Stereolab

Stereolab are a British-based band whose style, mixing 1950s-1960s pop and lounge music with the "motorik" beat of krautrock[?], was one of the first to which the term "post-rock" was applied. They are noted for the use of vintage keyboard instruments like Moog synthesizers and Vox and Farfisa[?] organs.

They were founded in 1990 by songwriters Tim Gane[?] (guitar, keyboards), formerly of the band McCarthy[?], and Lætitia Sadier[?] (sometimes credited as Seaya Sadier; vocals, keyboards, trombone, guitar), who is from France and sings in both English and French. By 1992 they had recruited the band's other core members, Mary Hansen (vocals, guitar) and Andy Ramsay[?] (drums). Hansen was killed in a road accident on December 9, 2002. Other members have come and (in some cases) gone over the years: Martin Kean[?], Duncan Brown[?], Richard Harrison[?] and Simon Johns[?] (all bass); Joe Dilworth[?] (drums); Gina Morris[?] (vocals); Sean O'Hagan (keyboards, guitar); Katharine Gifford[?] and Morgane Lhote[?] (both on keyboards).

Early Stereolab material characteristically relied on droning, repetitive guitar or keyboard riffs, with or without vocals. As the band developed, they incorporated new instrumentation, and an increasingly complex sense of rhythm and structure. The drum playing anchors each song in place with a steady and driving groove. Unusually for western music, two-part vocal harmonies are often separated by the interval of a fourth (thirds or sixths being more usual).

Discography

Albums

• Peng![?] (1992)
• Switched On Stereolab[?] (1992)
• The Groop Played Space Age Batchelor Pad Music[?] (1993)
• Transient Random-Noise Bursts With Announcements[?] (1993)
• Mars Audiac Quintet[?] (1994)
• Music For The Amorphous Body Study Center[?] (with Charles Long[?]) (1995)
• Refried Ectoplasm[?] (Switched On, volume 2) (1995)
• Emperor Tomato Ketchup[?] (1996)
• Dots and Loops[?] (1997)
• Aluminum Tunes[?] (Switched On, volume 3) (1998)
• Cobra and Phases Group Play Voltage in the Milky Night[?] (1999)
• The First of the Microbe Hunters[?] (2000)
• Sound-Dust[?] (2001)
• ABC Music[?] (BBC Radio 1 sessions) (2002)

The "Switched On" albums are compilations of material previously released on singles and EPs.

External Links

• Allmusic Entry (http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&uid=SEARCH&sql=B2sq6g4fttv5z)
• Official Site: http://www.stereolab.co.uk/
• Ultra-High Frequency: http://www.koly.com/stereolab/