Stereolab Margerine Eclipse CD

This is a Hyper CD, which contains regular audio tracks and also provides a link to the artist's website with the help of a web browser.
Stereolab: Laetitia Sadier (vocals, trombone); Tim Gane (electric guitar, organ, keyboards); Dominic Jeffrey (celeste, electric piano, harpsichord, organ); Simon Johns (bass, drums); Andy Ramsay (drums, programming).
Recorded in 2003.
This is a Hyper CD, which contains regular audio tracks and also provides a link to the artist's website with the help of a web browser.
Composers: Laetitia Sadier; Tim Gane.
Personnel: Laetitia Sadier (vocals, trombone); Tim Gane (electric guitar, organ, electronics); Sean O'Hagan (electric guitar); Dominic Jeffery (celesta, electric piano, harpsichord, organ); Fulton Dingley (synthesizer, midi, drum machine, percussion); Andy Ramsay (drums, drum machine); Simon Johns (drums); Jan Werner (electronics).
Audio Mixers: Fulton Dingley; Stereolab.
Recording information: Instant O, France (2003).
Stereolab's music is so consistent, and so consistently pretty, that it has become nearly criticism-proof; the band do what they do so completely that it's almost a matter of accepting or rejecting their music whole instead of analyzing it. But while Stereolab's mix of '50s and '60s lounge, vintage electronic music, and Krautrock may have crossed over into easy listening indie pop a few albums ago, they still can't be dismissed easily. Margerine Eclipse, the band's tenth full-length, can sound a bit like a collage of pieces from their nine other albums, but the overall effect is more retrospective than repetitive. It's arguably the most direct work Stereolab have done since Emperor Tomato Ketchup (and at just under 54 minutes, it's one of the shortest of their later albums) and it continues Sound-Dust's trend of gathering the sounds the band explored on their previous work and tweaking them slightly. All of this is to say that Margerine Eclipse is a strong album, even if the nagging feeling that the band aimed a little low with their artistic goals takes a small amount of pleasure out of listening to it. The album trades in the bright yet somehow bittersweet pop at which the group have always excelled, albeit in a more streamlined form than it's taken over the course of their past few albums. The busy beats, whimsical noises, unconventional melodies, and, of course, lovely harmonies that define Stereolab are all present and accounted for, and they're all very pretty, even if many of them are pretty similar to each other. But Margerine Eclipse's best songs are good enough that they resemble a greatest-hits collection from an alternate universe: "...Sudden Stars" is as coolly lovely as it was on the Instant 0 in the Universe EP, with its delicate, measured synth and vocal lines rising and falling in graceful arcs of sound. "Vonal Déclosion"'s twangy guitars and lush strings nod to Sean O'Hagan's involvement, and the layers of Laetitia Sadier's vocals are seamless, but on songs like this, Mary Hansen's voice is missed more than ever ("Feel and Triple" is a sweet tribute to her). "Cosmic Country Noir" is another of Margerine Eclipse's standout tracks, and indeed one of the best Stereolab songs in a long time; on paper, its percolating percussion, chiming synths and guitars, and simple lyrics about the pleasures of the country might not seem all that special, but in practice it's exceptionally beautiful.
Perhaps Margerine Eclipse's greatest accomplishment is that it isn't nearly as overcooked as some of Stereolab's other recent work. None of the songs bring the album to a halt; the closest Margerine Eclipse comes to the band's previous noodly excursions is "La Demeure," a fascinating but somewhat formless track mixing Raymond Scott-like synth sparkles with brass and unpredictable rhythmic and melodic shifts. Just as importantly, the fizzy "Margerine Rock" and "Hillbilly Motorbike," which sounds like the theme to a very stylish game show, restore some ofRolling Stone (2/5/04, p.60) - 3 stars out of 5 - "[The album includes] a meticulous microhouse groove [and] an appealing example of Stereolab in rock mode..."
Spin (3/04, p.96) - "Stereolab's poppy ninth album is a pony ride to a Disney-sponsored pleasuredome." - Grade: B-
Entertainment Weekly (1/23/04, pp.99-100) - "Returning to its roots, the band strikes a graceful balance between rockers that charge forward with exhilarating abandon and pop tunes that float about with delightful melodic inventiveness." - Rating: A-
Q (3/04, p.112) - 3 stars out of 5 - "[T]here's still something fresh about Stereolab's brand of trippy space pop."
Magnet (p.107) - "In the context of retro-futurist pop, MARGERINE ECLIPSE is great."
CMJ (1/26/04, p.4) - "[Ranges] from experimental noise repetition to cutesy pop-rock....[A] compelling and unique album..."
Mojo (Publisher) (3/04, p.101) - 3 stars out of 5 - "[A]s aurally seductive as ever."