Stereolab!
Definitely one of the more unique groups to emerge from the 1990’s, London’s Stereolab were made up of members from both England and France, and these cultural origins informed the music in a major way. Beautiful harmonies, often sung in French, cascade over swirling keyboards, guitars and horns, creating a timeless feeling of safety, fun and joy. It’s a dreamy, luxurious world of art school drop outs and girls wearing sunglasses inside dimly lit bars, having fascinating conversations over strong dark coffee and cigarettes. A place I would like to visit.
Stereolab have put out a ton of records over the years, many of which I have not heard, but I would recommend any of their 1990’s albums as a good place to start: Mars Audiac Quintet, Emporer Tomato Ketchup or Peng! are all great (they are also known for incredibly silly and surreal sounding album titles). Their last studio album was 2010’s Not Music.
