The band added more and more sounds with every album. 3 (compilation, 1994-97), Cobra And Phases Group Play Voltage In The Milky Night (1999), The First Of The Microbe Hunters EP (2000), and ABC Music: The Radio 1 Sessions (live compilation, 1991-2001).
2 (compilation, 1992-95), Emperor Tomato Ketchup (1996), Dots And Loops (1997), Aluminum Tunes: Switched On Vol. Transient Random-Noise adds Mary Hansen as a second vocalist and Sean O'Hagan (later of the High Llamas) on guitar, and the album culminates in the 18-minute "Jenny Ondioline" which is exactly the knife-edge of perfect fusion of krautrock propulsion and VU drone.Įverything At Once: Mars Audiac Quintet (1994), Refried Ectoplasm: Switched On Vol. Batchelor Pad Music is a long EP that showcases even more growth from the group. Peng! is the first full-length, although the band was still a four-piece. Switched On collects two EPs and a single from 1991. At this point, Stereolab was all about the VU and krautrock. They mixed punk, krautrock, French pop, electronica, lounge music, minimalist compositional music, VU-style drone, hip-hop, and tropicalia, basically every form of niche music with legs, into an always-interesting stew of musical greatness.Įarly Drone: Switched On (compilation, 1991), Peng!(1992), The Groop Played Space Age Batchelor Pad Music EP (1993), and Transient Random-Noise Bursts With Announcements (1993).
Stereolab! This is where indie rock reaches one of its logical peaks.