Cobra and Phases Group Play Voltage in the Milky Night

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Cobra and Phases Group Play Voltage in the Milky Night
Cobraandphasesgroupplayvoltageinthemilkynight.png
Studio album by
Stereolab
Released21 September 1999 (1999-09-21)
RecordedFebruary 1998 – February 1999
Studio
Genre
Length75:37
Label
Producer
Stereolab chronology
The Free Design
(1999)		Cobra and Phases Group Play Voltage in the Milky Night
(1999)		 The First of the Microbe Hunters
(2000)
Singles from Cobra and Phases Group Play Voltage in the Milky Night
  1. "The Free Design"
    Released: 6 September 1999
  2. "Come and Play in the Milky Night"
    Released: 5 September 2019

Cobra and Phases Group Play Voltage in the Milky Night is the sixth studio album by English-French rock band Stereolab. It was released on 21 September 1999 and was issued by Duophonic Records and Elektra Records. The album was largely co-produced by Stereolab, John McEntire, and Jim O'Rourke.

Contents

Recording

Stereolab produced Cobra and Phases Group Play Voltage in the Milky Night with John McEntire, who had co-produced the band's previous two studio albums Emperor Tomato Ketchup (1996) and Dots and Loops (1997), [5] [6] and Jim O'Rourke. [7] Assisted by McEntire and O'Rourke, Stereolab recorded the bulk of Cobra and Phases Group between November 1998 and February 1999, [8] at Wolf Studios in London. [7] As band members Tim Gane and Lætitia Sadier were occupied with raising their infant son at the time, Stereolab opted to record in London instead of Chicago, where McEntire and O'Rourke were typically based. [8] The only material on the album that does not date to these sessions is one section of the song "Italian Shoes Continuum"; this section was produced by Stereolab and Fulton Dingley and recorded in February 1998 at Blackwing Studios in London. [7]

Release

Cobra and Phases Group was released on 21 September 1999 in the United States by Elektra Records, [9] and on 27 September 1999 in the United Kingdom by Duophonic Records. [10] The track "The Free Design" was previously released on 6 September 1999; [10] it was issued as a single (on 7" vinyl) and as an EP (on CD and 12" vinyl). [11]

A remastered and expanded edition of Cobra and Phases Group was released by Duophonic and Warp on 13 September 2019. [12] Coinciding with the re-release, "Come and Play in the Milky Night" was issued as a digital single on 5 September 2019. [13]

Critical reception and legacy

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [14]
Alternative Press 4/5 [4]
Entertainment Weekly B+ [15]
Exclaim! 8/10 [16]
Pitchfork 3.4/10 [17]
Q Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svg [18]
Rolling Stone Star full.svgStar full.svgStar half.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svg [3]
Spin 6/10 [19]
Uncut 6/10 [20]
USA Today Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [21]

Cobra and Phases Group was released to middling reviews from music critics. [16] [20] Pitchfork 's Brent DiCrescenzo wrote that Stereolab's "socialist cocktail jazz schtick" had become predictable and "soulless", and that despite the album's eclectic nature, "it all sounds exactly the same." [17] NME writer Johnny Cigarettes stated that the music was reminiscent of "bad jazz and progressive rock" and scathingly accused Stereolab of "borrowing credibility by indulgently showing off their stylistic dexterity, thinking that odd time signatures and weird sounds are clever in their own right, [and] being deliberately obscure and unlistenable". [22] James Hunter of Rolling Stone dismissed the first five songs as uneventful and felt that only from "Infinity Girl" onward does the album capture the band's "fashionable post-rock charm". [3] Barry Walters of Spin found the more drone-oriented songs tepid but noted that "the melodic bits are dreamier than ever", concluding that the album would benefit from "ruthless home-listener editing". [19]

