Stereolab Margerine Eclipse

Stereolab's 2004 Studio Album Margerine Eclipse on 2LP. Remastered from the Original 1/2" Tapes by Bo Kondren at Calyx Mastering and Overseen by Tim Gane.

On February 28, 2025, Stereolab are making seven of their studio albums available again as 2LP editions. These utilise the same remasters as the 2019 expanded album editions, cut from the original 1/2" tapes by Bo Kondren at Calyx Mastering and overseen by Tim Gane, but without any of the bonus material from the 3LP versions (which have now been discontinued), the idea being to make more cost-effective versions of these sought-after titles available to fans and shops. Each record comes housed in a single 5mm printed sleeve with printed inner sleeves, and a protective PVC outer bag.

Stereolab's first full-length recording without guitarist/vocalist Mary Hansen, who died in a tragic accident in December of 2002, Margerine Eclipse finds the band soldiering on in admirable fashion. Essentially picking up where they left off on 2001's Sound-Dust, the group continues to employ their trademark blend of vintage keyboards, airy French/English vocals, and frothy lounge-meets-electronica pop sensibilities. That's not to say that there absolutely no new developments; one can hear the occasional dash of hip-hop rhythm ("La Demeure"), Autechre-like laptop glitch-pop ("Vonal Declosion"), and even a bit of disco (at the end of album-closer "Dear Marge") amid the familiarly odd time signatures, quirky socio-political lyrical observations, and postmodern retro-futurism.

Most importantly, though, Stereolab's finely tuned knack for interesting arrangements, arresting timbres, and modestly elegant melodies remains unsullied.