![]() ![]() While it’s fair to say this is Stereolab at their most NEU!-influenced, the big difference – and the significance of this must not be underestimated – is the hymnal pop melancholy at the heart of Sadier and Gina Morris’s duel vocals. On ‘Super-Electric’ the pieces fall into place so effortlessly: Joe Dilworth’s drums ride out the Klaus Dinger pulse while Gane’s guitars chime incessantly, and bubbling electronics disrupt the song’s coast. Stereolab’s first release on London label Too Pure, where they rubbed shoulders with PJ Harvey, Th’ Faith Healers and Pram, is the consummate example of the group’s early form. They may have been on indefinite hiatus since 2009, but these records will have a long, strong afterlife. Listening to their music, though, and with the benefit of hindsight, nothing feels further from the truth: this music is alive, rich with melody, harmony and texture, gesturing towards genres and other artists in all their wild multiplicity. ![]() Some have claimed Stereolab were detached, studious, overly intellectual. While the label ended up releasing other groups (Tortoise, Labradford, Broadcast, Pram, The High Llamas, Huggy Bear, and the pre-Daft Punk Darlin’ all appeared on the label at some point), it is best known for releasing almost all the Stereolab albums and singles (on the UHF Disks imprint) while pumping out limited 7” and 10” singles (on the Super 45s imprint). Gane and Sadier also started their own record label, Duophonic, with their manager Martin Pike. When they decided to start making music together again, Stereolab was born: a multi-limbed musical collective unafraid of the joys of pop melody but equally comfortable with wild experimentation. Sadier had met Gane at a McCarthy gig in Paris, and she’d been a member of the group in its final days. Helmed for their duration by English guitarist and songwriter Tim Gane and nextFrench vocalist and lyricist Laetitia Sadier, Stereolab formed in 1990 out of the ashes of McCarthy, the agit-pop group Gane had been in for the second half of the ‘80s. Across the ‘90s and ‘00s, there were few groups as exploratory, as productive, and as exciting to follow as Stereolab. ![]()
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