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Stereolab.

PRIMARY MEMBERS

Tim Gane,

Lætitia Sadier

SECONDARY MEMBERS

Mary Hansen

TERCIARY MEMBERS

[too many to list here]

HOMETOWN

London, England

ALSO

STEREOLAB's site

STEREOLAB on Wikipedia

Mary on Wikipedia

DESCRIPTION

Stereolab are band formed in 1990 in London, England. The band originally comprised songwriting team Tim Gane (guitar/keyboards) and Lætitia Sadier (vocals/keyboards/guitar), both of whom remained at the helm across many lineup changes. Other long-time members include Mary Hansen (backing vocals/keyboards/guitar), who played with the group from 1992 until her accidental death in 2002, and Andy Ramsay (drums), who joined in 1993, and who is still in the official line-up.

RELATED ARTISTS

McCARTHY (Tim)

MONADE (Lætitia)

THE WOLFHOUNDS (Mary)

Stereolab
Photo by [unknown]

Stereolab
Photo by [unknown]

Stereolab
Photo by [unknown]

RECORD LABELS ASSOCIATED WITH

Duophonic,
Elektra,
Too Pure,

FILM

FRENCH DISKO (Live)

Performed live at J.C. Dobbs, Philadelphia, Pennsylvannia, November 11, 1993.

MOUNTAIN (Live)

Performed live at The Gothic Theatre, Englewood, Colorado, October, 14th, 2008.

BIOGRAPHY

Combining an inclination for melodic '60s pop with an art rock aesthetic borrowed from Krautrock bands like Faust and Neu!, Stereolab were one of the most influential alternative bands of the '90s. Led by Tim Gane and Laetitia Sadier, Stereolab either legitimized forms of music that were on the fringe of rock, or brought attention to strands of pop music -- bossa nova, lounge-pop, movie soundtracks -- that were traditionally banished from the rock lineage. The group's trademark sound -- a droning, hypnotic rhythm track overlaid with melodic, mesmerizing singsong vocals, often sung in French and often promoting revolutionary, Marxist politics -- was deceptively simple, providing the basis for a wide array of stylistic experiments over the course of their prolific career. Throughout it all, Stereolab relied heavily on forgotten methods of recording, whether it was analog synthesizers and electronics or a fondness for hi-fi test records, without ever sinking to the level of kitsch.

Tim Gane (born July 12, 1964; guitar, keyboards) was the leader of McCarthy, a London-based band from the late '80s that functioned as a prototype for Stereolab's sound. Gane met Laetitia Sadier (born May 6, 1968; vocals, keyboards), a French-born vocalist, at one of McCarthy's concerts. The pair began a romantic relationship that became a musical collaboration after McCarthy disbanded in 1990; Sadier did sing on the final McCarthy album. The duo began releasing mail-order singles under the name Stereolab, borrowing their name from a form of record mastering from the late '50s. At that point, the group was working with Th' Faith Healers drummer Joe Dilworth and former Chills bassist Martin Kean; Gina Morris occasionally provided backup vocals. All three singles this incarnation of Stereolab released were compiled on Switched On, an album released on Too Pure Records in 1992. Switched On was released at the same time as the band's official debut album, Peng! Both albums featured a variation on a maniacally grinning cartoon, which was their only visual trademark at the time.

Switched On and Peng!, along with the 1992 Lo-Fi EP and a series of limited-edition singles like "John Cage Bubblegum" -- which, coincidentally, was the first Stereolab recording to feature keyboardist/vocalist Mary Hansen and drummer Andy Ramsay, who became two of the group's core members -- Stereolab carved out a cult following, particularly in the U.K. underground. Released in early 1993, The Groop Played "Space Age Batchelor Pad Music" featured the core group of Gane, Sadier, Hansen, and Ramsay, along with ex-Microdisney guitarist Sean O'Hagan and bassist Duncan Brown. One of the first '90s alternative records to explicitly draw from the "Space Age" lounge-pop music of the '50s, The Groop became an underground sensation, paving the way toward Stereolab's first American record contract with Elektra Records. But before the band made their major-label debut, they released the split 10" EP Crumb Duck with Nurse with Wound in the summer of 1993 and formed their own U.K. label, Duophonic.

