Like Bauhaus architecture or a Charles Eames chair, Stereolab is retro yet refreshingly new. Beneath the surface of their shiny, polished pop, the lilting melodies of '60s lounge music, the drone of German progressive rock and the lightest hint of dance-floor beats coexist in a controlled upheaval.
On an early Friday morning in South London, upheaval also describes the household of singer Laetitia Sadier and guitarist Tim Gane, the group's core members (along with drummer Andy Ramsay and second vocalist and guitarist Mary Hansen). The roof has caved in. While Sadier juggles the roofers and the couple's young son, Gane has settled amid the chaos for a morning of interviews to support the group's (or "groop's," as they like to call themselves) upcoming tour of Japan.
"I see our music . . . as a selection of many elements . . . the relationships of which create a structure that doesn't seem to work but actually does," says Gane.