It’s very good news for Stereolab fans, as the Anglo-French art-rock legends have announced that they will be heading out on a select 6-date UK tour at the end of the year.
They will be heading off on their UK travels from Friday 5th to Saturday 13th December and performing first here in Brighton, where they will be thrilling fans at Brighton Dome’s Corn Exchange venue in New Road on the 5th, followed by London on the 6th, Glasgow on the 8th, Leeds on the 9th, Manchester on the 11th and finally Oxford on the 13th December.
Tickets for the Brighton concert are available HERE.
Stereolab were formed in London in 1990 by record collector Tim Gane and French chanteuse Laetitia Sadier. They were originally active between 1990 and 2009, and dropped 9 studio albums in that period. These being: ‘Peng!’ (1992), ‘Transient Random-Noise Bursts with Announcements’ (1993), ‘Mars Audiac Quintet’ (1994), ‘Emperor Tomato Ketchup’ (1996), ‘Dots and Loops’ (1997), ‘Cobra and Phases Group Play Voltage in the Milky Night’ (1999), ‘Sound-Dust’ (2001), ‘Margerine Eclipse’ (2004) and ‘Chemical Chords’ (2008). Stereolab also released many non-LP tracks that they later anthologised as compilation albums, and these were ‘Switched On’ (1992), ‘Refried Ectoplasm: Switched On, Vol. 2’ (1995), ‘Aluminum Tunes: Switched On, Vol. 3’ (1998), ‘ABC Music: The Radio 1 Sessions’ (2002), ‘Oscillons from the Anti-Sun’ (2005), ‘Fab Four Suture’ (2006) and ‘Serene Velocity: A Stereolab Anthology’ (2006).
After these releases Stereolab went into hiatus for ten years. A collection of unreleased material recorded at the same time as their album, ‘Chemical Chords’ (2008), was put together and released as their tenth studio album under the title of ‘Not Music’ and this came out on 16th November 2010.
In 2019 they reunited for live performances, to promote a year-long seven album reissue campaign and ‘Electrically Possessed: Switched On, Vol. 4’ (2021) and ‘Pulse of the Early Brain: Switched On, Vol. 5’ (2022) saw the light of day. It was during this period that Stereolab performed live at the Concorde 2 in Brighton (Review HERE). They made a welcome return to the same venue on 24th November 2022 (Review HERE).
The group’s sound features influences from krautrock and 1960s French pop music, often incorporating a repetitive motorik beat with the use of vintage electronic keyboards and female vocals sung in English and French. Their lyrics have political and philosophical themes influenced by the Surrealist and Situationist art movements. While performing, they play in a more feedback-driven and guitar-oriented style. From the mid-1990s, the band began to draw from funk, jazz and Brazilian music.
Bringing us right up-to-date and Stereolab have just re-issued a seven double-album pack, which should keep avid fans and collectors more than happy. More details on this HERE.
Ticket links for all the forthcoming Stereolab concerts can be located HERE.
