NPR Music - Stereolab returns and more: The Contenders, Vol. 8

Episode Date: April 15, 2025

Stereolab is back with its first new music in 15 years. We give it a spin on this week's show, along with the scorched rock of feeble little horse, a relentlessly catchy earworm from Yaeji and more.Featured artists and songs:1. Stereolab: "Aerial Troubles," from 'Instant Holograms On Metal Film'2. Yaeji & E Wata: "Pondeggi" (single)3. Snuggle: "Dust" (single)4. feeble little horse: "This Is Real" (single)5. Lyra Pramuk: "Rewild," from 'Hymnal'Weekly reset: Street musicians on the Piazza del Duomo, Florence, ItalyEnjoy the show? Share it with a friend and leave us a review on Apple or wherever you listen to podcasts. Questions, comments, suggestions or feedback of any kind always welcome: [e-mail] Hear new songs from past episodes in the All Songs Considered playlists in Apple Music and Spotify.See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

Hazel, you know, we had on our show last week, we had even more songs to calm the nerves. And you were on the very first original episode of relaxing songs that started that whole series about a year ago. I was, and I very much enjoyed doing that episode. It relaxed me quite a lot. But I actually just learned this week that what you really want to do is let out a lot of pent-up rage. Yes, I think I was like, you know, Robin has really been killing it with the, songs to relax two episodes, but where is the rage? Well, I think this kind of speaks to some of the recurring themes that I heard in the music that we're going to play on this week's episode.

Even starting with this first cut that I know you want to play from the band Stereo Lab, because it's got this recurring line, the numbing's not working anymore? Yes, 100%. Stereo Lab is back, which is incredible to me. They just announced their first new album. in 15 years. It's going to be called instant holograms on metal film, which is such a stereolab thing to name an album. And yeah, the first song off of it is called Ariel Troubles.

What I love about this song is that it feels to me like a song about someone realizing, they're sort of at the point of realization that something needs to change. You know, it isn't this kind of, it's not a rousing call to arms. There's sort of a weariness to it to me. There's like a very, it's kind of a gloomy track for StereoLab in my mind. Stereolab has always been a vaguely political band. I feel like when you actually dig into the lyrics of a lot of their songs, they are singing about the state of the world and kind of just dystopian ideas. But there is something about this song where it just feels like it's kind of on the precipice of hope.

But it's not quite there yet. So there's this whole anti-consumerism theme in this song. And that is something, you know, I think of that as a bell that Stereo Lab has been ringing for a very long time. You know, you even go back to something like dots and loops that came out in 1997 on that album. They talk about the world's obsession with just having stuff and not being able to get enough stuff and all the damage caused by this, you know, insatiable appetite for more and more stuff. And that definitely comes up on this song. I took this sort of bouncy sound and the whole vibe of this song, you know, just how bright it is in a lot of ways. As more of a, it's the end of the world and I feel fine kind of idea.

Yes. You know, I don't know. I didn't hear the hope that you're hearing, but there is a definite contrast between what they're saying and how it sounds. Yes, there is this kind of quintessentially stereo loud, jazzy tenor to it. But yeah, and it's crazy to think that they haven't released a new album since 2010. Yeah, we can't overstate how just surprising this is, how unlikely it is to, I mean, did you think beginning of 2025? Yeah, we'll probably get a Stereo Lab album this year. I didn't think probably because I wouldn't let myself get my own hopes up that much.

But they have been reissuing their catalog for several years now. I saw them perform, I think, in like. 2019 at Pitchfork Music Festival. And, you know, we're talking about the themes of this song and sort of the themes that they've been exploring across their career. And, you know, 2025 looks very different than 2010. And I kind of have this feeling of we maybe need Stereo Lab more than ever to soundtrack our apocalypse.

Yep. So instant holograms on metal film from StereoLab. That is out on May 23rd. I've actually got a song that I think digs a little into some similar themes as the Stereo Lab song. As I said, I think it's going to come up a lot on this episode. And it's maybe not as immediately obvious as some of the messages in the Stereo Lab song. But it's a new single from the singer Yeji. It's kind of about the ways that we, I think, numb ourselves with social media, doom scrolling through our phones

and all the ways that these distractions actually keep us from the things that really matter. most in our lives, I guess that sounds kind of depressing. But the song's, like, it's also crazy-catchy. It is just a crazy-catchy song. Again, it's called Pondegi from Yeji. Start. Pondegi, Pondegi, Pum-Pondegi-Degu-Degg, Pondegu-Degg, Pondegg. Stop.

