They were founded in 1990 by songwriters Tim Gane (guitar, keyboards), formerly of the band McCarthy, and Laetitia Sadier (sometimes credited as Seaya Sadier; vocals, keyboards, trombone, guitar), who is from France and sings in both English and French.
Over the years, Gane and Sadier have enlisted a large number of other musicians to accompany them on stage and on record. The initial line-up featured Martin Kean, formerly of The Chills, on bass, and Joe Dilworth (from their Too Pure label-mates Th’ Faith Healers) on drums, with Russell Yates (of Moose) and Mick Conroy (ex-Modern English) also appearing at early live shows. In 1993 they recruited Andy Ramsay (drums), who has remained in the group line-up ever since, and Mary Hansen (vocals, guitar, keyboards, percussion). Hansen’s distinctive backing vocals became an important aspect of the Stereolab sound, and she remained a regular feature of the line-up until her death in a cycling accident on December 9, 2002. Multi-instrumentalist Sean O’Hagan of The High Llamas has also been a frequent contributor, particularly with string, brass and keyboard arrangements to the band’s studio albums. John McEntire (Tortoise) has also contributed keyboard, electronic effects and studio help over the years. Other members have come and (in some cases) gone over the years, including Duncan Brown, Dave Pajo (from Tortoise), Richard Harrison and Simon Johns (all bass); Gina Morris (vocals); and Katharine Gifford and Morgane Lhote (both on keyboards).
Early Stereolab material displayed a heavy influence of krautrock sounds, particularly Neu! and Faust, characteristically relying on droning, repetitive guitar or keyboard riffs, with or without vocals. Early heavy use of distorted Farfisa combo-organ sounds were also reminiscent of early recordings by The Modern Lovers. As the band developed, they incorporated new instrumentation, and an increasingly complex sense of rhythm and structure, frequently making use of irregular time signatures as well as unorthodox chord progressions and melodic intervals. The band has often made copious use of female backing vocal lines.
Lyrically, Stereolab’s music is quirky (song titles evoke memories of 1950s science fiction stories, and are often borrowed directly from old films and records of the period, but have nothing to do with the song’s content), but highly politically and philosophically charged, sometimes with a decidedly Surrealist or Situationist bent. (Sadier notes the libertarian Marxist theoretician Cornelius Castoriadis as a particular inspiration.) Sadier’s lyrics, in both French and English, often read like highly condensed sociological texts, standing in deliberate and distinct counterpoint to the lush hedonic pop sound of the band. A prime example would be “Ping Pong” from Mars Audiac Quintet, which is an explicit restating of Marxist theory concerning the relationship between economic cycles and war cycles.
Stereolab earned a minor place in the Britpop movement, with their sound proving influential to bands like Blur: occasional keyboard-driven b-sides and singer Damon Albarn’s love of retro keyboards showed the influence, and in recognition Laetitia Sadier was invited to provide vocals on “To The End” from Parklife.
Despite the band’s fan base and critical acclaim, Stereolab has not achieved high levels of financial or popular success. On June 7, 2004, suits at the Warner Music label (to whom the band was signed in the U.S.) announced they were dropping Stereolab in response to the poor sales (40,000 to that date) of Margerine Eclipse. This was part of an ongoing effort by Warner to cut costs; The Breeders and Third Eye Blind were also dropped from the label for this reason. Laetitia Sadier is now also a member of Monade, which is essentially expressive of her own singular musical goals.
Stomach Worm
Stereolab Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
(With whom all of us share reality)
The world is in fact just that
(A long indisputable and rich tradition)
The world I know of I'm extrusive
(To be jealous is to conform)
Not the only one
A nominal thing
The law of division
Jealousy will make you suffer
(From being excluded from the universal)
Jealousy will make you suffer
(From being)
The lyrics of Stereolab's Stomach Worm seem to be an insightful commentary on the nature of reality and human emotions. The first line, "The world is full of indisputables," suggests that there are certain things in life that are universally recognized as true and real. This could refer to physical laws, social norms, or any other number of shared experiences that we all accept as part of our reality. However, the following line, "With whom all of us share reality," adds a layer of complexity to this concept. It implies that our perception of reality is itself a shared experience, and that our individual understanding of the world is shaped by the collective consciousness.
The next line, "The world is in fact just that," reinforces the notion that reality is objective and unchanging. This is followed by a reference to "a long indisputable and rich tradition," which could be interpreted as a nod to the many cultural and intellectual traditions that have contributed to our collective understanding of the world. The singer then declares that the world they know of is "extrusive," suggesting that their personal experience of reality is somehow separate or distinct from the norm.
Line by Line Meaning
The world is full of indisputables
There are things in the world that cannot be argued, they are simply facts of reality.
With whom all of us share reality
These indisputables are things that all of us, as human beings, experience and share in our reality.
The world is in fact just that
The world is really just a collection of these indisputable facts and our perceptions and experiences of them.
A long indisputable and rich tradition
This concept of indisputable truths and the sharing of reality is something that has been around for a long time and is considered valuable.
The world I know of I'm extrusive
The world that I am familiar with and experience is different from others, and I do not always fit in with their perceptions of reality.
To be jealous is to conform
Feeling jealous is conforming to the idea that there is a universal experience that everyone should have, and that I should want to have the same as others.
Not the only one
I am not the only person who experiences a different reality and who may struggle with jealousy or feelings of exclusion.
A nominal thing
Jealousy is just a name for a feeling, it is not something that has tangible reality outside of our own experiences.
The law of division
Jealousy can create divisions between people, potentially reinforcing the idea that there is a universal experience that should be shared.
Jealousy will make you suffer
Feeling jealous can be painful and cause emotional suffering.
From being excluded from the universal
The pain of jealousy can come from feeling excluded from what is considered a universal experience that is expected of everyone to have.
Jealousy will make you suffer
The repetition of this line emphasizes the potential suffering that can come from feeling jealous.
From being
This final word is left unfinished, potentially implying the idea that the suffering from jealousy can come from a variety of sources or feelings of incompleteness or inadequacy that are not easily defined.
Lyrics © DOMINO PUBLISHING COMPANY, Universal Music Publishing Group
Written by: LAETITIA SADIER, TIMOTHY JOHN GANE
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind