Chemical Chords
by Stereolab
  • Record Label: 4AD
  • Release Date: Aug 19, 2008
Metascore
72

Generally favorable reviews - based on 21 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 13 out of 21
  2. Mixed: 8 out of 21
  3. Negative: 0 out of 21
  1. Filter
    86
    Chemical Chords is yet another kaleidoscope that hits you as ear candy upon first listen, but like most Stereolab records, further inspection reveal a playground for the mind. [Summer 2008, p.97]
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  2. The A.V. Club
    83
    They're editing, giving simple ideas more impact by reducing their exposure, preventing a "Saturday Night Live" skit from becoming a "Saturday Night Live" movie.
  3. Pitchfork
    81
    To that end, the whole album has a lightness of touch that makes it sound warm and comfortable, especially after the sad weight evident on the also-excellent "Margerine Eclipse."
  5. Drowned In Sound
    80
    That they’ve somewhat restricted themselves in the way the record was constructed is also, oddly, a very good thing because it’s allowed them to strain and work within a framework and yield excellent results.
  6. Dusted Magazine
    80
    Chemical Chords is more compact, true, but they’ve not lost their character through economy.
  7. Hot Press
    80
    Stereolab learn to stop being boring and love the pop.
  8. AllMusic
    80
    Chemical Chords manages to be even more concisely charming than that album, sacrificing little of Stereolab's distinctive sound for its immediacy.
  9. Prefix Magazine
    80
    Though some of the oddball, art-house tendencies have been lost in this new translation of the band’s music, there has never been a better, brighter or more immediately satisfying pop soundtrack to Das Kapital.
  10. cokemachineglow
    74
    this is nothing amazing but after the understandably sombre "Margerine Eclipse" (2004), the studious "Fab Four Suture" (2006), and Laetitia’s cerebral study into duality of the self on "Monstre Cosmic" (2008), it is refreshing to feel the joy.
  11. Billboard
    70
    While some tunes, like the Columbo-background-music-ready title track, suffer for their weightlessness ('Metronomic Underground,' we miss you), the Motown-meets-Esquivel 'Self Portrait With Electric Brain' and beat-oriented electro of 'Valley Hi!' and 'Pop Molecule' read as exquisitely wrought.
  12. Under The Radar
    70
    Chemical Chords is just what the doctor ordered. [Summer 2008, p.84]
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  13. Village Voice
    70
    Diehards will probably resent their new predictability and homogeneity, but the group's mature phase is capable of generating one hell of a pop album.
  14. Paste Magazine
    70
    On Chemical Chords, there’s nothing in the 14 pleasant-sounding tracks that we haven’t heard them sing about--in breathy, jazz-cat-inflected French--several dozen times before.

User Reviews

All reviews »
User Score
8.4

Universal acclaim- based on 9 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 8 out of 9
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 9
  3. Negative: 0 out of 9
  1. DavidF
    Sep 8, 2008
    8
    This is a real treat, and easily their best since EMPEROR TOMATO KETCHUP - if not their best ever.
  2. KurtC
    Aug 28, 2008
    6
    Being a fan of Stereolab for 12 years now and bearing two tattoos in honor of them, I am very disappointed with 'Chemical Chords'. Being a fan of Stereolab for 12 years now and bearing two tattoos in honor of them, I am very disappointed with 'Chemical Chords'. It's their biggest mis-step in my opinion. As every review has touched on, there is no new ground covered here. The songs sound uninspired and like clones of one another. Two songs even begin the exact same way with the same drum fill. I couldn't believe that I had to struggle to make through my first listen of the album! I didn't enjoy it at all. A major let-down especially coming after their last true album, 'Margerine Eclipse' which was magnificent and probably their career's pinnacle.… Full Review »
  3. SeanN
    Aug 20, 2008
    8
    Stereolab is going the distance, and so am I.
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