Take it, take it, bum, bun, take it, Bon, take it, Bon, take it, take it, take it, Bon, take it, Bon, take it, Bon, take it, bum, take it, Bamb, Bucky, take it, bong, take it,

ear. B, take it, E. Make it or not, it all up here, stumble and crumble for nothing. Wheelpower savings, watch where you're going, crime to turn away from real you. Look into my eyes,

looking to my eyes, looking to my looking for a, eye looking for a ride up and eyes you doom doom screw on a boom boom shadow band normalize you watermelon censorship binary view they're trying to hide it from you bun bakey saw one breakie two one bakey pop bun bakey bakey ships and bun bakey bakey soups up bun bakey hazel i want to know what you think of this song because it to me it's one that when you first start listening you're thinking okay cool little line that she's so into here. But the more you listen, the more insidious it becomes. It like, it burrows into your

brain. I found it so addictive. Yeah, it's interesting. You know, it's a song about people being hypnotized by social media, the internet, staring down at their phones, becoming passive to the algorithms. And the song itself is so hypnotizing. It really is like it. And it definitely speaks to me as someone who has multiple apps on my phone to keep me from going on other apps. Wait a minute. You have apps to keep you from getting on other apps? Yes, I have an app on my phone that I love, and it significantly limits my ability to access social media apps on my phone

because I would rather be spending my time reading a book or doing anything else than scrolling Instagram. I don't know. That kind of sounds like there's this alcoholic drink. I think I really like that keeps me from drinking. Social media is an addict. You can get addicted to it. And we're all, you know, but I think that this song in particular, it doesn't come across as sloganizing or corny or like Eiji's wagging her finger at us necessarily.

It feels like a very potently political suggestion. You know, there's a line in the song that stood out to me where she sings, you know, normalized you watermelon censorship. Which I do doom, doom, scroll on a boom boom, shadow band, normalize you watermelon censorship and they review. They're trying to hide it from you. Which I feel like to me is a direct reference

to tech companies suppressing pro-Palestinian posts because the watermelon is a symbol of pro-Palestinian resistance. You know, I feel like she's really trying to make a commentary on like, it's not just about your own personal addiction. It's like what are, these companies are doing this on purpose. Like these companies want to lure you in, get you addicted, and you need to be aware of that. Yeah. For people who don't know Yeji, she's been featured on tracks by Charlie XX, Sampha.

She's produced remixes for Duolipa and Robin had done tons of other collaborations and, of course, her own solo work. No word on a full-length album, though. from Yeiji. It's just this single for now. All right, a quick reminder that if you enjoy the show, share it with a friend. Leave us a review on Apple or wherever you listen to podcasts. Also, later on the show, we'll continue our look

back at number one songs from the past 25 years of all songs considered. We're celebrating our 25th anniversary this year, so we're looking back at a different year in each episode. We're up to 2008 now. So later on this episode, Stephen Thompson and I will talk all about

the show's number one songs from that year. Keep listening for that. And also, as always, we'll close out this week's episode with your weekly reset. Hazel, where do you want to go next? So I want to keep going on this thread that we have going right now of songs that are reflecting on the state of the world and maybe our place in it. And I want to play a song by a band called Snuggle. You hadn't heard of this band. I hadn't. Why are you laughing? Why are you laughing? They're name Snuggle. Because it's just the funniest name. I don't, and, you know, I thought this can't be the first band named Snuggle.

And I did a little, well, a curse research on the interwebs. I could not find any other band named Snuggle. And I thought, how is it that it's taken this long for a band to be called Snuggle? It's a great band name. Snuggle is a duo from Copenhagen. They make very moody pop music. And I want to play a song of theirs called Dust. Biles on my skin.

Your fingers fall on. Yeah, this song is so beautiful to me. It has this very light touch to it. But I think what it expresses is so beautiful. You know, there are all these gorgeous images in it, you know, lines about cicadas singing and orange peel under your fingernails. And, you know, it sort of ends on this note of, we are all just specks of dust.

we're all just going to end up as ashes one day. Maybe don't include that part. No, it's fine. It's true and it's okay. I mean, that's one of the images that I really love. And you're right. There are all these great little images that are just so beautiful that talk about salt trails on someone's skin and someone's tracing those trails with their fingers.

