Blending electronic experiments with simmering grooves, philosophical lyrics, and the occasional guitar freak-out, Stereolab have been among the most influential avant-pop acts since the early ’90s. Guitarist and songwriter Tim Gane formed Stereolab with vocalist Lætitia Sadier in 1990 after the breakup of Gane's leftist indie-pop outfit McCarthy. The group’s debut EP, Super 45, was issued on the band’s label, Duophonic, in 1991, and a few singles and EPs came out before Peng!, their first album and inaugural release on the then-nascent British indie Too Pure, arrived in 1992. After firming up their lineup with drummer Andy Ramsay and keyboardist/vocalist Mary Hansen, Stereolab’s 1993 EP Space Age Bachelor Pad Music brought lite-jazz sounds inspired by the likes of Esquivel into their sonic mix. Transient Random-Noise Bursts With Announcements followed later that year. Anchored by the churning, motorik-powered epic “Jenny Ondioline,” Bursts was a hit on college radio and in the press, as were their subsequent albums, Mars Audiac Quintet and Emperor Tomato Ketchup. Dots and Loops veered further into the easy-listening sounds Stereolab had dabbled in earlier. In 2002, Hansen was killed in a bicycle accident; the 2004 album Margerine Eclipse included “Feel and Triple,” a tribute to her. Stereolab released two more albums that decade, then went on hiatus in 2009; they regrouped in 2019 for festivals and headlining tours.