Stereolab Detail New Compilation 'Electrically Possessed'

Hear "Dimension M2" from the fourth 'Switched On' instalment

BY Calum SlingerlandPublished Jan 14, 2021

Nearly a year on from teasing the arrival of two new Switched On compilations, Stereolab have shared details behind the first of the pair. Electrically Possessed [Switched On Volume 4] will arrive February 26 through Warp/Duophonic.

Electrically Possessed features 25 songs recorded between 1999 and 2008, collecting tracks from out-of-print EP The First of the Microbe Hunters, tour-exclusive 7-inches, outtakes from Dots and Loops and Mars Audiac Quintet sessions, and even one written for a documentary on commercial synthesizer pioneer Robert Moog.

The new comp follows 1992's Switched On, 1995's Refried Ectoplasm (Switched On Volume 2) and 1998's Aluminum Tunes (Switched On Volume 3) — all of which were reissued on vinyl in September 2018.

A remastered version of "Dimension M2" arrives alongside the announcement, and you can hear it below.

In a press release, Stereolab's Tim Gane explained its creation as follows:

After the making of Dots and Loops in which we really loved recording with the computer we wanted to build up our own small home recording studio. We bought an Apple desktop computer, a MOTU sound card and Logic 2 software and started to record very simple tracks mainly using samples as inspiration and overlaying them with some guitar, keyboards, and more often than not, Laetitia and Mary would add often wordless vocals. Personally it was the cutting and chopping up of sounds and rhythms that I liked, trying to make little pulse-y songs that were much smaller and simpler than the main Stereolab recordings. Most of these tracks ended up either on tour singles or compilations. "Dimension M2" went onto a compilation LP from our friends Paul & Hervé who had their own design company called Cabine. I wanted to do something upbeat and party-ish for them and this was as close as i could get to that kind of thing — still a bit cool and detached though.

Stereolab's most recent studio album remains 2010's Not Music. Find out where the Switched On compilations sit in our Essential Guide to Stereolab.


Electrically Possessed [Switched On Volume 4]:

1. Outer Bongolia
2. Intervals
3. Barock-Plastic
4. Nomus Et Phusis
5. I Feel The Air {Of Another Planet}
6. Household Names
7. Retrograde Mirror Form
8. Solar Throw-Away [Original version]
9. Pandora's Box Of Worms
10. L'exotisme Interieur
11. The Super It
12. Jump Drive Shut-Out
13. Explosante Fixe
14. Fried Monkey Eggs [Instrumental version]
15. Monkey Jelly
16. B.U.A
17. Free Witch and No Bra Queen
18. Heavy Denim Loop Pt 2
19. Variation One
20. Monkey Jelly [Beats]
21. Dimension M2
22. Solar Throw-Away
23. Calimero
24. Fried Monkey Eggs [Vocal]
25. Speck Voice

Pre-order Electrically Possessed [Switched On Volume 4].

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