The Groop Played Space Age Batchelor Pad Music

Upon its original release, this EP felt like an oddball tangent, from its strange (and doubly-misspelled) title to its ironic evocation of then-unfashionable forms of vintage pop music. In retrospect, however, it's the fulcrum of Stereolab's entire career. On the singles compilation Switched On and their proper debut LP Peng!, Stereolab had maintained at least a tenuous sonic connection to guitarist-songwriter Tim Gane's roots in the UK indie guitar pop scene. With an entirely new lineup including drummer Andy Ramsay and multi-instrumentalists Sean O'Hagan and Mary Hansen, these eight songs introduce the canonical Stereolab sound, which they would refine and expand for the rest of their career. Hansen's backing vocals, heavy on the nonsense syllables prevalent in the '50s easy listening LPs that visual artist Byron Werner had dubbed "space age bachelor pad music," leaven Laetitia Sadier's deadpan Gallic lead vocals, just as O'Hagan's marimba and acoustic guitar bring new textures to the arrangements. While "We're Not Adult Orientated" (here in two versions) matches the propulsive forward motion of Stereolab's earlier releases, gentler tunes like "Avant Garde M.O.R." and the dreamy "Ronco Symphony" expand the group's dynamic range, paving the way for their impending breakthrough album Transient Random-Noise Bursts With Announcements.