Among more positive appraisals, Alternative Press remarked that "few bands make sweetly psychedelic pop as enduring as [Stereolab] do." [4] USA Today critic Edna Gundersen said that although "ponderous drones such as 'Blue Milk' border on grating, the aggressively unorthodox band lapses into coherent melodies as effortlessly as Burt Bacharach." [21] Elisabeth Vincentelli of Entertainment Weekly wrote that the album "takes time to work its charm, but it's well worth the effort." [15]

In a retrospective review for AllMusic, Tim Sendra stated that while "difficult at times, Cobra is Stereolab at their near best", effectively balancing the band's experimental and pop sensibilities. [14] Reviewing the album in 2019 for Uncut , Louis Pattison commented that in hindsight, "its charms are more evident". [20] The same year, Tim Gane cited Cobra and Phases Group and its follow-up Sound-Dust (2001) as his favourite Stereolab albums in an interview with The Guardian : "I like things that are sprawling and not identified really easily, not easy to digest but there's a lot of possibilities in them." [23]

Track listing

All tracks are written by Tim Gane and Lætitia Sadier.

No.TitleLength
1."Fuses"3:40
2."People Do It All the Time"3:42
3."The Free Design"3:47
4."Blips Drips and Strips"4:28
5."Italian Shoes Continuum"4:36
6."Infinity Girl"3:56
7."The Spiracles"3:40
8."Op Hop Detonation"3:32
9."Puncture in the Radax Permutation"5:48
10."Velvet Water"4:24
11."Blue Milk"11:29
12."Caleidoscopic Gaze"8:09
13."Strobo Acceleration"3:55
14."The Emergency Kisses"5:53
15."Come and Play in the Milky Night"4:38
Total length:75:37
Japanese edition bonus track
No.TitleLength
16."Galaxidion"3:15
Total length:78:52
Limited edition bonus disc
No.TitleLength
1."Escape Pod (From the World of Medical Observations)"3:55
2."With Friends Like These"5:51
3."Les Aimies des memes"5:54
Total length:15:40
2019 expanded edition bonus disc [24]
No.TitleLength
1."Galaxidion"3:17
2."With Friends Like These Pt. 2"2:53
3."Backwards Shug"3:58
4."Continuum" (unreleased original version)2:05
5."Continuum Vocodered" (unreleased)1:13
6."People Do It All the Time" (demo)1:54
7."Op Hop Detonation" (demo)0:59
8."The Spiracles" (demo)1:41
9."Latin Cobra Coda" (demo)0:47
10."Infinity Girl" (demo)2:35
11."Blips, Drips & Strips" (demo)2:35
12."Blue Milk" (demo)3:38
13."Italian Shoes Continuum" (demo)2:17
14."Come and Play in the Milky Night" (demo)2:01
15."Strobo Acceleration" (demo)2:21
16."Caleidoscopic Gaze" (demo)2:07
17."Galaxidion" (demo)1:47
Total length:38:08

Personnel

Credits are adapted from the album's liner notes. [7]

Stereolab

Additional musicians

Production

Design

Charts

Chart (1999–2019)Peak
position
Scottish Albums (OCC) [25] 46
UK Albums (OCC) [26] 92
UK Dance Albums (OCC) [27] 5
UK Independent Albums (OCC) [28] 12
US Billboard 200 [29] 154
US Heatseekers Albums (Billboard) [30] 8

