i've just discovered Stereolab, now what...?

This is hugely unhelpful I know, but I can't focus enough to pick out anything more specific than "gah! all of it!" right now.

Super-Electric
The Light That Will Cease To Fail
Au Grand Jour
You Little Shits
Surrealchemist
Ronco Symphony
Jenny Ondioline
Des Etioles Electroniques
Ping Pong
International Colouring Contest
Transporte Sans Bouger
Fiery Yellow
Transona Five
Lo Boob Oscillator
French Disko
Mountain
Animal Or Vegetable (A Wonderful Wooden Reason)
John Cage Bubblegum
Metronomic Underground
Cybele's Reverie
Les Yper-Sound
The Noise Of Carpet
Motoroller Scalatron
Anonymous Collective
Miss Modular
Refractions In The Plastic Pulse
Ticker Tape Of The Unconscious
Rainbo Conversation
Simple Headphone Mind
The Extension Trip
Melochord Seventy-Five
One Note Samba
Klang Tone
Seeperbold
The Free Design
Op Hop Operation
Caleidoscopic Gaze
Outer Bongolia
Captain Easychord
Cache Coeur Naif (w/Mouse On Mars)
It's Lulu (remix of Boo Radleys)
St Elmo's Fire (Eno cover with Ui)

Yeah I've missed out loads I'm sure, but these are my recommendations. Fuck that's an amazing collection.

Mars Audiac Quintet and Random Transient Soundbursts with Announcements are of course crucial.

(ok, there are some exceptions to the price thing: the two 10"s on too pure are i think still available direct from the label, so DO NOT be fooled by anyone telling you it's Rare! Early Nineties! Collectors' Items! and charging you extortionate prices.)

if you're going to buy more of the albums i'd pick refried and mars audiac quintet and/or transient random noisebursts with announcements. i love the earlier stuff too but if you've got into them through etk and d+l then it's probably best to work backwards more gradually.

maq-era singles: search the Wow and Flutter cd! Heavy Denim, YES YES YES... we are not here to get bored, we are here to destroy! parts 3-5 of Nihilist Assault Group (1 and 2 are on the album) also turn up here and it's pretty neat to put them all back together. not ideal for compilation tape making since that's probably an entire side of c90 on its own, mind.

later singles: most of this i wouldn't recommend especially, but look out for Fluorescences, the lead track of which is absolutely great and the b-sides are pretty cool too. for me this was the last time the groop were really on form. didn't even like dots and loops much. one of the ETK (?) singles i remember having b-sides with possibly the most atrocious lyrics i've ever heard over tepid backing but i can't remember which to nominate it for destruction. one bit i did like from the later stuff: captain easychord.

search the version of MoM's cache coeur naif with vocals from sadier and hansen, which doesn't really count but is very good indeed. i'm sure there's a ton of other stuff i've forgotten or just plain haven't heard, too.

Now what...?: go buy cds by NEU!, Esquivel, Dick Hyman, Free Design, Antonio Carlos Jobim, and the High Llamas.

brigitte fontaigne's album with the art ensemble of chicago
george russell's "electronic sonata for souls loved by nature"
don ellis "electric bath"
bob james e.s.p. album (w/ robert ashley)
french school electro/acousmatic music like bayle, malec, pargemiani, racot, or argentina's Carlos Roque Alsina
Brazils mutantes first three albums

gosh, i wish more pop music was as polished and interesting as stereolab's "Sound Dust" -- this is a hard question

No! Buy both! The first Fugu album is called Fugu 1 as I recall and it's great; The High Llamas' debut Gideon Gaye and last album Buzzle Bee are both lovely too, but a cursory listen to The Beach Boys' Surf's Up will certainly throw the latter into sharp relief.

I like Charlie's compilation. I might just go ahead and make that on some CDRs for my own bemusement.

Remember this commandment and keep it wholly -- thou shalt not suffer Dots and Loops to live. Heretics are to be burned. The antipope Nabisco I the Serene will lead you onto false paths.

And of course, once again, RIP Mary. :-( Looking forward to the Monade album at least.

also add in..."we are not adult oriented"

thanks for all the suggestions

i have the turn on stuff too (ill slsk mssg tnt k?)

Shitty shit I totally forgot about Turn On! Yesyesyes if you can possibly find it, it's bloody fantastic, some of the best stuff they've ever done. "Fluorescences" well and truly seconded as well - god there's so much out there it's hard to remember it all.

Best CD-R I've made lately is all of the A-sides of Stereolab's singles (except the tour-only ones), in reverse chronological order... wow.

I keep meaning to tackle this, but it would involve me rebuying loads of my 'Lab vinyl and there's too much new stuff I want to justify doing that right now. f course, if anyone *cough*Douglas*cough* fancies popping a copy in the post I'd be happy to return the favour with, umm, something equally alluring.

this almost makes sense.
subsitute either:

a) stereolab "jenny ondioline"

OR

b) download faust: "it's a rainy day, sunshine girl" but then again that's not "exploding head movie" it's the next song on crumb duck: "animal vegetable (a wonderful wooden reason)"

Funnily my answer to the original question would honestly be a suggestion to start with the obvious and go buy Emperor Tomato Ketchup, Mars Audiac Quintet, and Transient Random Noise Bursts -- i.e., the three-volume Best of Stereolab Albums starter-pack. The first and third Switched Ons are my favorite; I'm also really fond of Peng, especially if you're planning on listening to McCarthy as well.

Anyway so a bunch of *pop* based on that approach: Slow Fast Hazel (since you liked Cybele's), Metronomic Underground, Crest (!!!), K-Stars, Pack Yr Romantic Mind, Three-Dee Melodie, Transporte sans Bouger, Pop Quiz, French Disko, John Cage Bubblegum, Metronomic Underground (in a POO this might be the staple), Brakhage, Les Yper-Sound (I love Les Yper-Sound), One Small Step, and if you can find it a song that used to be called Heavenly Van Halen and sounds like, umm, Heavenly and Van Halen.

I was gonna do "a bunch of experiments / out there / etc." but that first bit took so long I'll wait until later.

*cackles evilly in priestly garments*