Stereolab are an
Anglo
Anglo is a prefix indicating a relation to, or descent from, the Angles, England, English culture, the English people or the English language, such as in the term ''Anglosphere''. It is often used alone, somewhat loosely, to refer to peopl ...
-
French avant-pop
Avant-pop is popular music that is experimental, new, and distinct from previous styles while retaining an immediate accessibility for the listener. The term implies a combination of avant-garde sensibilities with existing elements from popular ...
band formed in
London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
in 1990. Led by the songwriting team of
Tim Gane
Timothy John Gane (born 12 July 1964) is an English songwriter and guitarist who co-founded Stereolab with his then-partner Lætitia Sadier.Gregory, Andy (ed.) (2002) ''International Who's Who in Popular Music, 2002'', Europa Publications Limite ...
and
Lætitia Sadier
Lætitia Sadier (born 6 May 1968, sometimes known as Seaya Sadier) is a French musician, best known as a founding member of the London-based avant-pop band Stereolab. In 1996, while Stereolab was still active, she formed the side project Monade. ...
, the group's music combines influences from
krautrock,
lounge
Lounge may refer to:
Architecture
* Lounge, the living room of a dwelling
* Lounge, a public waiting area in a hotel's lobby
* Lounge, a style of commercial alcohol- bar
* Airport lounge, or train lounge (e.g., AMTRAK's Acela Lounge), a premium ...
and 1960s
pop music
Pop music is a genre of popular music that originated in its modern form during the mid-1950s in the United States and the United Kingdom. The terms ''popular music'' and ''pop music'' are often used interchangeably, although the former descri ...
, often incorporating a repetitive
motorik
Motorik is the 4/4 beat often used by, and heavily associated with, krautrock bands. Coined by music journalists, the term is German for "motor skill". The motorik beat was pioneered by Jaki Liebezeit, drummer with German experimental rock band ...
beat with heavy use of vintage electronic keyboards and female vocals sung in English and French. Their lyrics have political and philosophical themes influenced by the
Surrealist
Surrealism is a cultural movement that developed in Europe in the aftermath of World War I in which artists depicted unnerving, illogical scenes and developed techniques to allow the unconscious mind to express itself. Its aim was, according to ...
and
Situationist
The Situationist International (SI) was an Proletarian internationalism, international organization of social revolutionaries made up of avant-garde artists, intellectuals, and Political philosophy, political theorists. It was prominent in Eu ...
movements. On stage, they play in a more feedback-driven and guitar-oriented style. The band also draw from
funk,
jazz
Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a m ...
and
Brazilian music
The music of Brazil encompasses various regional musical styles influenced by European, American, African and Amerindian forms. Brazilian music developed some unique and original styles such as forró, repente, coco de roda, axé, sertanejo, ...
, and were one of the first artists to be dubbed "
post-rock". They are regarded among the most innovative and influential groups of the 1990s.
Stereolab were formed by Gane (guitar and keyboards) and Sadier (vocals, keyboards and guitar) after the break-up of
McCarthy. The two were romantically involved for fourteen years and are the group's only consistent members. Other longtime members included 1992 addition
Mary Hansen
Mary Therese Hansen (1 November 1966 9 December 2002) was an Australian-born guitarist and singer. She joined the London-based avant-pop band Stereolab in 1992. As a member, Hansen recorded six studio albums from '' Transient Random-Noise Burs ...
(backing vocals, keyboards and guitar), who died in 2002, and 1993 addition Andy Ramsay (drums).
The High Llamas
The High Llamas are an Anglo-Irish avant-pop band formed in London circa 1991. They were founded by singer-songwriter Sean O'Hagan, formerly of Microdisney, with drummer Rob Allum and ex-Microdisney bassist Jon Fell. O'Hagan has led the group s ...
' leader
Sean O'Hagan
Sean O'Hagan (born 1959) is an Irish singer, songwriter, and arranger who leads the avant-pop band the High Llamas, which he founded in 1992. He is also known for being one half of the songwriting duo (with Cathal Coughlan) in Microdisney and ...
(guitar and keyboards) was a member from 1993 to 1994 and continued appearing on later records for occasional guest appearances.
Throughout their career, Stereolab has had moderate commercial success. The band were released from their recording contract with
Elektra Records due to poor record sales, and their self-owned label
Duophonic
Duophonic sound was a trade name for a type of audio signal processing used by Capitol Records on certain releases and re-releases of mono recordings issued during the 1960s and 1970s. In this process monaural recordings were reprocessed into a ...
signed a distribution deal with
Too Pure
Too Pure was a London-based independent record label formed in 1990 by Richard Roberts and Paul Cox. The label gained prominence after the release of PJ Harvey's debut album '' Dry'' in 1992, and subsequently found further success in the lat ...
and later
Warp Records
Warp Records (or simply Warp) is a British independent record label founded in Sheffield in 1989 by record store employees Steve Beckett and Rob Mitchell and record producer Robert Gordon.Southern, Richard (2003) "Label of Love: WARP", X-RAY, ...
. After a ten-year hiatus, the band reunited for live performances in 2019.
History
1990–1993: Formation
In 1985, Tim Gane formed
McCarthy, a band from
Essex
Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and Grea ...
, England, known for their left-wing politics.
Gane met Lætitia Sadier, born in France,
at a 1988 McCarthy concert in Paris and the two quickly fell in love. The musically-inclined Sadier was disillusioned with the rock scene in France and soon moved to London to be with Gane and pursue her career.
In 1990, after three albums, McCarthy broke up and Gane immediately formed Stereolab with Sadier (who had also contributed vocals to McCarthy's final album), ex-
Chills bassist
Martin Kean
Stereolab are an Anglo- French avant-pop band formed in London in 1990. Led by the songwriting team of Tim Gane and Lætitia Sadier, the group's music combines influences from krautrock, lounge and 1960s pop music, often incorporating a repeti ...
and Gina Morris on backing vocals.
Stereolab's name was taken from a division of
Vanguard Records
Vanguard Recording Society is an American record label set up in 1950 by brothers Maynard and Seymour Solomon in New York City. It was a primarily classical label at its peak in the 1950s and 1960s, but also has a catalogue of recordings by a n ...
demonstrating
hi-fi effects.
Gane and Sadier, along with future band manager Martin Pike, set up a record label called
Duophonic Super 45s
Duophonic Ultra High Frequency Disks Limited (also known as Duophonic Records or Duophonic Super 45s) is a British independent record label formed by English-French rock band Stereolab in 1991. The label has two imprints: Duophonic Ultra High F ...
which, along with later offshoot Duophonic Ultra High Frequency Disks, would become commonly known as "Duophonic".
