Armed with what surely must be one of the absolute worst band names in rock & roll history, the Strawberry Smell have become France's leading lights in the never-ending psych-pop underground. Formed in the small city of Avignon, France, by a group of friends bound by a shared fascination with both '60s garage rock and '70s electronic experiments, after a period of personnel instability, the group eventually settled into the lineup of singer and vintage keyboard collector Cyril Jean, guitarist Christophe Valliant, his bass-playing brother Olivier, and drummer Cyril Mazela. The foursome recorded three EPs for small European indies between 1993 and 1997, which were enough to attract the attention of the British mod-psych label Rainbow Quartz. The group recorded their first album, Odorama, in their own home studio in 2000, releasing this mix of groovy vintage organ and synth sounds, jangling guitars, and close-harmonized English language vocals in August 2001. ~ Stewart Mason