Photo by Joe Dilworth
Audio By Carbonatix
While their September 16 concert at the Miami Beach Bandshell is Stereolab’s first-ever headlining show in Miami, you might be surprised to learn this is not the avant-pop group’s debut performance in Miami. Apparently, in 1994, the four-piece played the second stage at Lollapalooza on the Bicentennial Park field, where the Perez Art Museum now stands. It’s hard to imagine Stereolab’s international lounge vibe fitting in with the high-energy hip-hop of the Beastie Boys and a Tribe Called Quest or the angsty guitar rock of L7 or the Smashing Pumpkins. But even under that hot August sun, their French-language synth sound could have mixed with anything.
Some years after I missed the chance of being introduced to Stereolab at Lollapalooza, I started noticing their CDs mixed in friends’ and strangers’ collections. Their albums had intriguing names like Emperor Tomato Ketchup or Dots and Loops, but nothing was as intriguing as the band’s name, Stereolab. That name, like the music, once I listened to it, sounded simultaneously retro and futuristic. On songs like “French Disko” or “Lo Boob Oscillator,” singer LÁ¦titia Sadier resembled a ghost of Nico, except instead of being backed by the Velvet Underground, Sadier had a battalion of synthesizers.
It played like music for the sophisticated, songs you’d put on as you tried to figure out how to paint a still life of a half-drunk bottle of red wine. Or to borrow a description of the music of Juan Garcia Esquivel, this was space-age bachelor pad music. It was like nothing I’d heard before. Since then, I’ve heard others try to replicate their international Euro-cool, but Stereolab has ever stood alone as their own unique thing.
The band formed in 1990 after the breakup of the British college rock band McCarthy. Tim Gane played guitar for that British group, while Sadier provided McCarthy with occasional vocals when a feminine voice was required.
It’s surprising how right away Stereolab found their sound, which was so distinct from McCarthy or really anything else that was coming out in the early ’90s. Early songs like “Super-Electric” or “The Way Will be Opening” might have been a bit more reliant on guitars, but the formula that we’ve come to know as Stereolab was already in place: laid-back melodies haunted by Sadier’s distinctive crooning.
Through 2010, they put out ten lovely records, all of which could find a place in your heart or playlist, but then they seemed to break up. In 2019 they reunited as a live band and were all set to return to Miami to play iii Points in 2020 but the COVID pandemic put a stop to that.
2025, however, has been a wonderful year for South Florida Stereolab fans. First, in April, we received the surprise gift of a new studio album with the motif-fitting title, Instant Holograms on Metal Film. The band didn’t miss a beat. From the opening beep boop beeps of “Mystical Plosives,” it sounds like vintage Stereolab, more beautiful music that could be either from the near future or the recent past. Over thirteen tracks that almost last an hour, you get that Stereolab sound that hasn’t been exactly replicated by anyone else.
Even more exciting, they’re finally playing live in Miami again for the first time in 31 years. When New Times tried to get an interview, we were told by their management, “They aren’t doing any (interviews) at all. We’re letting the music do the talking.” Set lists from their summer European tour seem to be half made up of songs from their newest record, with the other half older tunes. But who knows what surprises are in store? After all, nothing could be more surprising when the year started that Miami would get to see Stereolab play brand new songs live.
Stereolab. 8 p.m. Tuesday, September 16, at Miami Beach Bandshell, 7275 Collins Ave., Miami Beach; miamibeachbandshell.com. Tickets cost $47.38 via dice.fm.
