Cobra and Phases Group Play Voltage in the Milky Night

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 in the United States by Elektra Records[3] and on 27 September 1999 in the United Kingdom by Duophonic Records.[1] The album was recorded between November 1998 and February 1999, and was largely co-produced by Stereolab, John McEntire, and Jim O'Rourke.[4] As band members Tim Gane and Lætitia Sadier were occupied with raising their infant son at the time, Stereolab opted to record the album in London instead of Chicago, where McEntire and O'Rourke were typically based.[4]

Cobra and Phases Group Play Voltage in the Milky Night
Studio album by
Stereolab
Released21 September 1999 (1999-09-21)
RecordedNovember 1998 – February 1999
Studio
Genre
Length75:37
Label
Producer
Stereolab chronology
The Free Design
(1998)		 Cobra and Phases Group Play Voltage in the Milky Night
(1999)		 The First of the Microbe Hunters
(2000)
Stereolab studio album chronology
Dots and Loops
(1997)		 Cobra and Phases Group Play Voltage in the Milky Night
(1999)		 Sound-Dust
(2001)
Singles from Cobra and Phases Group Play Voltage in the Milky Night
  1. "The Free Design"
    Released: 6 September 1999[1]
  2. "Come and Play in the Milky Night"
    Released: 5 September 2019[2]

A remastered and expanded edition of Cobra and Phases Group was released by Duophonic and Warp on 13 September 2019.[5]

Critical reception
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[6]
Alternative Press4/5[7]
Entertainment WeeklyB+[8]
Exclaim!8/10[9]
Pitchfork3.4/10[10]
Q[11]
Rolling Stone[12]
Spin6/10[13]
Uncut6/10[14]
USA Today[15]

Cobra and Phases Group was released to middling reviews from music critics.[9][14] 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."[10] 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".[16] 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".[12] 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".[13]

Among more positive appraisals, Alternative Press remarked that "few bands make sweetly psychedelic pop as enduring as [Stereolab] do."[7] 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."[15] Elisabeth Vincentelli of Entertainment Weekly wrote that the album "takes time to work its charm, but it's well worth the effort."[8] In a retrospective review for AllMusic, Tim Sendra stated that while "difficult at times, Cobra is Stereolab at their near best", effectively combining their experimental and pop sensibilities.[6] Reviewing the album's 2019 reissue for Uncut, Louis Pattison commented that in hindsight, "its charms are more evident".[14]

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[17]
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.[18]

Stereolab

Additional musicians

Production

  • Fulton Dingley – production, mixing, recording (all on "Italian Shoes Continuum")
  • John McEntire – production, mixing, recording
  • Jim O'Rourke – production, mixing, recording
  • Steve Rooke – mastering
  • Stereolab (credited as "The Groop") – production

Design

Charts
Chart (1999) Peak
position
UK Albums (OCC)[19] 92
UK Independent Albums (OCC)[20] 12
US Billboard 200[21] 154
US Heatseekers Albums (Billboard)[22] 8

References
  1. "Beaucoup De 'Lab". NME. 29 June 1999. Retrieved 24 January 2021.
  2. "Come and Play In the Milky Night – Single by Stereolab". United Kingdom: Apple Music. Retrieved 25 January 2021.
  3. 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.
  4. Jenkins, Mark (5 November 1999). "Stereolab's Latest Experiment". The Washington Post. Retrieved 28 December 2018.
  5. "Part II Expanded & Remastered Album Reissues". Warp. Retrieved 24 January 2021.
  6. Sendra, Tim. "Cobra and Phases Group Play Voltage in the Milky Night – Stereolab". AllMusic. Retrieved 14 September 2019.
  7. "Stereolab: Cobra and Phases Group Play Voltage in the Milky Night". Alternative Press. No. 135. October 1999. p. 110.
  8. Vincentelli, Elisabeth (24 September 1999). "Cobra and Phases Group Play Voltage in the Milky Night". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved 30 December 2014.
  9. Ranta, Alan (12 September 2019). "Stereolab: Cobra and Phases Group Play Voltage in the Milky Night (Expanded and Remastered)". Exclaim!. Retrieved 14 March 2020.
  10. DiCrescenzo, Brent (21 September 1999). "Stereolab: Cobra and Phases Group Play Voltage in the Milky Night". Pitchfork. Retrieved 3 September 2018.
  11. "Stereolab: Cobra and Phases Group Play Voltage in the Milky Night". Q. No. 158. November 1999. p. 135.
  12. 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.
  13. 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.
  14. 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.
  15. Gundersen, Edna (12 October 1999). "Eccentric Stereolab cranks up 'Voltage'". USA Today.
  16. 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.
  17. "Stereolab – Cobra And Phases Group Play Voltage In The Milky Night (Expanded Edition)". Duophonic Ultra High Frequency Disks. Retrieved 25 January 2021.
  18. Cobra and Phases Group Play Voltage in the Milky Night (liner notes). Stereolab. Duophonic Records. 1999. D-UHF-CD23.CS1 maint: others (link)
  19. "Official Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 3 September 2018.
  20. "Official Independent Albums Chart Top 50". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 3 September 2018.
  21. "Stereolab Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Retrieved 8 November 2017.
  22. "Stereolab Chart History (Heatseekers Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved 8 November 2017.
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