Gane said that their "original plan" was to distribute multiple 7 and 10-inch records "–to just do one a month and keep doing them in small editions".
The 10 inch vinyl
EP ''
Super 45
''Super 45'' is the debut EP and first release by Stereolab. It was issued on 10" vinyl and limited to approximately 800 copies.
It was sold at concerts, via mail order, and at the Rough Trade record store in London
London is the capital ...
'', released in May 1991, was the first release for both Stereolab and the label, and was sold through mail order and through the
Rough Trade Shop
Rough Trade is a group of independent record shops in the United Kingdom and the United States with headquarters in London.
The first Rough Trade shop was opened in 1976 by Geoff Travis in the Ladbroke Grove district of West London. Travis ...
in London. ''Super 45''s band-designed album art and packaging was the first of many customised and limited-edition Duophonic records. In a 1996 interview in ''
The Wire
''The Wire'' is an American crime drama television series created and primarily written by author and former police reporter David Simon. The series was broadcast by the cable network HBO in the United States. ''The Wire'' premiered on June 2 ...
'', Gane calls the "do-it-yourself" aesthetic behind Duophonic "empowering", and said that by releasing one's own music "you learn; it creates more music, more ideas".
Stereolab released the EP, ''
Super-Electric
''Super-Electric'' is the second EP by English-French rock band Stereolab, released in September 1991 by Too Pure. All four tracks were later included on '' Switched On''.
Track listing
# "Super-Electric" – 5:22
# "High Expectation" – 3:32
...
'' in September 1991, and a single, titled ''Stunning Debut Album'', followed in November 1991 (which was neither debut nor album). The early material was rock and guitar-oriented; of ''Super-Electric'', Jason Ankeny wrote in
AllMusic
AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databa ...
that "Droning guitars, skeletal rhythms, and pop hooks—not vintage synths and pointillist melodies—were their calling cards ..." Under the independent label
Too Pure
Too Pure was a London-based independent record label formed in 1990 by Richard Roberts and Paul Cox. The label gained prominence after the release of PJ Harvey's debut album '' Dry'' in 1992, and subsequently found further success in the lat ...
, the group's first full-length album, ''
Peng!
''Peng!'' is the debut studio album by English-French rock band Stereolab. It was released on 26 May 1992 by Too Pure in the United Kingdom. The album was issued in the United States on 13 June 1995 by Too Pure and American Recordings. A re ...
'' was released in May 1992. A compilation titled, ''
Switched On'', was released in October 1992 and would be part of a series of compilations that anthologise the band's more obscure material.
Around this time, the line-up consisted of Gane and Sadier plus vocalist and guitarist
Mary Hansen
Mary Therese Hansen (1 November 1966 9 December 2002) was an Australian-born guitarist and singer. She joined the London-based avant-pop band Stereolab in 1992. As a member, Hansen recorded six studio albums from '' Transient Random-Noise Burs ...
, drummer Andy Ramsay, bassist Duncan Brown, and keyboardist Katharine Gifford. Hansen, born in Australia, had been in touch with Gane since his McCarthy days. After joining, she and Sadier developed a style of vocal counterpoint that distinguished Stereolab's sound.
Sean O'Hagan
Sean O'Hagan (born 1959) is an Irish singer, songwriter, and arranger who leads the avant-pop band the High Llamas, which he founded in 1992. He is also known for being one half of the songwriting duo (with Cathal Coughlan) in Microdisney and ...
of
the High Llamas
The High Llamas are an Anglo-Irish avant-pop band formed in London circa 1991. They were founded by singer-songwriter Sean O'Hagan, formerly of Microdisney, with drummer Rob Allum and ex-Microdisney bassist Jon Fell. O'Hagan has led the group s ...
joined as a quick replacement for their touring keyboardist, but was invited for their next record and "was allowed to make suggestions".
1993–2001: Sign to Elektra
Stereolab introduced
easy-listening
Easy listening (including mood music) is a popular music genre and radio format that was most popular during the 1950s to 1970s. It is related to middle-of-the-road (MOR) music and encompasses instrumental recordings of standards, hit songs, no ...
elements into their sound with the EP ''
Space Age Bachelor Pad Music
''Space Age Batchelor Pad Music'' (also known as ''The Groop Played "Space Age Batchelor Pad Music"'') is an EP (or "mini-LP") by the alternative music band Stereolab, originally released in March 1993. The release became an underground hit, an ...
'', released in March 1993. The work raised the band's profile and landed them a major-label American record deal with
Elektra Records. Their first album under Elektra, ''
Transient Random-Noise Bursts with Announcements'' (August 1993), was an underground success in both the US and the UK.
Mark Jenkins commented in ''
Washington Post
''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large na ...
'' that with the album, Stereolab "continues the glorious drones of
heirindie work, giving celestial sweep to
heirgarage-rock organ pumping and rhythm-guitar strumming". In the UK, the album was released on Duophonic Ultra High Frequency Disks, which is responsible for domestic releases of Stereolab's major albums.
![Stereolab (1994)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3b/Stereolab_%281994%29.jpg)
In January 1994, Stereolab achieved their first chart entry when the 1993 EP ''
Jenny Ondioline'', entered at number 75 on the
UK Singles Chart
The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...
. (Over the next three years, four more releases by the band would appear on this chart, ending with the EP ''
Miss Modular'' in 1997.) Their third album, ''
Mars Audiac Quintet'', was released in August 1994. The album contains the single "
Ping Pong
Table tennis, also known as ping-pong and whiff-whaff, is a sport in which two or four players hit a lightweight ball, also known as the ping-pong ball, back and forth across a table using small solid rackets. It takes place on a hard table div ...
", which gained press coverage for its explicitly
Marxist lyrics.
The band focused more on pop and less on rock, resulting in what AllMusic described as "what may be the group's most accessible, tightly-written album". It was the last album to feature O'Hagan as a full-time member. He would continue to make guest appearances on later releases.
The group issued an EP titled ''
Music for the Amorphous Body Study Center'' in April 1995. The EP was their musical contribution to an interactive art exhibit put on in collaboration with New York City artist Charles Long.
Their second compilation of rarities, titled ''
Refried Ectoplasm (Switched On, Vol. 2)'', was released in July 1995.
The band's fourth album, ''
Emperor Tomato Ketchup'' (March 1996), was a critical success and was played heavily on
college radio.
A record that "captivated alternative rock", it represented the group's "high-water mark" said music journalists Tom Moon and Joshua Klein, respectively.
The album incorporated their early krautrock sound with funk, hip-hop influences and experimental instrumental arrangements.
