.co.uk The Groop Played Space-Age Bachelor Pad Music, an odd and hypnotic mini-album, was the point where Stereolab ceased to be simply another ultra-hip cult band from London and were more widely recognised as doing something bright and genuinely different. Their twin influences, Neu!-style trance-rock and easy-listening melody, still haven't quite fused here, existing side-by-side rather than coalescing, but the whole thing sounds smooth and assured, with the charm and confidence of a group well aware they have hit on the kind of good idea that will last them for years. They made better records than Space-Age Bachelor Pad Music, but this is where it really began, and it has a freshness and life of its own. --Taylor Parkes
