ also on Mars Audiac Quintet [see above]
All four tracks included in Oscillons from the Anti-Sun
‘Cybele's Reverie’ [single edit]
1996 10-inch L. P./ E. P. (A side: 45 R. P. M., B: 33-and-one-third R. P. M.) and C. D.
Additional A-side track: Les Yper-Yper Sound [longer version]
B-side (called "AA" here) tracks: Brigitte; Young Lungs
All four tracks included in Oscillons from the Anti-Sun
Laminations
1996 C. D.
‘Metronomic Underground (Wagon Christ Mix)’ Switched 3
‘Check and Double Check’ Switched 3
‘Cadriopo’ Switched 3
‘One Small Step’ Switched 3
Extended version of ‘Cadriopo’ included on split single with Fugu [see below]
‘Miss Modular’ [single edit]
1997 E. P. and C. D.
Additional A-side track: ‘Allures’
B-side tracks: ‘Off-On’; ‘Spinal Column’
All four tracks included in Oscillons from the Anti-Sun
Alternate edition of this single:
1998 L. P. (U. S. release) and C. D. (Japanese release)
Additional A-side tracks: ‘Miss Modular (Automator Mix)’; ‘Rainbo Conversation (Russell Simins Mix)’
B-side tracks: ‘Refractions in the Plastic Pulse (Feebate Mix)’; ‘Contronatura (Prelude to the Autumn of a Faun Mix)’ [see below]
C. D. version does not include ‘Rainbo Conversation (Russell Simins Mix)’
These remixes, except ‘Refractions in the Plastic Pulse (Feebate Mix)’ (as noted below, found on the fifth Switched On), are not found on any compilations.
‘Iron Man’ Switched 3
1997 7-inch 45
B-side track: ‘The Incredible He Woman’ Switched 3
‘Refractions in the Plastic Pulse (Feebate Mix)’ Switched 5
1998 L. P.
B-side track: ‘Contronatura (Prelude to the Autumn of a Faun Mix)’
Both tracks included on the alternate versions of the ‘Miss Modular’ single [see above]
The In Sound
1998 7-inch E. P./45 (A side: 45 R. P. M., B: 33-and-one-third R. P. M.)
A:
‘Blue Milk’ Switched 3
B:
‘One Thousand Miles an Hour’ Switched 3
‘Aluminum Tune’ Switched 3
All three tracks retitled for inclusion on Aluminum Tunes (Switched On 3): ‘Munich Madness’, ‘1000 Miles an Hour’, and ‘Golden Atoms’, respectively
‘The Free Design’
1999 E. P. and C. D.
Additional A-side track: ‘Escape Pod (From the World of Medical Observations)’
7-inch 45 version of this release includes ‘The Free Design’ b/w ‘Escape Pod’
B-side tracks: ‘With Friends like These’; ‘Les Aimies des Mêmes’
‘The Free Design’ also on Cobra and Phases [see above]
All four tracks included in Oscillons from the Anti-Sun
The Underground Is Coming
1999 7-inch E. P.
A:
‘The Super-It’ Switched 4
‘Fried Monkey Eggs (Inst.)’ Switched 4
B:
‘Fried Monkey Eggs (Vocal)’ Switched 4
‘Monkey Jelly’ Switched 4
‘Captain Easychord’ [single edit]
2001 L. P. and C. D.
Additional A-side track: ‘Long Life Love’
B-side tracks: ‘Canned Candies’; ‘Moodles’
All four tracks included in Oscillons from the Anti-Sun
‘Free Witch and No-Bra Queen’ Switched 4
2001 7-inch 45
B-side track: ‘Speck-Voice’ Switched 4
Instant 0 in the Universe
2003 triple 7-inch 45 and C. D.
