After their performance at Macquarie University on the Sound-Dust tour (27 March, 2002), I timidly approached Tim Gane, gave him a demo of my band and asked him “How do you write songs?”

He told me he sits in a room and come up with some chords on a guitar that sound good over and over again. At the time, I was devastated by his seemingly flippant answer. Later, I came to realize he dealt generously with a fan’s question.

As I listen to Stereolab, Tim’s answer still inspires me to find that basic idea at the heart of each Stereolab tune. As always, the internet was less than helpful, so here we go with a breakdown of Stereolab’s major label debut, Transient Random Noise Bursts With Announcements”.

Tone Burst – G | F | x3 then Eb | D, not a long one – this is the first recorded evidence that Stereolab are a minimalist band, because the song starts and doesn’t really have an ending (not a criticism!) Our Trinitone Blast – C#(7) then Amaj7 | E2 | F#(7) | C# Pack Yr Romantic Mind – two parts Cmaj7 | Dmaj7 | D | Gmaj7 and B | C | B | E (the bass in the first part is C and G, C# and F#, D and A, then D and G, this part makes for the particular haunting harmonic world of the song) I’m Going Out Of My Way – C | G | G ’ C ‘ | Bm | Bm ‘ Am ‘ | Golden Ball – E | E ‘ ‘ D | Pause – D Bm C C#m Em but the main guitar part is D | D E | and at 4:20 it becomes a 12/8 C#m | C#m | B | A | Jenny Ondioline – Pt I is capo 2 (drop G tuning) – E octave, 5th fretted D octaves then add some F# as well, drops down to a B and A bit (largely open chords at the point) just really straight strumming. Pt II is no capo and largely E. This is all straight strumming. The two linking parts (0-0:36 ) and (6:40-7:16) are pentatonic octaves Analogue Rock – G# | G# | E | over and over then changes gradually to G# only Crest – E and F# (in E shape) over and over (with the EB drone on top), bass ascends up through the E Lydian mode) Lock-Groove Lullaby – two basic riffs alternate – C#m F#2 (sometimes just stay on C#) and B2 D (or A) (sometimes add E note) with a final bit being an Eb (sample?) Guitar has E and F# on top. The basic phrase is just expanded and contracted every now and then.

“Transient Random…” uses straightforward diatonic chords (no 7ths or fancy stuff, except if there’s a drone note due to a broken guitar chord) and a built around a simple strumming guitar. I would love to know if Tim wrote some of those central baselines too. The unique part of “Transient Random…” was not the songwriting or harmonic structure, it was the mix of influences and the arrangements. The lab is only checking that all its machines are calibrated, it will start experimenting soon enough.