Duophonic Vinyl & CDs

Review: On Rooting For Love, Laetitia Sadier issues a call to the traumatized civilizations of Earth: we're urged to finally evolve past our countless millennia of suffering and alienation. Her songs score the complexities and harmonies within this directive: organ, guitar, bass, synth, trombone, vibraphone, live and programmed drums, and a vocal assembly of men and women billed as The Choir, working intricate chord/tempo/and dynamic changes, as Laetitia's empathic presence leads the way. Spelling out a new sonic radicalism for a generation of listeners who'll need it, if they're to want to keep their ability to listen to music at all, hers is a moving Euro-indie utopian dream.

Review: Stereolab continue to trawl through their vast back catalogue on the fourth instalment of the Switched On compilation series. This edition, titled Electronically Processed, focuses primarily on rare and hard-to-find tracks (many tucked away on very limited seven-inch singles), with a handful of alternative versions, outtakes and previously unreleased cuts thrown in. Fans will find much to savour across the two-disc set, from Krautrock-tinged Chanson songs (see the rather fine 'Household Names' and Serge Gainsbourg-with-added-funk vibes of 'The Super It'), to more experimental instrumentals from soundtracks, and even the odd dancefloor-ready stomper ('Dimension M2'). In a word: essential.

Review: Stereolab first formed back in 1990 in London. Record collector Tim Gane hooked up with French chanteuse Laetitia Sadier and they stayed together until 2009, then took a hiatus until retiring to the live arena in 2019. There have only been reissues since, but now the group returns with their first new album in 15 years. It features 13 fresh studio tracks from the avant-pop pioneers who revitalise their sounds with signature motorik grooves and adventurous new textures. Guest appearances from Cooper Crain, Rob Frye and others add rich layers and lead single 'Aerial Troubles' signifies the playful experimentation and sly sophistication you would expect from this band. The album. Overall feels warmly familiar yet thrillingly new.

Review: After countless reissues, Stereolab delight fans with their first new album in nearly 15 years, following 2010's Not Music. The French/British band - led by Tim Gane and Lætitia Sadie - are well known for their tendency to lean towards left field, adventurous sonic experiments, but have a wide spectrum and from time to time are not shy in indulging their love of pop with melodies that stick. Lætitia Sadie can sing the phone book, to the level of a Gruff Rhys and on the single 'Aerial Troubles' evokes her Welsh peer. With the band's influence seemingly inextinguishable, chances are the aftermath of this album release will see Stereolab's stock rise massively as they sound like they've hit their stride and not let the long gap between new albums faze them.

Review: Widely regarded as one of Stereolab's best albums, the deadpan title of their second album conveys, to an extent, what to expect. The track 'Pack Yr Romantic Mind' lives and dies on Tim Gane's noise rock bursts, which provide stunning contrast to Laetitia Sadier dream pop vocals. Gane and Sadier, as a songwriting duo, come from very different styles and ideas but it's the confluence of these that is the beating heart of Stereolab and why they're still revered more than 30 years on from when they released it. Another scorcher here to look out for is 'Jenny Ondioline', where static noise and thick, foggy post-rock ambiance gives way to a motorik beat that's Neu! and Can-level transcendental, as it whisks you into another realm, before coming back to a very present, belligerently shreddy distorted guitar outro. This is a band that pandered to no one's expectations but their own and let raw emotion guide them.