Stereolab - Margerine Eclipse (2025 Reissue 2LP)

Stereolab’s 2004 LP Margerine Eclipse may not be the group’s most famous work, but it has a good claim to being one of their best. The band’s eighth studio album, Margerine Eclipse saw Stereolab somewhat rein in the avant-gardisms they’d toyed with on records such as Cobra And Phases Group Play Voltage In The Milky Night. Taken in tandem with revisiting their early penchant for quirky, fuzzy pseudo-rock (‘Margerine Rock’, ‘Bop Scotch’) and incorporating new influences like dub and groovy post-punk, Margerine Eclipse is sort of like Stereolab’s whole aesthetic in miniature. The album was also the first full-length record that Stereolab released after the death of member Mary Hansen - a matter tackled by the band on the dreamy, swelling ‘Feel And Triple’.