Emperor Tomato Ketchup

Emperor tomato ketchup is a blend of various musical scents, from funky jazz to cool electronica, it always sounds refreshing, powerful, yet with a delicious touch of laziness and naivity, similar to the Gentle people's cd's.
Laetitia Sadier's french vocals are simply irresistible!
I rate this album with 5 stars because it manages to reflect the spirit of the nineties, through its electronical drive, however achieving uniqueness in its "harmless futiristic" message.
Don't miss it!

Nice to see this available again as for me Stereolab never subsequently reached the same heights. Here their fusion of krautrock drone n breezy gallic pop was just perfect. The next album, Dots and Loops, was disappointingly bland - starting a trend that has unfortunately continued to this day.

Stereolab are one of those bands who have been consistently great (or at worst, consistently good) - get any of their albums or compilations and let me know if you detect a dud. Contrary to some fans of their earlier so-called 'Lo Fi'-work, I have to say I prefer the stuff after - 'Emperor Tomato Ketchup' being a key album in their history. I always found releases like 'peng! and '...Space Age Bachelor Pad Music' a bit too theoretical and repetative - though I must go back and check if my tastes haven't superceded my memory. Exposure to a band like Neu! could make you reassess the groop known as Stereolab.

Stereolab almost broke through in the mid-90s - the recent box-set reminds you that 'French Disko' was close to a hit, while 'Ping Pong'/'Mars Audiac Quintet' almost had them being the next St.Etienne (the closest they got in the end was Laetitia Sadier's appearance on Blur's 'To the End' from the best-selling 'Park Life' LP). They appeared to step sideways with the 'Refried Ectoplasm'-compilation of earlier singles and the soundtrack recording 'Music for the Amorphous Body Center.' 'Emperor Tomato Ketchup', recently cited by the Flaming Lips' Wayne Coyne as one of his favourite albums alongside Miles Davis' 'Bitches Brew', tapped into their best work before and extended their range hugely. Sean O'Hagan (High Llamas/Microdisney) supplies gorgesous string arrangements alongside his usual guest contributions (O'Hagan contributed similarly to Super Furry Animals' 'Guerrilla' - shame that approach only gelled on 'The Turning Tide'). John McEntire (Tortoise) is engineer and co-producer here, a role he would advance with Jim O'Rourke on the classic 'Cobra Phases...' and 'Sound-Dust' albums (my three favourite Stereolab recordings).

The eclectic range of instruments alongside the harmonies of Sadier and the late Mary Hansen offer an extremely layered album - you can see how this complex exploration of sound and structure influenced the Lips' 'Zaireeka' and 'The Soft Bulletin' - this is one of those records you can sonically give yourself up to - like 'Loveless', 'In the Aeroplane Over the Sea', 'Xtrmntr', 'My Life in the Bush of Ghosts', 'Now Here is Nowhere', 'Neu! 75', 'Sulk', 'Get Up With It' or 'Blue Bell Knoll.' The joys of headphones-MP3players make this all the more apparent - it seems wrong that somehow these songs weren't mega-hits and have been adopted as national anthems. Singles 'Cybele's Revenge' and 'The Noise of Carpet' sound like alien pop perfection in all their glory. Hard to single out any particular tracks - just one of those albums that is fantastic from beginning to end, that I can play all the way through anytime...one for that Desert Island - tomorrow was already here then...& great to see they remain as fantastic as ever, the 'Fab Four Suture'-compilation a reminder of one of the greatest groops...While Stereolab have often been cited as influenced by [insert Krautrock name here], it's time to note that the 'Lab (as they were never, ever called) have been influential, acts like Broadcast, Secret Machines, the Lips, the Beta Band, Super Furry Animals, Blur, The Fiery Furnaces and Pram have all nodded in their general direction. 'Emperor Tomato Ketchup' remains one of the great albums of the 1990s and a definite totalutterseminallikemasterpiece...