Stereolab's next album, and their first American release, was Transient Random-Noise Bursts With Announcements. Released in the fall of 1993, Transient became an underground and college hit throughout the U.S. and U.K., and Stereolab soon became a hip name to drop for many musicians, including Sonic Youth, Pavement, and Blur, who had Laetitia Sadier provide guest vocals on their 1994 hit single "To the End." Where Transient was dominated by a lo-fi experimentalism, the group's sound became lusher and more layered with Mars Audiac Quintet, which was released in the fall of 1994. O'Hagan moved from a full member to a part-time guest during the recording of the album -- he was busy forming his own band, the High Llamas -- and the band added keyboardist Katherine Gifford.

By the time of Mars Audiac Quintet's release, the Stereolab sound had become prominent throughout the underground, and the group began to make efforts to change their sound, as the limited-edition 1995 EP Music for the Amorphous Body Study Centre indicated. Created for an interactive art exhibit by Charles Long, the EP boasted detailed, intricate string and vocal arrangements which were more sophisticated than the group's previous releases. That fall, the band rounded up a bunch of singles and B-sides for the second Switched On compilation, Refried Ectoplasm, which was released on Drag City in the U.S. Before the band recorded a new album, Gifford was replaced by Morgane Lhote. Emperor Tomato Ketchup, released in the spring of 1996, was a break from the drone rock of its two predecessors, demonstrating a heavy hip-hop, jazz, and dance influence. The album was the greatest success to date, earning positive reviews in both U.S. and U.K. and becoming a significant college hit in the process. After the recording of Emperor Tomato Ketchup, bassist Duncan Brown was replaced by Richard Harrison. At the end of 1996, Stereolab released the limited-edition, horn-driven Fluorescences EP. Dots and Loops appeared a year later and, like Emperor Tomato Ketchup before it, featured the production and playing of Tortoise's John McEntire. Further bolstering the Stereolab lineup for Dots and Loops was German techno-pop refugee Jan St. Werner of Mouse on Mars.

After taking time off following the birth of Gane and Sadier's first child, Stereolab resurfaced in 1999 with Cobra and Phases Group Play Voltage in the Milky Night, and in keeping with their collaborative streak, they employed the production services of McEntire (again) and Jim O'Rourke. An EP, The First of the Microbe Hunters, quickly followed in 2000. Their eighth full-length, Sound-Dust, arrived in mid-2001. Having made several appearances on BBC Radio, a collection spanning ten years, ABC Music: The Radio 1 Sessions, was released in the fall of 2002. In December 2002, mere months after the release of ABC Music, longtime Stereolab member Mary Hansen died at the age of 36 when the bicycle she was riding was hit by a truck. Hansen's backing vocals had complemented Sadier's lead since she first joined the group in 1992 and in many ways helped define the singsong style that anchored Stereolab's vanguard and eclectic pop music. The group soldiered on, however, and released its first album without Hansen, Margerine Eclipse, in 2004. Two years later, Fab Four Suture, a collection of previously released limited-edition EPs, was released on Too Pure. The group re-teamed with producer/arranger Sean O'Hagan for 2008's Chemical Chords, a collection of short, poppy songs that was released by 4AD. Two years later, the album was followed by Not Music, a collection of material recorded during the same sessions.

- Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music

DISCOGRAPHY

SINGLES

Super Electric
Super 45
Stunning Debut Album
Spacewatch
Harmonium/Farfisa
The Light That Will Cease to Fail
split single with Unrest
Crumb Duck
Jenny Ondioline
Low-Fi
Wow and Flutter
Ping Pong
split single with Scrawl
The Long Hair of Death
Laminations
The Noise of Carpet
Fluorescences
Cybele's Reverie
Noises
Percolations
Metronomic Underground
split single with Fuxa
split single with Tortoise
split single with The Cat's Miaow
split single with Fugu
Simple Headphone Mind
The In Sound
split single with Soi Disant
Refractions in the Plastic Pulse
Calimero
Free Design
The Underground is Coming
Free Witch and No-Bra Queen
Captain Easychord
Instant 0 in the Universe
Rose, My Rocket-Brain!
Interlock
Plastic Mile
Kyberneticka Babicka
Eye of the Volcano
Excursions Into
Whisper Pitch

ALBUMS

Switched On
Peng!
Space Age Batchelor Pad Music
Transient Random Noise Bursts with Announcements
Mars Audiac Quintet
Refried Ectoplasm
Music For the Amorphous Body Study Center
Emperor Tomato Ketchup
Dots and Loops
Aluminum Tunes
Stereolab Sampler
Cobra and Phases Group Play Voltage in the Milky Night
The First of the Microbe Hunters
Sound-Dust
ABC Music, The Radio 1 Sessions
Margerine Eclipse
Oscillons From The Anti-Sun
Serene Velocity
Fab Four Suture
Chemical Chords