John McEntire of Tortoise also assisted with production and played on the album. Katharine Gifford was replaced by Morgane Lhote before recording, and bassist Duncan Brown by Richard Harrison after.
Lhote was required to both learn the keyboards and 30 of the group's songs before joining.
Released in September 1997, ''
Dots and Loops
''Dots and Loops'' is the fifth studio album by English-French rock band Stereolab. It was released on 22 September 1997 and was issued by Duophonic Records and Elektra Records. The band co-produced the album with John McEntire and Andi Toma, an ...
'' was their first album to enter the
''Billboard'' 200 charts, peaking at number 111. The album leaned towards
jazz
Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a m ...
with
bossa nova and
60's pop influences.
Barney Hoskyns
Barney Hoskyns (born 5 May 1959) is a British music critic and editorial director of the online music journalism archive Rock's Backpages.
Biography
Hoskyns graduated from Oxford with a first class degree in English. He began writing about mus ...
wrote in ''
Rolling Stone
''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first known for its ...
'' that with it the group moved "ever further away from the one-chord Velvets drone-mesh of its early days" toward easy-listening and
Europop
Europop (also spelled Euro pop) is a style of pop music that originated in Europe during the mid-to-late 1960s and developed to today's form throughout the late 1970s. Europop topped the charts throughout the 1980s and 1990s, with revivals and ...
. A review in German newspaper ''
Die Zeit'' stated that in ''Dots and Loops'', Stereolab transformed the harder Velvet Underground-like riffs of previous releases into "softer sounds and noisy playfulness". Contributors to the album included John McEntire and Jan St. Werner of German electropop duo
Mouse on Mars.
Stereolab toured for seven months and took a break when Gane and Sadier had a child.
The group's third compilation of rarities, ''
Aluminum Tunes'', was issued in October 1998.
Their sixth album, ''
Cobra and Phases Group Play Voltage in the Milky Night'', was released in September 1999. It was co-produced by McEntire and American producer
Jim O'Rourke, and was recorded with their new bassist, Simon Johns.
The album received middling reviews from critics and peaked at number 154 on the ''Billboard'' 200.
An unsigned ''
NME
''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming, and culture website and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a 'rock inkie', the NME would become a magazine that ended up as a f ...
'' review said that "this record has far more in common with bad jazz and progressive rock than any experimental art-rock tradition." In a 1999 article of ''Washington Post'', Mark Jenkins asked Gane about the album's apparent lack of guitars; Gane responded, "There's a lot less upfront, distorted guitar ... But it's still quite guitar-based music. Every single track has a guitar on it."
Stereolab's seventh album, ''
Sound-Dust'' (August 2001), rose to number 178 on the ''Billboard'' 200. The album also featured producers McEntire and O'Rourke. ''Sound-Dust'' was more warmly received than ''Cobra and Phases Group…''.
Critic Joshua Klein said that "the emphasis this time sounds less on unfocused experimentation and more on melody ... a breezy and welcome return to form for the British band."
Erlewine of Allmusic stated that the album "
inds the groupdeliberately recharging their creative juices" but he argued that ''Sound-Dust'' was "anchored in overly familiar territory."
2002–2008: Death of Hansen and later releases
In 2002, as they were planning their next album, Stereolab started building a studio north of
Bordeaux
Bordeaux ( , ; Gascon oc, Bordèu ; eu, Bordele; it, Bordò; es, Burdeos) is a port city on the river Garonne in the Gironde department, Southwestern France. It is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the prefect ...
, France. ''
ABC Music: The Radio 1 Sessions''; a compilation of
BBC Radio 1
BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It specialises in modern popular music and current chart hits throughout the day. The station provides alternative genres at night, including electronica, dance, ...
sessions was released in October. In the same year, Gane and Sadier's romantic relationship ended.
On 9 December 2002, Hansen was killed when hit by a truck while riding her bicycle in London.
She was 36. Writer Pierre Perrone said that her "playful nature and mischievous sense of humour came through in the way she approached the backing vocals she contributed to Stereolab and the distinctive harmonies she created with Sadier."
For the next few months, Stereolab lay dormant as the members grieved. They eventually decided to continue. Future album and concert reviews would mention the effects of Hansen's absence.
The EP ''
Instant 0 in the Universe
''Instant 0 in the Universe'' is a 2003 EP by Stereolab. It was released as three 7" singles in a slipcase as well as on CD. This was the first release by the group after the death of longtime member Mary Hansen in December 2002. It was also t ...
'' (October 2003) was recorded in France, and was Stereolab's first release following Hansen's death. Music journalist
Jim DeRogatis
James Peter DeRogatis (born September 2, 1964) is an American music critic and co-host of '' Sound Opinions''. DeRogatis has written articles for magazines such as ''Rolling Stone'', '' Spin'', '' Guitar World'' and ''Modern Drummer'', and for ...
said that the EP marked a return to their earlier, harder sound—"free from the pseudo-funk moves and avant-garde tinkering that had been inspired by Chicago producer Jim O'Rourke".
Stereolab's eighth album, ''
Margerine Eclipse
''Margerine Eclipse'' is the eighth studio album by English-French rock band Stereolab. It was released on 27 January 2004 in the United States by Elektra Records and on 2 February 2004 in the United Kingdom by Duophonic Records. The album is ...
'', was released on 27 January 2004 with generally positive reviews, and peaked at number 174 on the US Billboard 200. The track "Feel and Triple" was written in tribute to Hansen; Sadier said, "I was reflecting on my years with her ... reflecting on how we sometimes found it hard to express the love we had for one another."
Sadier continued, "Our dedication to her on the album says, 'We will love you till the end', meaning of our lives. I'm not religious, but I feel Mary's energy is still around somewhere. It didn't just disappear."
The ''
Observer
An observer is one who engages in observation or in watching an experiment.
Observer may also refer to:
Computer science and information theory
* In information theory, any system which receives information from an object
* State observer in co ...
s Molloy Woodcraft gave the album four out of five stars, and commented that Sadier's vocal performance as "life- and love-affirming", and the record as a whole as "Complex and catchy, bold and beatific." Kelefa Sanneh commented in ''Rolling Stone'' that ''Margerine Eclipse'' was "full of familiar noises and aimless melodies". ''Margerine Eclipse'' was Stereolab's last record to be released on American label Elektra Records, which shut down that same year.
Future material would be released on Too Pure, the same label which had released some of the band's earliest material.