‘“...Sudden Stars”’
‘Jaunty Monty and the Bubbles of Silence’
‘Good Is Me’
‘Microclimate’
‘Mass Riff’
‘Hillbilly Motorbike’ [untitled “hidden track” on vinyl release; not on C. D. version]
First and sixth tracks also included on Margerine Eclipse
Remaining four tracks included on bonus disc of 2019 reissue of Margerine Eclipse: ‘Mass Riff’ is extended significantly, while ‘Jaunty Monty and the Bubbles of Silence’ and ‘Microclimate’ are slightly extended, the former having a longer fade-out, and portions of the former being slightly longer. The shorter versions are thus only available on the original release.
‘Rose, My Rocket-Brain! (Rose, Le Cerveau Electronique de ma Fusée!)’
2004 7-inch E. P./45 (A side: 45 R. P. M., B: 33-and-one-third R. P. M.) and 3-inch C. D.
B-side tracks: ‘Banana Monster Ne Répond Plus’, ‘University Microfilms International’
All three tracks included on bonus disc of 2019 reissue of Margerine Eclipse.
‘Kybernetická Babiĉka Pt. 1’
2005 7-inch 45
B-side track: ‘Kybernetická Babiĉka Pt. 2’
Both tracks included on Fab Four Suture
‘Plastic Mile’
2005 7-inch 45
B-side track: ‘I was a Sunny Rainphrase’
Both tracks included on Fab Four Suture
‘Interlock’
2005 7-inch 45
B-side track: ‘Visionary Road Maps’
Both tracks included on Fab Four Suture
‘Whisper Pitch’
2006 7-inch 45
B-side track: ‘Widow Weirdo’
Both tracks included on Fab Four Suture
‘Excursions into "Oh, A-oh"’
2006 7-inch 45
B-side track: ‘“Get a Short of the Refrigerator”’
Both tracks included on Fab Four Suture
‘Eye of the Volcano’
2006 7-inch 45
B-side track: ‘Vodiak’
Both tracks included on Fab Four Suture
‘Solar Throw-Away’ Switched 4
2006 7-inch 45
B-side track: ‘Jump Drive Shut-Out’ Switched 4
An alternate version of the A side, ‘Solar Throw Away (Original Version)’, is also included on Electrically Processed
‘Explosante Fixe’ Switched 4
2008 7-inch 45 and C. D.
B-side track: ‘L'Exotisme Intérieur’ Switched 4
split singles and E. P.s
Stereolab// Guitare Boy
‘XXXOOO’ Switched 5
1992 7-inch E. P. flexidisc—all tracks on single side
Additional tracks: ‘High Expectations (Demo Version)’ [Stereolab]; ‘Golden Bike’ [Guitare Boy]
‘High Expectations (Demo Version)’ not on any compilation
Huggy Bear// Darlin'// Colm// Stereolab
Shimmies in Super 8
1993 double 45
A:
‘Trafalgar Square’ [Huggy Bear]
‘Godziller’ [Huggy Bear]
‘More Music from Bells’ [Huggy Bear]
‘Snow White, Rose Red’ [Huggy Bear]
B:
‘Cindy So Loud’ [Darlin']
‘Darlin'’ [Darlin']
C:
‘Soundtrack’ [Colm]
D:
‘Revox!’ [Stereolab] Switched 2
Unrest// Stereolab
‘Where Are All Those Puerto Rican Boys?’ [Unrest]
1993 7-inch 45
B-side track: ‘Mountain’ Switched 2
Stereolab// The Cat's Miaow
‘The Eclipse’ [Stereolab]
1995 7-inch E. P. flexidisc—all tracks on single side
Additional tracks: ‘Shoot the Moon’ [The Cat's Miaow], ‘Yes Sir! I Can Moogie’ [Stereolab] Switched 5
‘The Eclipse’ not on any compilation
Yo La Tengo// Stereolab
‘Evanescent Psychic Pez Drop’ [Yo La Tengo]
1995 7-inch 45
B-side track: ‘The Long Hair of Death’ [Stereolab] Switched 3
Stereolab// Fuxa
‘You Used to Call Me Sadness’ [Stereolab] Switched 3
1996 7-inch 45
B-side track: ‘Skyhigh’ [Fuxa]
Extended version of ‘You Used to Call Me Sadness’ also included on Fluorescences
Tortoise// Stereolab
‘Vaus [Tortoise]
1996 7-inch E. P.