SONGS

3d Melodie
Analogue Rock
Anamorphose
Anémie
Animal or Vegetable (A Wonderful Wooden Reason)
Anonymous Collective
Au Grand Jour
Avant Garde M.O.R.
Baby Lulu
Barock-plastik
Black Ants in Sound Dust
The Black Arts
Blips Drips and Strips
Blue Milk
Le Bons Bons Des Raisons
Bop Scotch
Brakhage
Brigitte
Brittle
The Brush Descends the Length
Cadriopo
Caleidoscopic Gaze
Captain Easychord
Changer
Check and Double Check
Come and Play in the Milky Night
Contronatura
Cosmic Country Noir
Crest
Cybele's Reverie
Dear Marge
Des
Des Étoiles Électroniques
Des Toiles Lectroniques
Diagonals
Difficult Fourth Title (Contact)
Double Rocker
Doubt
Elektro
Elektro (He Held the World in His Iron Grip)
Eloge D'eros
Emergency Kisses
Emperor Tomato Ketchup
Enivrez-vous
Escape Pod (From the World of Medical Observations)
Excursions Into Oh, A-oh
Exploding Head Movie
The Extension Trip
Eye of the Volcano
Farfisa
Feel & Triple
The Flower Called Nowhere
Fluorescences
Free Design
French Disko
Fruition
Galaxidion
Going Out of My Way
Golden Atoms
Golden Ball
The Groop Play Chord X
Gus The Mynah Bird
Hallucinex
Harmonium
Heavenly Van Halen (Pinball)
Heavy Denim
High Expectation
Hillbilly Motobike
Household Names
How to Play Your Internal Organs Overnight
I Feel The Air (of Another Planet)
I Was A Sunny Rainphase
Incredible He-woman
Infinity Girl
Interlock
International Colouring Contest
Intervals
Italian Shoes Continuum
Jenny Ondioline
John Cage Bubblegum
K-stars
Kybernetická Babièka Pt. 1
Kybernetická Babièka Pt. 2
L'enfer Des Formes
La Demeure
Laisser-faire
Les Yper-sound
The Light That Will Cease to Fail
Lo Boob Oscilator
Lock-groove Lullaby
The Long Hair Of Death
Low Fi
The Man With 100 Cells
Margerine Melodie
Margerine Rock
Mellotron
Melochord Seventy-five
Metronomic Underground
Miss Modular
Monstre Sacre
Moogie Wonderland
Motoroller Scalatron
Mountain
Munich Madness
Naught More Terrific Than Man
Need To Be
New Orthophony
Nihilist Assault Group
The Noise of Carpet
Nomus Et Phusis
Nothing To Do With Me
Olv 26
One Note Samba
One Note Samba / Surfboard
One Small Step
Op Hop Detonation
Orgiastic
Our Trinitone Blast
Outer Accelerator
Outer Bongolia
Pack Yr Romantic Mind
Parsec
Pause
Peng! 33
People Do It All the Time
Percolator
Ping Pong
Plastic Mile
Pop Quiz
Prisoner of Mars
Puncture in the Radax Permutation
Rainbo Conversation
Refractions in the Plastic Pulse
Retrograde Mirror Form
Revox
Ronco Symphony
Sadistic
The Seeming and the Meaning
Seeperbold
Slow Fast Hazel
Space Age Bachelor Pad Music (Foamy)
Space Moment
Spacemoth
Spark Plug
Speedy Car
Spinal Column
Spiracles
The Spiracles
The Stars Our Destination
Stereolab
Stomach Worm
Strobo Acceleration
Sudden Stars
Suggestion Diabolique
Super Falling Star
Super-electric
Surrealchemist
Tempter
Three Longers Later
Three-dee Melodie
Ticker-tape of the Unconscious
Tomorrow Is Already Here
Tone Burst
Tone Burst (Country)
Transient Random Noise Bursts with Announcements
Transona Five
Transporte Sans Bouger
U.H.F. - M.F.P.
Ulan Bator
Untitled
Untitled (Check And Double Check)
Velvet Water
Visionary Road Maps
Vodiak
Vonal Declosion
The Way Will Be Opening
We're Not Adult Oriented
Whisper Pitch
Widow Weirdo
With Friends Like These
Working Title: The Pram Song (Seeperbold)
Wow And Flutter
You Little Shits
You Used to Call Me Sadness (Lissys Version)
Young Lungs
Yper-sound, Les