![Stereolab glass house (2878601320)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b5/Stereolab_glass_house_%282878601320%29.jpg)
The group released six limited-edition singles in 2005 and 2006, which were anthologised in the 2006 compilation ''
Fab Four Suture'', and contained material which Mark Jenkins thought continued the brisker sound of the band's post-Hansen work. By June 2007, Stereolab's line-up comprised Tim Gane, Lætitia Sadier, Andy Ramsay, Simon Johns, Dominic Jeffrey, Joseph Watson, and Joseph Walters. In 2008, the band issued their next album under the label
4AD
4AD is a British record label owned by Beggars Group. It was founded in London under the name "Axis" (after the Hendrix album) by Ivo Watts-Russell and Peter Kent in 1980 as an imprint of Beggars Banquet Records. The name was changed to 4AD a ...
titled, ''
Chemical Chords'', which "
ownplaystheir arsenal of analog synths in favor of live instrumentation".
The release was followed by an autumn tour in Europe, the United States and Canada.
In February 2009, they toured Australia as part of the
St Jerome's Laneway Festival.
2009–2019: Hiatus and reunion
In April 2009, Stereolab manager Martin Pike announced a pause in their activities for the time being. He said that it was an opportune time for the members to move on to other projects. ''
Not Music'', a collection of unreleased material recorded at the same time as ''Chemical Chords'', was released in 2010. In 2013, Gane and Sadier, who both focused on Cavern of Anti-Matter and solo work respectively, performed at the
All Tomorrow's Parties
"All Tomorrow's Parties" is a song by the Velvet Underground and Nico, written by Lou Reed and released on the group's 1967 debut studio album, ''The Velvet Underground & Nico''.
Inspiration for the song came from Reed's observation of Andy Warh ...
festival held at Pontins in
Camber Sands.
In February 2019, the group announced a tour of Europe and the United States to coincide with expanded, remastered reissues of several of the albums released under
Warp Records
Warp Records (or simply Warp) is a British independent record label founded in Sheffield in 1989 by record store employees Steve Beckett and Rob Mitchell and record producer Robert Gordon.Southern, Richard (2003) "Label of Love: WARP", X-RAY, ...
.
Stereolab were part of the lineup for 2019's Primavera Sound festival, taking part on the weekend of 30 May in Barcelona, Spain, and the following weekend in Porto, Portugal. It was the group's first live performance since 2009.
Musical style
Stereolab's music combines a droning rock sound with
lounge
Lounge may refer to:
Architecture
* Lounge, the living room of a dwelling
* Lounge, a public waiting area in a hotel's lobby
* Lounge, a style of commercial alcohol- bar
* Airport lounge, or train lounge (e.g., AMTRAK's Acela Lounge), a premium ...
instrumentals, overlaid with sing-song female vocals and pop melodies, and has also made use of unorthodox time signatures. It has been generally described as
avant-pop
Avant-pop is popular music that is experimental, new, and distinct from previous styles while retaining an immediate accessibility for the listener. The term implies a combination of avant-garde sensibilities with existing elements from popular ...
,
indie pop
Indie pop (also typeset as indie-pop or indiepop) is a music genre and subculture that combines guitar pop with DIY ethic in opposition to the style and tone of mainstream pop music. It originated from British post-punk in the late 1970s and su ...
,
art pop
Art pop (also typeset art-pop or artpop) is a loosely defined style of pop music influenced by art theories as well as ideas from other art mediums, such as fashion, fine art, cinema, and avant-garde literature. The genre draws on pop art's ...
,
indie electronic
Indie rock is a subgenre of rock music that originated in the United States, United Kingdom and New Zealand from the 1970s to the 1980s. Originally used to describe independent record labels, the term became associated with the music they produc ...
,
indie rock
Indie rock is a subgenre of rock music that originated in the United States, United Kingdom and New Zealand from the 1970s to the 1980s. Originally used to describe independent record labels, the term became associated with the music they produc ...
,
post-rock,
experimental rock
Experimental rock, also called avant-rock, is a subgenre of rock music that pushes the boundaries of common composition and performance technique or which experiments with the basic elements of the genre. Artists aim to liberate and innovate, with ...
,
and
experimental pop
Experimental pop is pop music that cannot be categorized within traditional musical boundaries or which attempts to push elements of existing popular forms into new areas. It may incorporate experimental techniques such as musique concrète, a ...
.
Sadier remarked in 2015 that "
he band's
He or HE may refer to:
Language
* He (pronoun), an English pronoun
* He (kana), the romanization of the Japanese kana へ
* He (letter), the fifth letter of many Semitic alphabets
* He (Cyrillic), a letter of the Cyrillic script called ''He'' ...
records were written and recorded very quickly… we would write 35 tracks, sometimes more".
[Lætitia Sadier Lecture (2015) '' Red Bull Music Academy'']
The band have played on vintage electronic keyboards and synthesizers from brands such as
Farfisa
Farfisa (Fabbriche Riunite di Fisarmoniche) is a manufacturer of electronics based in Osimo, Italy, founded in 1946. The company manufactured a series of compact electronic organs in the 1960s and 1970s, including the Compact, FAST, Professio ...
and
Vox and
Moog.
Gane has praised the instruments for their versatility: "We use the older effects because they're more direct, more extreme, and they're more like plasticine: you can shape them into loads of things." The 1994 album ''
Mars Audiac Quintet'' prominently features
Moog synthesizers.
Lætitia Sadier's English and French vocals have been a part of Stereolab's music since the beginning,
and she would occasionally sing wordlessly along with the music.
In reference to her laid-back delivery,
Peter Shapiro wrote facetiously in ''
Wire
Overhead power cabling. The conductor consists of seven strands of steel (centre, high tensile strength), surrounded by four outer layers of aluminium (high conductivity). Sample diameter 40 mm
A wire is a flexible strand of metal.
Wire is c ...
'' that Sadier "display
dall the emotional histrionics of
Nico
Naftiran Intertrade Company limited (NICO) is a Swiss-based subsidiary of the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC). NICO is a general contractor for the oil and gas industry. NIOC buys the vast majority of Iran's gasoline imports. NICO is a key pl ...
",
while some critics have commented that her vocals were unintelligible.
Sadier would often trade vocals with Mary Hansen back-and-forth in a sing-song manner that has been described as "eerie" and "hypnotic", as well as "sweet
ndslightly alien".
After Hansen's death in 2002, critic Jim Harrington commented that her absence is noticeable on live performances of Stereolab's older tracks, and that their newer songs could have benefited from Hansen's backing vocals.
In interviews, Gane and Sadier have discussed their musical philosophy. Gane said that "to be unique was more important than to be good."
On the subject of being too obscure, he said in a 1996 interview that "maybe the area where we're on dodgy ground, is this idea that you need great knowledge
fesoteric music to understand what we're doing." Sadier responded to Gane, saying that she "think
we have achieved a music that will make sense to a lot of people whether they know about
Steve Reich or not."
