| | |  | R&B | Home » » Emperor Tomato Ketchup | | | | | | | Product Promotions: | | | | | Description: | | You want retro? Get a load of their equipment, from the vintage Farfisa and Vox organs to the ever-lovable Moog synthesizers. You want futurist? It's the sound of not-so-well-oiled machinery, churning and sputtering into space age bachelor pad heaven and postindustrial hell. You want pure pop? Dig how they mine mod sounds of the '60s, from Burt Bacharach to Françoise Hardy, and pull melodies straight out of a bubblegum wrapper. You want avant garde? Check the blatant liftings from '70s krautrockers Neu! and Can, plus their appropriations of Philip Glass's disjointed wordplay and Ornette Coleman's jagged alto sax. You want meaning? These are songs loaded with optimism, progressivism, humanism, and dashes of Marxism. You want nonsense? There's plenty of "la-la-la's" to lead us into oblivion, and head vocalist Laetitia Sadier sings half the time in French. You want a groove band? Tracks like "Metronomic Underground" and "Les Yper-Sound" cast a funk trance heavier than voodoo and at least as danceable as any neo-hippie tripe. You want a band that rocks? Try "The Noise of Carpet" for its rug-burning guitar and acceleration drum whacks. Yesterday, tomorrow, now: Stereolab's the one. --Roni Sarig | | | Product Details: | | | Audio CD Release Date:
| April 09, 1996 | | Studio:
| Elektra / Wea | | Number Of Discs:
| 1 | | Average Customer Rating:
|  based on 39 reviews |
| | | Track Listing: | | | 1. | Metronomic Underground | | 2. | Cybele's Reverie | | 3. | Percolator | | 4. | Les Yper-Sound | | 5. | Spark Plug | | 6. | Olv 26 | | 7. | The Noise of Carpet | | 8. | Tomorrow Is Already Here | | 9. | Emperor Tomato Ketchup | | 10. | Monstre Sacre | | 11. | Motoroller Scalatron | | 12. | Slow Fast Hazel | | 13. | Anonymous Collective | |
| | | Customer Reviews: | |
Average Customer Review:
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 An incredible effort, and a stunning result.Jun 07, 2010
In thinking about how to review Stereolab's albums, I have found myself a bit perplexed. I have loved.. LOVED Stereolab since the release of "Transient Random Noise Bursts With Announcements" in 1993. To this day, "Transient Random" is still my favorite Stereolab release, but I now have all of their albums and I love them all in varying degrees.
The thing about reviewing their albums is that the same things could be said for many of them, and an attempt to review them all would end up being redundant.
Emperor Tomato Ketchup, however, marks a clear transition for the groop from a more abrasive droning sound to a more adventurous sound with moving melody lines and funky grooves. In this respect, it is a must have album for any fan, but many have opted to end their Stereolab collection here. I personally enjoy both their early and later work, and this is certainly a solid album no matter which period of their music you enjoy. It will take a newcomer a few listens to get the full impact of some of these complex arrangements, but the reward lies in discovering a truly joyous kind of music, the likes of which no other band in the world can touch.
I happen to think that Dots and Loops is a better album, but this one is still absolutely essential, and quite astonishingly good.
If you've never heard a Stereolab album before, you're in for a real treat! Any of them will do, but this might be the best place to start.
 Mostly very good songs (though the album not uniformly so)May 25, 2010
Several great pop tracks, exquisitely arranged, make for pleasurable, relaxing listening. However, a few tracks sound like filler to me.
Wonderful!Feb 24, 2010
So far i've heard sound dust, mars audiac quintet, and transient random noise bursts - this comes second to transiet... an excellent album!
1 of 1 found the following review helpful:
Hypnotic hypothesisOct 04, 2009
Constantly on the cusp of brilliance, this beautifully bubbling electro-pop rests quite comfortably in an impressive discography.
1 of 1 found the following review helpful:
observationsApr 24, 2008
First, this is a fantastic album. I always find something new every time I listen to it...and I've listened to it a lot.
But what's interesting about this album is that it's really a demarcation from one phase of Stereolab to another and there is a specific song where that it seems like they threw the switch and never looked back. It's breathtaking, in fact.
Previous to ETK, Stereolab was a fine band, however, it seemed like they would forever be stuck repeating itself. The albums before ETK seemed to be a collection of simple droning tunes which seemed a little overly retro. That's not to say that those albums are bad, but that trick was starting to play itself by the end of the fantastic Mars Audiac Quintet. Then came Emperor Tomato Ketchup. First song, Metronomic Underground. I've never been a huge fan of this song. Again, another repetitive song and it just doesn't seem to go anywhere...but it sets a tone for what is to come: less retro 60s, more branching out to new sounds. Next song, Cybele's Reverie. Gorgeous strings. One of my favorite songs ever.
But then, Percolator. THIS is the song where Stereolab broke its bounds. This is where they stepped out of 4/4 time and into something else. It's where they used the tools they had to create something truly new and unique. I'm glad they did it.
For those of you who didn't witness it first hand, it would be interesting to listen to Stereolab's albums in order. The change from before Percolator to after Percolator is remarkable.
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