From Your Subculture Soundtrack, the music encyclopedia

Founded: 1990

Headquarters: London, UK

Website Link(s): Official Site

Label(s)

• Elektra
• Duophonic
• Too Pure
• Beggars Banquet

Genre(s)

• Retropop
• Britpop
• Post-Rock
• Retro-Futurism

RIYL

• Serge Gainsbourg
• Chris Morris
• Blur
• Neu
• Velvet Underground

Band Members

• Tim Gane
• Lætitia Sadier
• Martin Kean
• Joe Dilworth
• Russell Yates
• Mick Conroy
• Andy Ramsay
• Mary Hansen
• Sean O'Hagan
• Duncan Brown
• Dave Pajo
• Richard Harrison
• Simon Johns
• Gina Morris
• Katharine Gifford
• Morgane Lhote

Includes Members of

• McCarthy
• The Chills
• Th' Faith Healers
• Moose
• Modern English
• The High Llamas
• Tortoise
• Monade

Band Biography

Stereolab are primarily a duo of core members Tim Gane & Lætitia Sadier, although they've been joined by many other musicians throughout their career. Perhaps the most famous of these other musicians is the late Mary Hansen who provided a lot of vocals during her tenure with the group, along with other instrumentation. Their sound is a french-pop inspired space-age/retro-futuristic type of music with lots of influences. Their lyrics are often political, but subtly so. Vocals play a subversive role in Stereolab, often sneaking under the radar; in "Jenny Ondoline", there's a line "I don't care if the fascists have to win", and the song "Nothing To Do With Me" from Sound-Dust features lyrics taken from Chris Morris' TV series Jam, featuring lyrics like "Could you please fix my baby/He hasn't moved for three weeks" and "Did you prescribe my daughter/A pound of heroin/I'm sorry/I can't see/I seem to have blinded myself".

Discography

Albums

Studio

• Peng!
• The Groop Played "Space Age Bachelor Pad Music"
• Transient Random-Noise Bursts with Announcements
• Mars Audiac Quintet
• Emperor Tomato Ketchup
• Dots and Loops
• Cobra and Phases Group Play Voltage in the Milky Night
• Sound-Dust
• Margerine Eclipse

Compilations

• Switched On
• Refried Ectoplasm
• Aluminum Tunes
• ABC Music
• Oscillons from the Anti-Sun
• Fab Four Suture

EPs

• Music for the Amorphous Body Study Center (with Charles Long)
• The First of the Microbe Hunters
• Instant 0 In The Universe
• Kyberneticka Babicka

Singles

Appears On

Compilations

• Sampler 004
• Dimension Mix
• 10+3 Remixes
• The Free Design: The Now Sound Redefined
• Fabulous Shit
• The Record Shop - Thirty Years Of Rough Trade Shops

Soundtracks

• Moog
• Alternative 3

Mix CDs

• Thirteen Ugly Children Roll Gutterballs
• A Mix Tape.
• Digitally Remastered Toothpick
• Dub Club: Creepy Crawly Creepy Crawly Creepy Creepy Crawly Crawly Creepy Creepy Crawly Crawly - Matt
• Happy Birthday Dad
• Dad's Guitar Stuff
• Thefadd's 1st Annual Plastic Mix CD
• Marooned

Radio Shows

• Blue Jam Series 1 Episode 6
• Blue Jam Series 1 Episode 1
• Blue Jam Series 2 Episode 4
• Chris Morris Music Show Episode 11
• Chris Morris Music Show Episode 10: This week, Peter Baynham flies Germaine Greer to Dartmouth
• Chris Morris Music Show Episode 6: The programme that hits the air like a 7-litre Ford Capri driven by a speedfreak mandrill
• Chris Morris Music Show Episode 19: With some unsuspecting interviewees and more dangerously anarchic comedy
• Chris Morris Music Show Episode 18

Further Reading

• Wikipedia Page