The duo were up-front about their desire to grow their sound: for Gane, "otherwise it just sounds like what other people are doing",
and for Sadier, "you trust that there is more and that it can be done more interesting."
Influences
Their records have been heavily influenced by the "
motorik
Motorik is the 4/4 beat often used by, and heavily associated with, krautrock bands. Coined by music journalists, the term is German for "motor skill". The motorik beat was pioneered by Jaki Liebezeit, drummer with German experimental rock band ...
" technique of 1970s
krautrock groups such as
Neu!
Neu! (; German for "New!"; styled in block capitals) were a West German krautrock band formed in Düsseldorf in 1971 by Klaus Dinger and Michael Rother following their departure from Kraftwerk. The group's albums were produced by Conny Plan ...
and
Faust
Faust is the protagonist of a classic German legend based on the historical Johann Georg Faust ( 1480–1540).
The erudite Faust is highly successful yet dissatisfied with his life, which leads him to make a pact with the Devil at a crossroa ...
.
Tim Gane has supported the comparison: "Neu! did minimalism and drones, but in a very pop way."
Dave Heaton of ''
PopMatters
''PopMatters'' is an international online magazine of cultural criticism that covers aspects of popular culture. ''PopMatters'' publishes reviews, interviews, and essays on cultural products and expressions in areas such as music, television, fi ...
'' said that their music also had "echoes of bubblegum, of
exotica
Exotica is a musical genre, named after the 1957 Martin Denny Exotica (Martin Denny album), album of the same name that was popular during the 1950s to mid-1960s with Americans who came of age during World War II. The term was coined by Simon Wa ...
, of
Beach Boys
A beach is a landform alongside a body of water which consists of loose particles. The particles composing a beach are typically made from rock, such as sand, gravel, shingle, pebbles, etc., or biological sources, such as mollusc shell ...
and
bossa nova", with their earlier work "bearing strong
Velvet Underground
Weave details visible on a purple-colored velvet fabric
Velvet is a type of woven tufted fabric in which the cut threads are evenly distributed, with a short pile, giving it a distinctive soft feel. By extension, the word ''velvety'' means ...
overtones".
Funk,
jazz
Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a m ...
, and
Brazilian music
The music of Brazil encompasses various regional musical styles influenced by European, American, African and Amerindian forms. Brazilian music developed some unique and original styles such as forró, repente, coco de roda, axé, sertanejo, ...
were additional inspirations for the band.
Stephan Davet of French newspaper ''
Le Monde
''Le Monde'' (; ) is a French daily afternoon newspaper. It is the main publication of Le Monde Group and reported an average circulation of 323,039 copies per issue in 2009, about 40,000 of which were sold abroad. It has had its own website si ...
'' said that ''
Emperor Tomato Ketchup'' (1996) had musical influences such as
Burt Bacharach, and
Françoise Hardy
Françoise Madeleine Hardy (; born 17 January 1944) is a French former singer and songwriter. Mainly known for singing melancholic sentimental ballads, Hardy has been an important figure in French pop music since her debut, spanning a career o ...
. The sounds influenced by
minimalist
In visual arts, music and other media, minimalism is an art movement that began in post– World War II in Western art, most strongly with American visual arts in the 1960s and early 1970s. Prominent artists associated with minimalism include Do ...
composers
Philip Glass and Steve Reich can be found on the 1999 album ''
Cobra and Phases Group Play Voltage in the Milky Night.''
Stereolab's style also incorporates easy-listening music of the 1950s and '60s. Joshua Klein in ''
Washington Post
''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large na ...
'' said that, "Years before everyone else caught on, Stereolab
erereferencing the 1970s German bands
Can and Neu!, the Mexican lounge music master
Esquivel and the decidedly unhip Burt Bacharach."
Regarding their later work such as ''
Instant 0 in the Universe
''Instant 0 in the Universe'' is a 2003 EP by Stereolab. It was released as three 7" singles in a slipcase as well as on CD. This was the first release by the group after the death of longtime member Mary Hansen in December 2002. It was also t ...
'' (2003) and ''
Margerine Eclipse
''Margerine Eclipse'' is the eighth studio album by English-French rock band Stereolab. It was released on 27 January 2004 in the United States by Elektra Records and on 2 February 2004 in the United Kingdom by Duophonic Records. The album is ...
'' (2004), critics have compared the releases to the band's earlier guitar-driven style.
Live performances
Stereolab toured regularly to support their album releases. In a 1996 ''Washington Post'' gig review, Mark Jenkins wrote that Stereolab started out favouring an "easy-listening syncopation", but eventually reverted to a "messier, more urgent sound" characteristic of their earlier performances. In another review Jenkins said that the band's live songs "frequently veer
dinto more cacophonous, guitar-dominated territory", in contrast to their albums such as ''Cobra and Phases Group…'' In the ''
Minneapolis Star Tribune
The ''Star Tribune'' is the largest newspaper in Minnesota. It originated as the ''Minneapolis Tribune'' in 1867 and the competing ''Minneapolis Daily Star'' in 1920. During the 1930s and 1940s, Minneapolis's competing newspapers were consolida ...
'' Jon Bream compared the band's live sound to feedback-driven rock bands like the Velvet Underground,
Sonic Youth and
My Bloody Valentine. Jim Harrington of ''
The Oakland Tribune
The ''Oakland Tribune'' is a weekly newspaper published in Oakland, California, by the Bay Area News Group (BANG), a subsidiary of MediaNews Group.
Founded in 1874, the ''Tribune'' rose to become an influential daily newspaper. With the decli ...
'' argued that "Sadier often sounded like a third percussion instrument more than a lead vocalist", further stating in regard to her switching between singing in English and French that "a Stereolab show is one of the few concerts where it's hard to find even the biggest fans mouthing along with the lyrics."
Regarding being onstage, Gane has said that "I don't like to be the center of attention ... I just get into the music and am not really aware of the people there. That's my way of getting through it."
Remarking of the band's 2019 reunion tour, he added that "
tereolabnever were really a festival band''…'' We’re not like, 'Hey, how you all doing?' and all that stuff.”
Lyrics and titles
Stereolab's music is politically and philosophically charged.
Dave Heaton of ''
PopMatters
''PopMatters'' is an international online magazine of cultural criticism that covers aspects of popular culture. ''PopMatters'' publishes reviews, interviews, and essays on cultural products and expressions in areas such as music, television, fi ...
