SUPER 45

STEREOLAB has been a fairly unique act ever since it was formed in 1990 not only in its stylistic approach of fusing far flung genres such as Krautrock, indie pop, funk, jazz, electronica, French chanson and Brazilian music but also in the fact that after the London born Tim Gane and the Paris born Laetitia Sadier met at Gane's current band McCarthy's concert in 1988, they fell in love and forged a unique bond that would propel their musical vision into one of the most influential underground artists of the 1990s and early 2000s.

While speculated to be partially influenced by Family Fodder's sole track "Savoir Faire" off its 1980 debut album "Monkey Banana Kitchen" which latched onto a very similar niche but never followed through by nurturing it as well as the obvious motorik rhythmic drive of Germany's Neu!, STEREOLAB was born in 1990 and named after hi-fi effect developed by Vanguard Records. The visionary couple didn't just have the desire to create music and release it through any old record label but were wise enough to set up their own record label called Duophonic Super 45s before releasing its own music which surely allowed them the freedom to innovate their sound throughout the 90s and beyond.

The first release to emerge from STEREOLAB was this four track EP titled SUPER 45 which was issued exclusively on 10" vinyl and limited to around 800 copies. It was primarily sold at concerts but a few were sold through the mail and at the Rough Trade record store in London. This EP while somewhat overlooked in the band's vast canon of full-length albums and even more EPs that have been released in the three decades since their inception nevertheless found STEREOLAB a fully developed act from the very beginning including its history of releases with colorful cover art that often features a loud background with a limited secondary colored artistic expression.

Likewise the band found its sound from the very beginning with a unique droning style of staccato guitar drive, a Neu! inspired motorik rhythmic drive, ethereal atmospheric backing and most prominently the eccentric vocal style of Laetitia Sadier who alternated between singing in French and English with many moments dedicated to mere wordless utterances. The hypnotic effect of the musical drive along with the almost child-like innocence of the vocals offered something completely unique to the world of art pop and indietronica and propelling STEREOLAB to the top of the heap in the 1990s underground of innovative outsider music.

The four tracks on SUPER 45 aren't overly different than the vast majority of releases that followed however on this first offering there is a much greater emphasis on Tim Gane's fuzzy delivery of guitar drive which offers a noisier affair with the electronic swirlies a bit subdued however Sadier and Gane's off-kilter harmonic approach had been fully implemented at this point. This is as good of a release as any and while it's fair for a casual listener to accuse every STEREOLAB album and EP to sound pretty much the same, it's really the subtle effects that differentiate them. Still though a noble beginning for one of indie pop's most elegant acts.

With a greater emphasis on the noise rock aspects, this first release of STEREOLAB doesn't often get as much love as the more nuanced releases that follow but it offers an intriguing glimpse into the origins of the band's distinct underground sound that has only gained appreciation in the ensuing decades. This release was never repressed but rather compiled with the band's second EP "Super-Electric" along with a couple unreleased tracks in the form of "Switched On" which was released initially in 1992 and has seen a number of reissues including a remastered version 2018. While the band would cement its sound on the second EP, this first release was 85% already developed.