It’s understandable that the near normality with which illegal downloading is treated these days is a cause for concern for record companies. MP3 players have seriously reduced the need to buy a physical product, and I don’t think I’m the only one buying fewer albums than ever.
Part of the fun with buying new music in CD format is that you didn’t always know what you were going to get. You had to buy the album to find out how it sounded. But now, not only with illegal downloading, but many sites offering clips of tracks for previewing purposes, we can all afford to be a little more choosy and take less risks.
Early leaks of albums have an impact on album sales, and more and more acts are taking measures to try and beat those sneaking out albums before their release date at no cost. It’s not hard to imagine that a lot of this stems from reviewers, who often have the privilege of receiving music early, so that they can get their reviews out in a timely fashion.
It’s a difficult situation. Water-marking songs ruins them and make them virtually unlistenable, and thus not reviewable. A similar method has been employed by 4AD for the release of Stereolab’s new album. Instead of having a jingle running over the top of the tracks, they just cut all of them short, which actually makes it quite tough to review.
When I review music, I want to review complete songs. By cutting out the end of each track they make it impossible to enjoy the track, because there’s an important part of each one missing. They all end abruptly and I don’t have an impression of everything – do they end weakly in repeat to fade styles, or are they actually quite punchy numbers? I try and review albums a complete pieces of work, but it’s not possible here to comment on how the tracks blend into each other and whether the order of the tracks works.
I could understand the need to do this for some of the more massive bands, but Stereolab are hardly notorious chart-botherers. Ironically, by now the album has been released and I’m sure if I tapped it into a torrent site I could download the whole thing, albeit without the backing of the law. It’s not an effort I’m willing to make.
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From the selection of clips available on this preview disc, there isn’t a vast amount to get excited about. It sounds like business as usual for Stereolab, all wrapped up in their jingly tweeness. It’s competent, warm-hearted pop music, with slightly dour vocals clashing with a general jauntiness in approach. It’s not particularly stirring, especially when each track disappears as it seems to get going. The French-English combination is a point of interest, but all of the songs sound understated and bilingualism is not enough to carry the album.
Stereolab are at a stage where they will probably only ever appeal to their small but dedicated fanbase, who you’d hope wouldn’t wish to download their album for free on the sly. This is their eleventh album proper, and it’s fair to say you know where you stand with them. They’re competent musicians, but the clips of music I’ve heard from this album fail to move me, with the strings being particularly uninspiring. Its indie pop with a ‘Singing in the Rain’ feel. It’s classically arranged lo-fi, with prominent keyboards stamping boredom onto each track.
They’re not the first band to employ this tactic, but it’s the first time I’ve come into contact with it, which explains why it has bothered me so much. This preview has hardly offered tantalising tit-bits that have me legging it down to Fopp to find out more and sweep up a back catalogue. It’s certainly not something I would consider sharing with anyone, legally or otherwise.
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