Appearing just over a decade after
Stereolab disbanded,
Electrically Possessed: Switched On, Vol. 4 is a welcome refresher on the EPs, singles, and rarities they issued from 1999 to 2008. The collection's nine-year span covers nearly half of the band's career -- by contrast, the original
Switched On gathered just six months' worth of music -- but like the other volumes in the series, it captures the flavor of its era just as completely as
Stereolab's full-lengths.
Electrically Possessed begins with The First of the Microbe Hunters, a mini-album that arrived soon after the group's heady 1999 effort
Cobra and Phases Group Play Voltage in the Milky Night and provided a playful contrast to that release. While the nine-minute "Outer Bongolia" rivals
Cobra's ambition with its extravaganza of wah-wah guitar, brass, and xylophone, the serenely spacey pop of "I Feel the Air (Of Another Planet)" and the strutting jazz-funk of "Barock-Plastic" could've appeared on
Emperor Tomato Ketchup. Much of the rest of
Switched On, Vol. 4 consists of limited-edition tour singles that the band recorded at
Tim Gane and
Laetitia Sadier's computer-based home studio, which they built after they fell in love with digital recording while making 1997's
Dots and Loops. Though many of these tracks ride a similar groove, there are several standouts. "L'exotisme Interieur" from 2008 is chiming, blissed-out pop; the 2001 A-side "Free Witch and No Bra Queen" pairs a sexy spy movie theme worthy of
Lalo Schifrin with spooky vocal harmonies; and "Calimero," a 1999 collaboration with
Brigitte Fontaine, is one of their clearest homages to French pop à la
Serge Gainsbourg. Some of
Electrically Possessed's other highlights were composed for various projects that fit
Stereolab's aesthetic perfectly. The bustling collage of vocals, beats, and burbling synths that is "B.U.A." reunited them with visual artist Charles Long, for whom they composed Music for the Amorphous Body Study Center, while "Variation One"'s funky synth workout first appeared on the soundtrack to the documentary Moog, appropriately enough. The collection's previously unreleased material ranges from snippets like the spacious
Dots and Loops outtake "Pandora's Box of Worms" that will likely appeal most to hardcore fans to buried treasures such as "Solar Throw-Away (Original Version)," a tart, brassy ballad that makes for one of the set's finest moments. While there might not be quite as many essential tracks here as on the other Switched On volumes,
Electrically Possessed is a reminder that
Stereolab were releasing so much good music that it was easy to take it for granted at the time, and it's well worth a listen for fans who may have missed or glossed over these songs when they were first released. ~ Heather Phares