''Emperor Tomato Ketchup'' is the fourth

studio album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...

by English-French rock band Stereolab. It was released on 18 March 1996 and was issued by Duophonic Records and

Elektra Records Elektra Records (or Elektra Entertainment) is an American record label owned by Warner Music Group, founded in 1950 by Jac Holzman and Paul Rickolt. It played an important role in the development of contemporary folk and rock music between the 1 ...

. The album is named after the 1971 experimental film '' Emperor Tomato Ketchup'' by Japanese author and director Shūji Terayama.

Composition and recording

On ''Emperor Tomato Ketchup'', Stereolab experimented with composing songs around looped sounds instead of traditional riffs. Critic Tom Moon found the band's compositional approach reminiscent of hip hop and

electronica Electronica is both a broad group of electronic-based music styles intended for listening rather than strictly for dancing and a music scene that started in the early 1990s in the United Kingdom. In the United States, the term is mostly used to r ...

music, with loops being layered into "richly textured collages". Guitarist Tim Gane remarked that the shift in style from previous releases emerged from a year-long bout of writer's block, where the band felt they were "drifting about in a musical landscape that wasn't inspiring or particularly exciting. With nothing on the horizon, everything we tried out seemed to be a dead end". The group began working on a cover of the Godz' "ABC" for a tribute album. The challenge of covering a song that was essentially a free improvisation proved to be invigorating: Gane adapted four notes from the track and looped them, providing the basis for an early take on the song "Percolator". This reliance on loops rather than their earlier drone-based approach provided the blueprint for much of the album's direction. The recording sessions for ''Emperor Tomato Ketchup'' were split between working with

John McEntire John McEntire (born April 9, 1970 in Portland, Oregon) is an American recording engineer, producer, drummer and multi-instrumentalist, based in Chicago, Illinois. He is a member of both Tortoise and the Sea and Cake. McEntire started playing dr ...

in Chicago and Paul Tipler in London.

Release

''Emperor Tomato Ketchup'' was released on 18 March 1996 in the United Kingdom by Duophonic Records, and on 9 April 1996 in the United States by

. The artwork for the album was inspired by the LP cover sleeve of a 1964 recording of composer

Béla Bartók Béla Viktor János Bartók (; ; 25 March 1881 – 26 September 1945) was a Hungarian composer, pianist, and ethnomusicologist. He is considered one of the most important composers of the 20th century; he and Franz Liszt are regarded as H ...

's Concerto for Orchestra by the Bamberg Symphony conducted by Heinrich Hollreiser. Preceding the album's release, the track "

Cybele's Reverie ''Cybele's Reverie'' is an EP by English-French rock band Stereolab, released on 19 February 1996 by Duophonic Records. Its title track serves as the lead single from their fourth studio album '' Emperor Tomato Ketchup''. The four-track EP is th ...

" was issued as a single (on

7" vinyl In music, a single is a type of Art release#Music, release, typically a song Sound recording, recording of fewer tracks than an LP record or an album. One can be released for record sales, sale to the public in a variety of formats. In most ca ...

) and as an EP (on CD and

10" vinyl A phonograph record (also known as a gramophone record, especially in British English), or simply a record, is an analog sound storage medium in the form of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove. The groove usually starts near ...

) on 19 February 1996. A second single, "Metronomic Underground", was released on 2 December 1996. "The Noise of Carpet" was also promoted as a single to radio outlets in the United States. AllMusic writer Heather Phares cites ''Emperor Tomato Ketchup'' as "Stereolab's greatest success to date". In the US, the album was especially successful on

college radio Campus radio (also known as college radio, university radio or student radio) is a type of radio station that is run by the students of a college, university or other educational institution. Programming may be exclusively created or produced ...

, and by August 1997, the album had sold over 46,000 units in the country, according to

Nielsen SoundScan Luminate (formerly Nielsen SoundScan, Nielsen Music Products, and MRC Data) is a provider of music sales data. Established by Mike Fine and Mike Shalett in 1991, data is collected weekly and made available every Sunday (for albums sales) and eve ...

