Pitchfork: Stereolab Embark on U.S. Tour, Plan Retrospective

Stereolab Embark on U.S. Tour, Plan Retrospective
View of band to be marginally eclipsed by art dude's ethnic headgear

Having spent the past month on a rigorous European tour, art-pop's elder statespeople Stereolab have returned to North America for an exhaustive April tour. The band is scheduled to play 24 shows in the next 30 days, beginning with a stop tonight at Vancouver, British Columbia's Commodore Ballroom, and culminating with a final U.S. performance on May 1st at Coachella, before they jet off to Japan for concerts in Tokyo and Osaka.

Stereolab have already played four shows on the West Coast since returning-- one at The Detroit Bar in Costa Mesa, California on Monday, two at The Fillmore in San Francisco, and last night's performance at Portland, Oregon's Crystal Ballroom-- prompting a webboarder on the official Stereolab site to offer the deeply contemplative, ringing endorsement, "The lights and strobes were insyc with the feel and tempo of the song and added to the loose your brain experience." Others, however, weren't sure what to make of the shows so far, citing the "palpable" absence of vocalist Mary Hansen, who was killed in a bicycle accident in London in December 2002.

"There's seven of us now," said band member Tim Gane in an interview with Vancouver's Terminal City last week. "Obviously, there's no Mary now, and there's no one that's going to sing, apart from Laetitia [Sadier], but we've got... two guys named Joe. One is doing some harpsichord and a computer and some synthesizers, and the other one is [harmonizing with Laetitia using] lots of brass, like cornets and flutes. It's just to bring out the texture and timbre of the instrumental music because we knew there would have to be something different now. It's become hideously complex compared to the old days, but we're trying to make it work naturally... like, flow." More dates are expected to follow later in the year. Here's the current rundown:

04-01 Vancouver, BC - Commodore Ballroom
04-02 Seattle, WA - Showbox
04-04 Englewood, CO - Gothic Theatre
04-06 Minneapolis, MN - First Avenue
04-07 Chicago, IL - Vic Theatre
04-08 Saint Louis, MO - The Pageant
04-09 Detroit, MI - Majestic Theatre
04-10 Toronto, ON - Phoenix Concert Theatre
04-11 Montreal, QC - Club Soda
04-12 Northampton, MA - Iron Horse Music Hall
04-13 Boston, MA - The Roxy
04-16 New York, NY - Irving Plaza
04-17 New York, NY - Irving Plaza
04-18 New York, NY - Irving Plaza
04-19 Philadelphia, PA - The Trocadero
04-20 Washington, DC - 9:30 Club
04-21 Carrboro, NC - Cat's Cradle
04-22 Atlanta, GA - Variety Playhouse
04-24 Nashville, TN - Mercy Lounge
04-26 Fort Worth, TX - Ridglea Theatre
04-27 Austin, TX - La Zona Rosa
04-29 Phoenix, AZ - Old Brickhouse Grill
04-30 Solana Beach, CA - Belly Up Tavern
05-01 Indio, CA - Empire Polo Field

In other 'Lab news, the band's manager, Martin Pike, recently posted an update to the band's forum, in which he revealed that Stereolab's next project is likely to be an EP retrospective featuring the band's best work, along with all of their music videos and footage from a 1996 performance on Japanese television. Pike, however, voiced some concerns about the scope of the project: "The problem with this project is the length-- it may have to be two compilations of two disks... The only fly in the ointment could be the [potential] demise of Elektra within the Warners group but we'll have to wait and see." In the meantime, Pike also revealed that vocalist Laetitia Sadier is hard at work on her second solo record to be released under the name Monade, and hinted that the Stereolab side project Turn On may be ready to enter the studio to record a follow-up to their Drag City-released 1997 self-titled debut.