Stereolab: Margarine Eclipse
Released by: Rhino Records
For fans of: St. Etienne, Air, Beth Ortin
Grade: B
Final Word: proving a simple riff is timeless

Imagine for a moment that France was the first country to put a man on the moon. But instead of bouncing around, planting a silly flag and high-tailing it back to the Riviera, they built a moon base…with a hipster martini lounge! The neon cocktail glasses are made of impact-resistant polycarbonate, the go-go girls gyrate with robotic precision, and the music beaming out of the speakers is Stereolab, brought from the future in a high-tech, yet kitsch time machine.

While this British quartet may not have been recording in the days of hippie yore, the sounds of the 60’s clearly made an impression on them. For most of their career, they have embraced the sunny, whimsical aesthetic of the decade’s lounge pop, and “Margarine Eclipse” continues in the same tradition. Laetitia Sadier’s laid-back vocals (sung in French and English) weave in and out of a cloud of retro keyboards, clean electric guitars and laptop glitch, anchored by melodic basslines and bouncy, driving drums. The lyrics are abstract, poetic, and occasionally Marxist, but when it comes to the vocals’ effect on the music, this is a clear case of “sound over meaning.” Unless you’re fluent in French and feel that consumerism has stripped society of its humanity, don’t expect anything to sing along to.

Stereolab manage to straddle the gap between their 60’s sensibilities and vintage keyboards (including Wurlitzers, Hammond organs, Moog synthesizers, and the most vintage keyboard of all, the harpsichord) and hip-hop-/electronica-inspired beats so deftly that they don’t really sound aged or contemporary-they’re a complete anachronism, totally inimitable. The sticker on my promo copy informs me that Spin has named them “one of pop’s 50 most influential bands.” Yet I would be hard pressed to find a single band that sounds even remotely like Stereolab, save for the High Llamas, a side project of ex-Stereolab guitarist Sean O’Hagan.

Despite its incongruity with that of its pop music contemporaries, Stereolab’s discography is remarkably consistent in itself: a little too consistent for many. It seems that in pioneering a radically unique genre of music (“lounge-tronica?” “post-retro?”), Stereolab have limited themselves to a sound that they have already largely explored. So, while a Stereolab virgin will probably be, if nothing else, intrigued by at least a few of the twelve tracks of “Margarine Eclipse,” a veteran might have a hard time preventing him-/herself from comparing these songs to others within their catalogue.

Whether they’re retreads of their earlier or work or not, there’s a lot to like about these songs. The bridge of the first track, “Vonal Declosion,” contains a disarmingly simple synthesizer line that meanders seamlessly through Sadier’s tuneful syllables. The following song, “Need to Be,” features a jarring electronic breakdown with a compressed funk guitar riff that somehow manages to fit perfectly in an otherwise atmospheric track. The most guitar-heavy song, “Margerine Rock,” is punctuated by seemingly random bursts of distorted guitar squelch that sound percussive but feel melodic. And the aptly named eleventh track, “Bop Scotch,” begins with a lighthearted, innocent keyboard and guitar jam that transitions into a jubilant go-go freak-out.

While Stereolab’s newest LP may sound a bit foreign to the average pop fan, it’s the melodies and hooks, not the outdated keyboards and weird headphone effects, that ultimately make an impression on the listener. Any discussion of whether they are retro or forward-thinking is beside the point. Like any great pop band, Stereolab prove that a well placed, simple riff, whether played on Mellotron or MIDI module, is timeless.

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