And, you know, they're gazing into each other's eyes. And it's this very sweet, intimate moment. You know, two people sort of lost in love and wonder, even though it's all unfolding against this apocalyptic backdrop. Yeah. Yeah. Snuggle is definitely a band that I'm paying attention to right now. I feel like I have to say they come from this scene, this Scandinavian scene of avant-garde pop artists right now that I really adore people like ML Book, artists like Astrid Saan, this duo called Smares, who I love very much. and there's something about Snuggles music. They feel slightly left of center from that scene

where I hear this 90s indie rock. This is a contender's episode, and I do think that this song, Dust, is a strong contender for me for already being one of my favorite songs of the year so far. And yeah, it's a gorgeous song. Well, I have what I think is maybe the most head-spinning song

that I have heard this year. And also a contender for one of, my favorite of the year for sure. And by headspinning, I mean, it's a track full of all these. It's full of double takes. You know, what? What just happened? What did I just hear?

These sudden hairpin turns and just, it is just so unpredictable. It's from a band called Feeble Little Horse. Feeble Little Horse. This is, I think you like this band, right? I do like this band a lot. Yeah. A group from Pittsburgh. The song, it's a new single, their first in a couple of years.

It's called This Is Real. Does this song scratch that rage, itch? It really does. Yeah. When someone screams in a song, I'm like, I'm listening. Yeah. Sounds great. They even sing near the end there.

Well, I got my anger off my chest. But we'll never be the same again. But this song, yeah, it is so cool. I mean, it starts off almost like, I don't know, math rock or something like maybe tortoise would do. And then we're not even a. minute into it and it erupts into some sort of noise metal and then shifts again to I don't even know I'm just making stuff up here 90s 90s emo something you know and then more noise and then jingly pop at the end this is another song today that we've played that has these deep existential

questions embedded into it there's like that whole stretch of the song or they're singing if you're not real then I'm not real right um what does that mean to you? Maybe it has something to do with the idea of living in a relative world where you can't know anything including yourself without having some sort of understanding of everything else around you. Yeah. And yeah, maybe it's the idea that if I can't see you, then I can't even see myself. I don't know. Definitely, it definitely is a very addictive spiral to get into. So the song is called This Is Real from Feeble Little Horse, just a single for now. But, you know, they've been putting out music, well, actually really only for a couple few years,

but they already have two full albums, a couple of EPs, and they're all great. So people should definitely check those out. All right, Hazel, I know that you've got one more thing that you want to play for us. Yes, I want to play a song by the artist Lyra Pramuk. She is an experimental artist whose debut album titled Fountain, came out of a song. out in 2020 and just completely blew me away. And she is a new album coming out. I'm really excited about it. It's called hymnal. And the first track off of it is called rewild. Herper Muk is obviously, as you hear in this song, really interested in the possibilities of

kind of using her voice as its own instrument, you know, calling different sounds from it, layering it in this really crazy way. And what's fascinating to me about her is that it really comes from her background as someone who grew up in a tiny town in Pennsylvania. She's based in Berlin now. She grew up singing in church choirs and she's really interested in folk music tradition. What music sounded like before the Industrial Revolution. Oh, wow. And it's interesting because it's like her, her music is obviously so heavily edited and like she's really interested in electronics. On this song, she's like, you know, using these incredible strings. But even as she's doing all of this manipulation to her vocals, it actually sounds quite pure to me.

Like there's something about this song that feels very guttural and almost not back to the body. Even if she's, I don't know, using all of these techniques to sort of create a tapestry of her vocals. But what she does in her music is very powerful to me. Yeah. I don't normally quote press releases, but I have to read you something in this case that I read in a press release. It's the description I got for Lyra Pramuk, and this is the quote, A radical, vocal, electronic, classical, constructive, delicate, nurturing, mindful, philosophical, spiritual, political. These are all hyphenated political, responsible, and techno-pagan girl moss.

Yeah. And I don't know about the lengthy, very adjective heavy description. But the same press release did say that her music is the symphony of the universe. And that I will agree with because it's a little cosmic. It's a little out of this world. And it somehow seems to contain everything in the universe. Yeah. Well, again, that song Rewild.

It's the opening cut to the new album from Lyra Prumach. And it is called hymnal. The album is hymnal, and it is out on June 13th. All right, Hazel, as I mentioned, you know, we're taking this nostalgia trip here at the end of every show. We're looking back at our number one songs from each of all songs considered 25 years on spaceship Earth. Stephen Thompson and I have been doing a new year on each episode this week.

