Stereolab
Bron: ABC
Stereolab have been a terrific band. In the early 90s, when "post-rock" meant English people moving past shoegazing into ambient and dub, they caromed into view on a buzzy organ-and-guitar rush, droning joyously into a frenzy as poppy as it was driving. By the late 90s, when "post-rock" meant Chicagoans with jazz ambitions going nuts with the vibraphones, their tight drones had opened up into a fascinating grab-bag of swingy lounge and spacy pop, much of which was as terrifically conceived as anything else that decade. Some naysayers like to point out that they sounded like the metronomic grooves of Neu!, but they just as often sounded like Faust, the hyper Parisian pop of France Gall, the loungy exotica of Martin Denny, the bloopy Moog-music of Jean-Jacques Perry, or any of the dozen other acts whose reissues they laid some groundwork for. And if the reams of fresh ideas on Stereolab's best albums weren't proof enough to convince detractors that the band's songs possessed as much depth as their record collections.