. A

remaster Remaster refers to changing the quality of the sound or of the image, or both, of previously created recordings, either audiophonic, cinematic, or videographic. The terms digital remastering and digitally remastered are also used. Mastering A ...

ed and expanded edition of ''Emperor Tomato Ketchup'' was released by Duophonic and

Warp Warp, warped or warping may refer to: Arts and entertainment Books and comics * WaRP Graphics, an alternative comics publisher * ''Warp'' (First Comics), comic book series published by First Comics based on the play ''Warp!'' * Warp (comics), a ...

on 13 September 2019.

Critical reception and legacy

On its release, ''Emperor Tomato Ketchup'' earned positive reviews from music critics. In 2004's '' The New Rolling Stone Album Guide'', Roni Sarig wrote that Stereolab created their "most well-rounded, confident, and accomplished statement" with ''Emperor Tomato Ketchup'', forgoing their earlier lo-fi aesthetic and crafting "an impeccably produced, creatively mixed collection that's a joy to behold in its full high-fidelity glory."

Stephen Thomas Erlewine Stephen Thomas Erlewine (; born June 18, 1973) is an American music critic and senior editor for the online music database AllMusic. He is the author of many artist biographies and record reviews for AllMusic, as well as a freelance writer, occ ...

of AllMusic stated that "Stereolab were poised for a breakthrough" with ''Emperor Tomato Ketchup'' given both their growing influence on alternative rock and their increasingly accessible musical direction. He noted that the album saw the band composing hookier songs while incorporating "more avant-garde and experimental influences", resulting in it being their "most complex, multi-layered record." '' Record Collector''s Oregano Rathbone likewise said that ''Emperor Tomato Ketchup'' contained "defining examples of Stereolab's rewardingly oxymoronic tendencies". ''Emperor Tomato Ketchup'' has appeared in numerous lists of the greatest albums. ''

Spin Spin or spinning most often refers to: * Spinning (textiles), the creation of yarn or thread by twisting fibers together, traditionally by hand spinning * Spin, the rotation of an object around a central axis * Spin (propaganda), an intentionally b ...

'' named it the 46th best album of the 1990s. It was ranked 51st on '' Pitchfork''s list of the decade's best albums, with staff writer Brent DiCrescenzo praising it as Stereolab's "most definitive and recommended statement" and recalling that it "sounded wholly futuristic and alien" at the time of its release. Tom Moon included ''Emperor Tomato Ketchup'' in his book ''

1,000 Recordings to Hear Before You Die Onekama ( ) is a village in Manistee County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 411 at the 2010 census. The village is located on the shores of Portage Lake and is surrounded by Onekama Township. The town's name is derived from "On ...

'' (2008), and it was also included in the book ''

1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die ''1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die'' is a musical reference book first published in 2005 by Universe Publishing. Part of the ''1001 Before You Die'' series, it compiles writings and information on albums chosen by a panel of music critics ...

''.

Track listing

Personnel

Credits are adapted from the album's liner notes. Stereolab * Stereolab – vocals, percussion, bass, guitar, Farfisa and Vox organs, analogue synthesizer, electronics, electric piano, tambourine, vibraphone, other instruments ** Tim Gane ** Lætitia Sadier ** Duncan Brown ** Mary Hansen ** Morgane Lhote ** Andy Ramsay Additional musicians * Ray Dickarty –

alto saxophone The alto saxophone is a member of the saxophone family of woodwind instruments. Saxophones were invented by Belgian instrument designer Adolphe Sax in the 1840s and patented in 1846. The alto saxophone is pitched in E, smaller than the B tenor ...

on "Percolator" * Mandy Drummond – strings * Meg Gates – strings * Sally Herbert – strings * Marcus Holdaway – strings *

– analogue synthesizer, electronics, maracas, tambourine, vibraphone and guitar on "Tomorrow Is Already Here" * Sean O'Hagan – Wurlitzer piano, Vox organ, vibraphone, string

arrangement In music, an arrangement is a musical adaptation of an existing composition. Differences from the original composition may include reharmonization, melodic paraphrasing, orchestration, or formal development. Arranging differs from orches ...

s Production * John McEntire – production, engineering, mixing * Stereolab (credited as "The Groop") – production, mixing * Paul Tipler – production, engineering, mixing

Charts

References

External links

''Emperor Tomato Ketchup''
at official Stereolab website * * {{Authority control 1996 albums Stereolab albums Albums produced by John McEntire Elektra Records albums