We are up to 2008. So we're going to close out the show here with that, followed by our weekly reset, and if you don't know the weekly reset, but you've been wondering what all those weird ambient noises are at the end of every show, that's it. That's your weekly reset. It's just a little moment to take a deep breath and remember, you know, you are a living, breathing creature on the planet,

surrounded by people who love you, and it's going to be okay. And if you want to know what the sound is that you hear, because sometimes it isn't always obvious, I have started listing it in the episode description so people can read what the sound is there in their podcast feeds. But Hazel, thank you, as always, for hanging out and sharing all this great music. Thank you for having me. Okay, here's Stephen Thompson on our number one songs of 2008. I mean, if you just think about the year 2008 and the show all songs considered.

And Stephen Thompson. And certainly my... But I was not the only one who loved this song. exactly what you're going to pick, by the way. Yeah, like, there's no question. Yeah, I mean, this record changed, changed a lot of music. Like, this record ushered in a lot of different sounds. I mean, the origin story of this record where Justin Vernon, having experienced this big breakup in his life, retreated to a cabin in the Wisconsin woods. It was a story that felt very relatable. Well, it also became a cliche. The whole idea of an artist goes away to a cat. It goes away to a

cabin in the woods because they're so tortured and, you know, to court their views. Remember when Justin Timberlake released an album called Man of the Woods? I felt like that was, that was the beginning of the end. Yeah, it just spawned this whole thing about musicians going away, isolating themselves to, to make art. Well, and it implies a certain amount of authenticity. Yeah. But this record was such a statement of purpose.

Yeah. You know, it was such a statement of who he is as an. artist. And we gushed about this. It was not just me. I know. We all loved this. I certainly am a, I can be a very effusive guy when I'm talking about my favorite music. And we talked about this record so much. And we talked about Bonne Verre so much. I remember us having a running joke, you, me, Bob Boylan and is this the tip jar or whatever? And Kerry Brownstein about having an Iver jar. Yes, that way. Every time someone mentioned BoniVeer, they had to put a dollar in the Iver jar. And, you know, at the end of the taping,

we could all go out for drinks. But, you know, this record has held up so beautifully. I have no issue with you picking that as your number one song for all songs considered for your life for the year 2008. Back in 2016, when we did 16 number one songs from our first 16 years when we got to 2008, that is, in fact, the song that we picked for 2008. This is the one that I would pick, though, for 2008.

I'll come on, man. You'll know it as soon as the voice. kicks in. Oh, Vampire Weekend. You know, when bands come along, they put out a debut album,

like Vampire Week, and put out this self-titled debut album in 2008. You have this moment where you're like, it's pretty good. This band might be something. You know, one thing that we're talking about when we're talking about

the songs that represent each year, you're also talking about where the music industry was at the time those songs came out. And Vampire Weekend, to me, I really think of as one of the ultimate blog bands, kind of one of the ultimate, like, internet hype bands where the internet is freaking out about this. And, you know, the internet had certainly been around for, you know, more than a decade by the time we're talking about 2008. But I really think of this as like a truly internet phenomenon where by the time they actually put out a record, people were sick of them because people had been talking about them on pitchfork or stereo gum or, you know, these music blogs so much by the time.

time it came out. And it's sort of interesting to think of Vampire Weekend and Bonnie Verre. For one thing, they played our South by Southwest showcase. Same year, which we picked pretty well that year. But also, they're in a way. Also, Adele was supposed to play that show. Adel was supposed to play that show. Yeah. Shout out louds were on that bill. I mean, that was a, that was a phenomenal lineup. But like, in a way, BoniVare and Vampire Weekend, they kind of came up at the same time. They both had this huge well of internet support, but they couldn't be more. different. Yeah.

Like, Boni Vair, it's the rustic, authentic man of the cabin, and Vampire Weekend were like a bunch of preppy Ivy League. City. City boys. Yeah. And the fact that those two rose up together and were embraced by a lot of the same people is sort of fascinating. All right.

That'll do it for 2008. There's so much more we could play. Oh, man. You know what we're heading? into Robin. We are heading into the stomping clap era of 2009. Well, that's funny because when I'll just tease it by saying, in fact, the number one song that I will end up playing for 2009 is a big stomp clap song. So we'll get to it. All right, thanks, Stephen. See you later, buddy. For NPR music, I'm Robin Hilton. It's all songs considered.