'' said that the group "
ses
SES, S.E.S., Ses and similar variants can refere to:
Business and economics
* Socioeconomic status
* Scottish Economic Society, a learned society in Scotland
* SES, callsign of the TV station SES/RTS (Mount Gambier, South Australia)
* SES S.A., ...
lyrics to convey ideas while using them for the pleasurable way the words sound." Lætitia Sadier, who writes the group's lyrics, was influenced by both the
Situationist
The Situationist International (SI) was an Proletarian internationalism, international organization of social revolutionaries made up of avant-garde artists, intellectuals, and Political philosophy, political theorists. It was prominent in Eu ...
philosophy ''
Society of the Spectacle
''The Society of the Spectacle'' (french: La société du spectacle) is a 1967 work of philosophy and Marxist critical theory by Guy Debord, in which the author develops and presents the concept of the Spectacle. The book is considered a seminal ...
'' by
Marxist theorist
Guy Debord,
and her anger towards the
Iraq War
{{Infobox military conflict
, conflict = Iraq War {{Nobold, {{lang, ar, حرب العراق (Arabic) {{Nobold, {{lang, ku, شەڕی عێراق ( Kurdish)
, partof = the Iraq conflict and the War on terror
, image ...
.
The
Surrealist
Surrealism is a cultural movement that developed in Europe in the aftermath of World War I in which artists depicted unnerving, illogical scenes and developed techniques to allow the unconscious mind to express itself. Its aim was, according to ...
, as well as other Situationist cultural and political movements were also influences, as stated by Sadier and Gane in a 1999 ''
Salon'' interview.
Critics have seen Marxist allusions in the band's lyrics, and have gone so far as to call the band members themselves Marxist.
Music journalist
Simon Reynolds commented that Sadier's lyrics tend to lean towards Marxist social commentary rather than "affairs of the heart".
The 1994 single "
Ping Pong
Table tennis, also known as ping-pong and whiff-whaff, is a sport in which two or four players hit a lightweight ball, also known as the ping-pong ball, back and forth across a table using small solid rackets. It takes place on a hard table div ...
" has been put forward as evidence in regard to these alleged views. In the song, Sadier sings "about capitalism's cruel cycles of slump and recovery" with lyrics that constitute "a plainspoken explanation of one of the central tenets of Marxian economic analysis" (said critics Reynolds and Stewart Mason, respectively).
Band members have resisted attempts to link the group and its music to Marxism. In a 1999 interview, Gane stated that "none of us are Marxists ... I've never even read Marx." Gane said that although Sadier's lyrics touch on political topics, they do not cross the line into "sloganeering".
Sadier also said that she had read very little Marx.
In contrast,
Cornelius Castoriadis
Cornelius Castoriadis ( el, Κορνήλιος Καστοριάδης; 11 March 1922 – 26 December 1997) was a Greek-FrenchMemos 2014, p. 18: "he was ... granted full French citizenship in 1970." philosopher, social critic, economist, ps ...
, a radical political philosopher but strong critic of Marxism, has been cited as a marking influence in Sadier's thinking. The name of her side project,
Monade
Monade were a French post-rock band which was initially a side project of Lætitia Sadier, a founding member of Stereolab. In 2009, Sadier retired the project name "Monade" and began performing under her own name.
History
In the late 1990s, the ...
, and its debut album title, ''Socialisme ou Barbarie'', are also references to the work of Castoriadis.
Stereolab's album and song titles occasionally reference
avant-garde
The avant-garde (; In 'advance guard' or ' vanguard', literally 'fore-guard') is a person or work that is experimental, radical, or unorthodox with respect to art, culture, or society.John Picchione, The New Avant-garde in Italy: Theoretical ...
groups and artists. Gane said that the title of their 1999 album ''
Cobra and Phases Group…'' contains the names of two Surrealist organisations, "
CoBrA" and "Phases Group",
The title of the song "Brakhage" from ''
Dots and Loops
''Dots and Loops'' is the fifth studio album by English-French rock band Stereolab. It was released on 22 September 1997 and was issued by Duophonic Records and Elektra Records. The band co-produced the album with John McEntire and Andi Toma, an ...
'' (1997), is a nod to experimental filmmaker
Stan Brakhage
James Stanley Brakhage ( ; January 14, 1933 – March 9, 2003) was an American filmmaker. He is considered to be one of the most important figures in 20th-century experimental film.
Over the course of five decades, Brakhage created a larg ...
.
Other examples are the 1992 compilation ''
Switched On'', named after
Wendy Carlos
Wendy Carlos (born Walter Carlos, November 14, 1939) is an American musician and composer best known for her electronic music and film scores. Born and raised in Rhode Island, Carlos studied physics and music at Brown University before moving ...
' 1968 album ''
Switched-On Bach
''Switched-On Bach'' is the debut album by American composer Wendy Carlos, originally released under her birth name Walter Carlos in October 1968 by Columbia Records. Produced by Carlos and Rachel Elkind, the album is a collection of pieces by Jo ...
'', and the 1993 song "
Jenny Ondioline", a portmanteau of inventor
Georges Jenny
Georges Marcel Charles Jenny (29 April 1913 – 23 September 1975) was a French musician, poet, and electronic instrument builder. His best-known invention was an electronic keyboard instrument called the Ondioline (sometimes referred to as the ...
and his instrument the
Ondioline
The Ondioline is an electronic keyboard musical instrument, developed and built by Frenchman Georges Jenny. Sometimes referred to as the "Jenny Ondioline," the instrument is considered a forerunner of the synthesizer. First conceived by Jenny i ...
.
Legacy
![Stereolab_live](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/42/Stereolab_live.jpg)
Stereolab have been called one of the most "influential" and "fiercely independent and original groups of the Nineties" by writers Stephen Thomas Erlewine and Pierre Perrone respectively;
as well as one of "the decade's most innovative British bands." by Mark Jenkins.
Simon Reynolds commented in ''
Rolling Stone
''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first known for its ...
'' that the group's earlier records form "an endlessly seductive body of work that sounds always the same, always different."
In a review for the 1992 single "John Cage Bubblegum", Jason Ankeny said that "No other artist of its generation fused the high-minded daring of the avant-garde and the lowbrow infectiousness of pop with as much invention, skill, and appeal." In ''The Wire'', Peter Shapiro compared the band to
Britpop
Britpop was a mid-1990s British-based music culture movement that emphasised Britishness. It produced brighter, catchier alternative rock, partly in reaction to the popularity of the darker lyrical themes of the US-led grunge music and to the ...
bands
Oasis and
Blur, and defended their music against the charge that it is "nothing but the sum total of its arcane reference points."
They were one of the first groups to be termed
post-rock—in a 1996 article, journalist Angela Lewis applied the "new term" to Stereolab and three other bands who have connections to the group.