B-side track: ‘Speedy Car’ [Stereolab] Switched 3
Faust// Stereolab// Foetus
Überschall 1996
1996 7-inch E. P.
A:
‘Right Between Yr Eyes’ [Faust]
‘Percolations’ [Stereolab] Switched 3
B:
‘Herds’ [Foetus]
Stereolab// Fugu
‘Cadriopo’ [Stereolab] Switched 3
1997 7-inch 45
B-side tracks: ‘F30’, ‘F24 (Instrumental)’ [Fugu]
Shorter version of ‘Cadriopo’ included on Laminations
Stereolab// Soi-Disant
‘Symbolic Logic of Now!’ [Stereolab] Switched 5
1998 7-inch 45
B-side track: ‘Glitterati (Cruise(r))’ [Soi-Disant]
collaborative works
Stereolab/ Nurse with Wound - Crumb Duck
1993 10-inch L. P.
‘Animal or Vegetable (A Wonderful Wooden Reason...)’ Switched 2
‘Exploding Head Movie’ Switched 2
Stereolab/ Nurse with Wound - Simple Headphone Mind
1997 L. P. and C. D.
‘Simple Headphone Mind’ Switched 5
‘Trippin' with the Birds’ Switched 5
Stereolab & Brigitte Fontaine - ‘Caliméro’ Switched 4
1999 7-inch 45 and C. D.
B-side track: [Monade] ‘Cache Cache’
Monade is Laetitia Sadiera's solo moniker, also making this a split release formally speaking
(some of the) compilation appearances and miscellaneous tracks
‘The Noise of Carpet’ was released as a single-track promo-only single in the U.S., so it is included in Oscillons from the Anti-Sun, though there does not seem to be any differences between the track as it is heard there and the Emperor Tomato Ketchup version. As already hinted above, a few other A-side tracks, because their single versions are the same as the album versions, are also duplicated on Oscillons: namely, ‘Ping Pong’ (and yet Oscillons also includes an alternate version of ‘Ping Pong’), ‘Wow and Flutter’, and ‘The Free Design’.
A split single with Spectrum was never relased, only available as white-label pressings. The track, ‘Tone Burst (Country)’, was released on Refried Ectoplasm. The other Stereolab track, ‘Tempter (Demo)’, has not been released.
Stereolab contributed a track, ‘One Note Samba/Surfboard’, to the various-artists compilation, Red Hot + Rio. An extended version of the track is on Aluminum Tunes
Stereolab contributed a track, ‘Variation One’ Switched 4, to the various-artists soundtrack album, Moog, released in 2004.
Stereolab contributed a track, ‘Dimension M2’ Switched 4, to the compilation, Disko Cabine, released in 2005.
Stereolab contributed a track, ‘ABC’ Switched 5, to the Godz tribute album Godz Is Not a Put On, released in 1996.
Stereolab contributed a track, ‘Blue Milch’ Switched 5, to a compilation comprised of Peter Thomas Sound Orchestra tracks remixed or otherwise reworked by various artists.
Refried Ectoplasm includes one previously-unreleased track: ‘Sadistic’.
Aluminum Tunes includes the following previously-unreleased tracks: ‘New Orthophony’ [extended version]; ‘Get Carter’; and ‘Seeperbold’.
Electrically Processed includes the following previously-unreleased tracks: ‘B.U.A.’; ‘Pandora's Box of Worms’; and ‘Heavy Denim Loop Pt. 2’.
Pulse of the Early Brain includes the following previously-unreleased tracks: ‘Robot Riot’; ‘Ronco Symphony (Demo)’; ‘Plastic Mile (Original Version)’; and ‘Cybele's Reverie (Live at the Hollywood Bowl)’. Another track, ‘Unity Purity Occasional’ had only been heard as part of a Charles Long sculpture/ installation of the same name.
–Justin J. Kaw, May 2024