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References

  1. ↑ Considine, J. D. (9 September 1999). "CD releases enter hyperdrive". The Baltimore Sun .
  2. ↑ Hall, Jeff (5 November 1999). "Eclectic Ben Harper aims to shine at Electric Factory show". Courier-Post .
  3. 1 2 3 Hunter, James (30 September 1999). "Stereolab: Cobra & Phases Group Play Voltage In The Milky Night". Rolling Stone . Archived from the original on 1 October 2007. Retrieved 3 September 2018.
  4. 1 2 3 "Stereolab: Cobra and Phases Group Play Voltage in the Milky Night". Alternative Press . No. 135. October 1999. p. 110.
  5. ↑ Emperor Tomato Ketchup (liner notes). Stereolab. Duophonic Records. 1996. D-UHF-CD11.CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  6. ↑ Dots and Loops (liner notes). Stereolab. Duophonic Records. 1997. D-UHF-CD17.CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  7. 1 2 3 4 Cobra and Phases Group Play Voltage in the Milky Night (liner notes). Stereolab. Duophonic Records. 1999. D-UHF-CD23.CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  8. 1 2 Jenkins, Mark (5 November 1999). "Stereolab's Latest Experiment". The Washington Post . Retrieved 28 December 2018.
  9. ↑ Comer, M. Tye (6 September 1999). "Stereolab: Cobra and Phases Group Play Voltage in the Milky Night". CMJ New Music Report . Vol. 59 no. 12. p. 5. Retrieved 25 May 2020.
  10. 1 2 "Beaucoup De 'Lab". NME . 29 June 1999. Retrieved 24 January 2021.
  11. ↑ "Free Design". stereolab.co.uk. Archived from the original on 5 October 2008. Retrieved 24 May 2021.
  12. ↑ "Part II Expanded & Remastered Album Reissues". Warp . Retrieved 24 January 2021.
  13. ↑ "Come and Play In the Milky Night – Single by Stereolab". United Kingdom: Apple Music . Retrieved 25 January 2021.
  14. 1 2 Sendra, Tim. "Cobra and Phases Group Play Voltage in the Milky Night – Stereolab". AllMusic . Retrieved 14 September 2019.
  15. 1 2 Vincentelli, Elisabeth (24 September 1999). "Cobra and Phases Group Play Voltage in the Milky Night". Entertainment Weekly . Retrieved 30 December 2014.
  16. 1 2 Ranta, Alan (12 September 2019). "Stereolab: Cobra and Phases Group Play Voltage in the Milky Night (Expanded and Remastered)". Exclaim! . Retrieved 14 March 2020.
  17. 1 2 DiCrescenzo, Brent (21 September 1999). "Stereolab: Cobra and Phases Group Play Voltage in the Milky Night". Pitchfork . Retrieved 3 September 2018.
  18. ↑ "Stereolab: Cobra and Phases Group Play Voltage in the Milky Night". Q . No. 158. November 1999. p. 135.
  19. 1 2 Walters, Barry (November 1999). "Stereolab: Cobra and Phases Group Play Voltage in the Milky Night". Spin . Vol. 15 no. 11. p. 194. Retrieved 3 September 2018.
  20. 1 2 3 Pattison, Louis (October 2019). "Stereolab: Emperor Tomato Ketchup / Dots and Loops / Cobra and Phases Group Play Voltage in the Milky Night". Uncut . No. 269. p. 50.
  21. 1 2 Gundersen, Edna (12 October 1999). "Eccentric Stereolab cranks up 'Voltage'". USA Today .
  22. ↑ Cigarettes, Johnny (27 September 1999). "Stereolab – Cobra And Phases Group Play Voltage In The Milky Night". NME . Archived from the original on 17 August 2000. Retrieved 25 May 2020.
  23. ↑ Beaumont-Thomas, Ben (4 September 2019). "Stereolab: 'There was craziness in getting lost and dizzy'". The Guardian . Retrieved 24 May 2021.
  24. ↑ "Stereolab – Cobra And Phases Group Play Voltage In The Milky Night (Expanded Edition)". Duophonic Ultra High Frequency Disks . Retrieved 25 January 2021.
  25. ↑ "Official Scottish Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 26 June 2021.
  26. ↑ "Official Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 3 September 2018.
  27. ↑ "Dance Albums" (PDF). Music Week . 9 October 1999. p. 24. Retrieved 6 August 2021.
  28. ↑ "Official Independent Albums Chart Top 50". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 3 September 2018.
  29. ↑ "Stereolab Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Retrieved 8 November 2017.
  30. ↑ "Stereolab Chart History (Heatseekers Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved 8 November 2017.
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