Stylistically, music journalist
J. D. Considine credits the band for anticipating and driving the late 1990s revival of vintage analogue instruments among indie rock bands. Stephen Christian, a creative director of
Warp Records
Warp Records (or simply Warp) is a British independent record label founded in Sheffield in 1989 by record store employees Steve Beckett and Rob Mitchell and record producer Robert Gordon.Southern, Richard (2003) "Label of Love: WARP", X-RAY, ...
, said that the group "exists in the gap between the experimentation of the underground and the appeal of the wider world of pop music".
The group have also received negative press.
Barney Hoskyns
Barney Hoskyns (born 5 May 1959) is a British music critic and editorial director of the online music journalism archive Rock's Backpages.
Biography
Hoskyns graduated from Oxford with a first class degree in English. He began writing about mus ...
questioned the longevity of their music in a 1996 ''
Mojo
Mojo may refer to:
* Mojo (African-American culture), a magical charm bag used in voodoo
Arts, entertainment and media Film and television
* MOJO HD, an American television network
* ''Mojo'' (play), by Jez Butterworth, made into a 1997 film
* ' ...
'' review, saying that their records "sound more like arid experiments than music born of emotional need." In ''
Guardian,'' Dave Simpson stated: "With their borrowings from early, obscure Kraftwerk and hip obtuse sources,
tereolabsound like a band of rock critics rather than musicians." Lætitia Sadier's vocals were cited by author Stuart Shea as often being "indecipherable".
A variety of artists, musical and otherwise, have collaborated with Stereolab. In 1995 the group teamed up with sculptor Charles Long for an interactive art show in New York City, for which Long provided the exhibits and Stereolab the music.
They have released tracks by and toured with post-rock band
Tortoise
Tortoises () are reptiles of the family Testudinidae of the order Testudines (Latin: ''tortoise''). Like other turtles, tortoises have a shell to protect from predation and other threats. The shell in tortoises is generally hard, and like oth ...
, while
John McEntire of Tortoise has in turn worked on several Stereolab albums. In the 1990s, the group collaborated with the industrial band
Nurse With Wound and released two albums together, ''
Crumb Duck'' (1993) and ''
Simple Headphone Mind
''Simple Headphone Mind'' is the second collaboration between Stereolab and Nurse With Wound. As with their first release, '' Crumb Duck'', Stereolab recorded the basic track and then handed it over to Steven Stapleton to do with as he pleased. ...
'' (1998),
and Stereolab also released "Calimero" (1998) with French avant-garde singer and poet
Brigitte Fontaine
Brigitte Fontaine, (born 24 June 1939) is a singer of avant-garde music. She has employed numerous unusual musical styles, melding rock and roll, folk, jazz, electronica, spoken word poetry, and world. She has collaborated with Stereolab, Mic ...
.
The band worked with
Herbie Mann
Herbert Jay Solomon (April 16, 1930 – July 1, 2003), known by his stage name Herbie Mann, was an American jazz flute player and important early practitioner of world music. Early in his career, he also played tenor saxophone and clarinet (inclu ...
on the song "One Note Samba/Surfboard" for the 1998 AIDS-Benefit album, ''
Red Hot + Rio
''Red Hot + Rio'' is a compilation album produced by Béco Dranoff and Paul Heck as part of the Red Hot AIDS Benefit Series intended to promote AIDS awareness. This installment is a contemporary tribute to the bossa nova sound, especially the mus ...
'', produced by the
Red Hot Organization.
Stereolab alumni have also founded bands of their own. Guitarist Tim Gane founded the side project Cavern of Anti-Matter and also formed Turn on alongside band member
Sean O'Hagan
Sean O'Hagan (born 1959) is an Irish singer, songwriter, and arranger who leads the avant-pop band the High Llamas, which he founded in 1992. He is also known for being one half of the songwriting duo (with Cathal Coughlan) in Microdisney and ...
, who formed his own band
the High Llamas
The High Llamas are an Anglo-Irish avant-pop band formed in London circa 1991. They were founded by singer-songwriter Sean O'Hagan, formerly of Microdisney, with drummer Rob Allum and ex-Microdisney bassist Jon Fell. O'Hagan has led the group s ...
. Katharine Gifford formed
Snowpony
Snowpony were a British indie rock group initially formed in 1996 by Katharine Gifford and Debbie Googe.
History
Gifford, who at the time was in Moonshake, gave Googe a tape of songs she had been working on before Moonshake went on a US tour. Go ...
with former
My Bloody Valentine bassist
Debbie Googe
Deborah Ann Googe (born 24 October 1962) is an English musician, best known as bassist for the band My Bloody Valentine. She has also worked with Snowpony, Primal Scream and Thurston Moore.
My Bloody Valentine
Googe was born in Yeovil, Somerse ...
.
Sadier has released three albums with her four-piece side-project
Monade
Monade were a French post-rock band which was initially a side project of Lætitia Sadier, a founding member of Stereolab. In 2009, Sadier retired the project name "Monade" and began performing under her own name.
History
In the late 1990s, the ...
, whose sound Mark Jenkins called a "little more Parisian" than Stereolab's. Backing vocalist
Mary Hansen
Mary Therese Hansen (1 November 1966 9 December 2002) was an Australian-born guitarist and singer. She joined the London-based avant-pop band Stereolab in 1992. As a member, Hansen recorded six studio albums from '' Transient Random-Noise Burs ...
formed a band named Schema with members of
Hovercraft and released their eponymous EP in 2000.
As of August 1999, US album sales stood at 300,000 copies sold. Despite receiving critical acclaim and a sizeable fanbase, commercial success eluded the group.
Early in their career, their 1993 EP ''
Jenny Ondioline'' entered the
UK Singles Chart
The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...
, but financial issues prevented the band from printing enough records to satisfy demand.
According to Sadier, however, the band "
voidedgoing overground" like
PJ Harvey,
Pulp
Pulp may refer to:
* Pulp (fruit), the inner flesh of fruit
Engineering
* Dissolving pulp, highly purified cellulose used in fibre and film manufacture
* Pulp (paper), the fibrous material used to make paper
* Molded pulp, a packaging material
...
and
the Cranberries
The Cranberries were an Irish rock band formed in Limerick, Ireland. Originally named the Cranberry Saw Us, the band were formed in 1989 by lead singer Niall Quinn, guitarist Noel Hogan, bassist Mike Hogan and drummer Fergal Lawler. Quinn was ...
, all of whom quickly rose from obscurity to fame, adding: "This kind of notoriety is not a particularly good thing,
ndyou don't enjoy it anymore."
