Electrically Possessed [Switched On Volume 4]

The return of the Switched On series, after 13 years, was cause for celebration – often, Stereolab let their most intriguing and unexpected music appear on stray, limited releases, so these collections are always fascinating. Electrically Possessed is top-loaded with the First of the Microbe Hunters mini-album, an adjunct to their 1999 album Cobra & Phases, that goes even further out – songs like “Retrograde Mirror Form” and “I Feel the Air (of Another Planet)” are Stereolab at their most avant. There are some great selections from tour EPs and limited singles here, but the highlight is “Calimero,” their collaboration with French singer Brigitte Fontaine, where the two parties lock together in close tandem, Fontaine’s droll voice perfect for Stereolab’s ticker-taping poetics.