Trivia / Stereolab

• Creator Couple: Gane and Sadier were a couple until 2004. The two-year hiatus that separated Dots and Loops from Cobra and Phases Group...? They took that time off to raise their child.
• Money, Dear Boy: Pretty much their reasoning behind returning to play live again in 2019, which coincided with expanded reissues of all their studio albums from Transient Random-Noise Bursts with Announcements to Margerine Eclipse.
• Keep Circulating the Tapes: Mostly avoided, as the groop were very good about keeping their non-album singles, EPs, and other obscure tracks available for new fans on various compilation albums. Nevertheless, a few of their releases did slip through the cracks for a few decades, going out of print in the 90s or 00s and not appearing on any compilation until 2019 or later. These include the Low Fi EP (the first recording with Mary Hansen and Andy Ramsey), Simple Headphone Mind EP (their second collaboration with Nurse with Wound), The First of the Microbe Hunters EP, and Rose, My Rocket-Brain! EP. With the release of the Switched On, Vol. 5 compilation, it seems all their obscure releases will be readily available once again.
• Limited Special Collector's Ultimate Edition: The 2019 album reissues aimed for this, as they all came with an extra disc featuring bonus tracks. Some albums were less impressive in this regard than others: the groop released their album outtakes on EPs and compilations so often, by 2019 there weren't many extra recordings from these sessions that the die-hard fans didn't already have. For a few of these albums, the only bonus tracks they could dig up were rough demo versions. Still, the in-depth liner notes by Tim Gane are pretty interesting. And for those who wanted an extra limited special edition, there was an option to buy each album with a stamped, individually numbered obi strip made from 24-track magnetic tape—allegedly from each album's original master tapes.
• Promoted Fanboy: Tim Gane had been a big fan of Nurse with Wound for years before getting to collaborate with them on Crumb Duck and Simple Headphone Mind. Steven Stapleton (the sole permanent member of NWW) even surprised Gane by revealing he still had a fan-letter Gane had sent to him years prior—marked as only the 15th piece of NWW-related mail he'd ever received.
• Shrug of God: The 2019 album reissues feature new liner notes written by Tim Gane, offering at least a paragraph of commentary on each individual song. Depending on the track, he gives shout-outs to the song's inspiration, insight into the recording process, or his opinion on the finished track's quality. Then on Emperor Tomato Ketchup, Gane comes to "Monster Sacre", and all he can write is, "Simple song. Sad song."
• Screwed by the Lawyers: The original version of "Pack Yr Romantic Mind" incorporated a shehnai^note a double reed woodwind from India recording from Wonderwall Music. However, Apple Records denied permission for Stereolab to use the track, so Sean O'Hagan had to record a soundalike to use instead. Tim Gane writes about this in the liner notes for the Transient Random-Noise Bursts with Announcements 2019 reissue, and even 25 years after the fact, he's still bummed that the groop can't release that original version.
• Title Confusion: Their cover of The Godz' "ABC" is often referred to as "ABC (The Multitude)" as if the bit in brackets is part of the title. It's actually a writing credit, a collective pseudonym for various members of The Godz and their studio guests. (The misunderstanding is actually quite useful if you're searching for the song online, though.)
• Working Title:
  • "Tone Burst" was initially called "Captain Beefheart", because Beefheart's song "Kandy Korn" was a big inspiration.
  • "Our Trinitone Blast" was initially "Sweet Jesus" because when Gane and Sadier needed to record the demo version, the only tape they had handy was another demo by a band named Sweet Jesus.
  • "Crest" was initially "Staccato Susan", because it was inspired by the New York group Band Of Susans.
  • "New Orthophony" was facetiously known as "2 Eggs Are Mine", a mondegreen based on Sadier's unusual pronunciation of the repeated line "to examine".
  • "Metronomic Underground" was initially named "Chrome Tubby".
  • "Tomorrow Is Already Here" began as "Reich Song" due to the central riff being reminiscent of minimalist composer Steve Reich.
  • "Fuses" was initially "Roland Kirk Rhythm"; Gane no longer remembers which Roland Kirk song inspired this title.