When
Elektra Records was closed down by
Warner Bros. Records
Warner Records Inc. (formerly Warner Bros. Records Inc.) is an American record label. A subsidiary of the Warner Music Group, it is headquartered in Los Angeles, California. It was founded on March 19, 1958, as the recorded music division of the ...
in 2004, Stereolab was dropped along with many other artists, reportedly because of poor sales.
Tim Gane said in retrospect that the group "signed to Elektra because we thought we would be on there for an album or two and then we'd get ejected. We were surprised when we got to our first album!"
Since then, Stereolab's self-owned label
Duophonic
Duophonic sound was a trade name for a type of audio signal processing used by Capitol Records on certain releases and re-releases of mono recordings issued during the 1960s and 1970s. In this process monaural recordings were reprocessed into a ...
has inked a worldwide distribution deal with independent label
Too Pure
Too Pure was a London-based independent record label formed in 1990 by Richard Roberts and Paul Cox. The label gained prominence after the release of PJ Harvey's debut album '' Dry'' in 1992, and subsequently found further success in the lat ...
.
Through Duophonic, the band both licenses their music and releases it directly (depending on geographic market). Gane said, "... we license our recordings and just give them to people, then we don't have to ask for permission if we want to use it. We just want to be in control of our own music."
Members
Current members
*
Tim Gane
Timothy John Gane (born 12 July 1964) is an English songwriter and guitarist who co-founded Stereolab with his then-partner Lætitia Sadier.Gregory, Andy (ed.) (2002) ''International Who's Who in Popular Music, 2002'', Europa Publications Limite ...
- guitar, keyboards
*
Lætitia Sadier
Lætitia Sadier (born 6 May 1968, sometimes known as Seaya Sadier) is a French musician, best known as a founding member of the London-based avant-pop band Stereolab. In 1996, while Stereolab was still active, she formed the side project Monade. ...
- lead vocals, keyboards, guitar, percussion, trombone
*Andy Ramsay - drums
*Joseph Watson - keyboards, vibraphone, backing vocals
*Xavier Muñoz Guimera - bass guitar, backing vocals
Former members
*Joe Dilworth - drums
*Martin Kean - bass guitar
*Gina Morris - backing vocals
*
Mick Conroy
Mick is a masculine given name, usually a short form (hypocorism) of Michael. Because of its popularity in Ireland, it is often used in England as a derogatory term for an Irish person or a person of Irish descent. In Australia the meaning broade ...
- keyboards
*
Mary Hansen
Mary Therese Hansen (1 November 1966 9 December 2002) was an Australian-born guitarist and singer. She joined the London-based avant-pop band Stereolab in 1992. As a member, Hansen recorded six studio albums from '' Transient Random-Noise Burs ...
- backing and lead vocals, guitar, keyboards, percussion
*
Sean O'Hagan
Sean O'Hagan (born 1959) is an Irish singer, songwriter, and arranger who leads the avant-pop band the High Llamas, which he founded in 1992. He is also known for being one half of the songwriting duo (with Cathal Coughlan) in Microdisney and ...
- keyboards, guitar
*Duncan Brown - bass guitar
*Katharine Gifford - keyboards
*Morgane Lhote - keyboards
*
David Pajo
David Pajo (born June 25, 1968) is an American alternative rock musician. He has played a wide variety of music, loosely fitting into several other genres such as hardcore punk, math rock, post-rock, electronica, folk rock and indie pop. Thou ...
- bass guitar
*Richard Harrison - bass guitar
*Simon Johns - bass guitar
*Dominic Jeffery - keyboards
*Joseph Walters - french horn, guitar, keyboards
*Julien Gasc - keyboards, backing vocals
Timeline
Discography
Stereolab released many non-LP tracks that they later anthologised as compilation albums.
Studio albums
* ''
Peng!
''Peng!'' is the debut studio album by English-French rock band Stereolab. It was released on 26 May 1992 by Too Pure in the United Kingdom. The album was issued in the United States on 13 June 1995 by Too Pure and American Recordings. A re ...
'' (1992)
* ''
Transient Random-Noise Bursts with Announcements'' (1993)
* ''
Mars Audiac Quintet'' (1994)
* ''
Emperor Tomato Ketchup'' (1996)
* ''
Dots and Loops
''Dots and Loops'' is the fifth studio album by English-French rock band Stereolab. It was released on 22 September 1997 and was issued by Duophonic Records and Elektra Records. The band co-produced the album with John McEntire and Andi Toma, an ...
'' (1997)
* ''
Cobra and Phases Group Play Voltage in the Milky Night'' (1999)
* ''
Sound-Dust'' (2001)
* ''
Margerine Eclipse
''Margerine Eclipse'' is the eighth studio album by English-French rock band Stereolab. It was released on 27 January 2004 in the United States by Elektra Records and on 2 February 2004 in the United Kingdom by Duophonic Records. The album is ...
'' (2004)
* ''
Chemical Chords'' (2008)
* ''
Not Music'' (2010)
Compilation albums
* ''
Switched On'' (1992)
* ''
Refried Ectoplasm
''Refried Ectoplasm (Switched On Volume 2)'', released in July 1995, is a compilation by Stereolab of singles and rarities.
Reception
Along with ''Aluminum Tunes'', the ''Rolling Stone Album Guide'' referred to ''Refried Ectoplasm'' as being ...
: Switched On, Vol. 2'' (1995)
* ''
Aluminum Tunes: Switched On, Vol. 3'' (1998)
* ''
ABC Music: The Radio 1 Sessions'' (2002)
* ''
Oscillons from the Anti-Sun
''Oscillons from the Anti-Sun'', released in April 2005, is a three-CD, one-DVD box-set collection of Stereolab tracks culled from eight of the group's EPs ('' Jenny Ondioline'', ''Ping Pong'', '' Wow and Flutter'', '' Fluorescences'', '' Cybel ...
'' (2005)
* ''
Fab Four Suture'' (2006)
* ''
Serene Velocity: A Stereolab Anthology'' (2006)
* ''
Electrically Possessed: Switched On, Vol. 4'' (2021)
* ''
Pulse of the Early Brain: Switched On, Vol. 5'' (2022)
References
Book sources
*
Chart data
*
*
External links
*
*
*
{{Authority control
Musical groups established in 1990
Musical groups disestablished in 2009
Musical groups reestablished in 2019
English indie rock groups
English post-rock groups
Musical groups from London
Flying Nun Records artists
Drag City (record label) artists
4AD artists
British indie pop groups
English experimental rock groups
Art pop musicians
Experimental pop musicians
Avant-pop musicians
Slumberland Records artists