I always forget how much I love Electric Brixton. The sound system, set against the neoclassical interior, is incredible, and the space is not so vast that volume becomes lost. It makes sense that Stereolab chose to play this venue again.

Raisa K opened the night and Electric’s acoustics worked in her favour. It’s always fun when you go to a gig with an existing love for the supporting act, and my affection for her only grew. The minimalist and industrial textures of her music were expanded throughout the set, and the vocals felt much closer in the space, which made her oftentimes melancholy lyricism hit harder.

The atmosphere only heightened when Stereolab graced the stage. The groop are an Anglo-French band who shook up the 90s with a sound that collapsed krautrock repetition, lounge pop and avant-garde electronics into something quite political and equally melodic. Stereolab resisted mainstream visibility, and instead became a reference point, having a lasting impact on alternative music culture. One difference from their 2023 show was how often Lætitia Sadier, lead vocalist of the groop, offered a few lines of introduction to the songs before launching in. These meanings are often already quite legible in the lyrics, but hearing them spoken made them much more confrontational in a time like this.

“As it was a Stereolab gig, the political sentiment was expected, but the sheer ferocity of the sound was not”

‘Melodie Is a Wound’, the first single released from their newest album, Instant Holograms on Metal Film, set the emotional and political mood of the record, and the gig. “Capitalism is a wound. Neoliberalism is a wound. Fascism is a wound”: Sadier said simply, introducing the track. “But as all wounds, they can heal.”

The moment landed amid a brief “Free Palestine” chant through the crowd. Still, as Sadier suggested, the wound she describes is not limited to a single geography. Cases of crisis are not necessarily an anomaly, but a node, which should not be ignored. As it was a Stereolab gig, the political sentiment was expected, but the sheer ferocity of the sound was not. I had seen someone on a Facebook music community group assure us that ‘Melodie Is A Wound’ would be transformed live. Even so, I was not expecting the song to end in about two minutes of this sort of very loud punk rocky stretch of noise, ripping at the seams – which caused nothing but matched, ferocious head banging.

Introducing ‘Esemplastic Creeping Eruption’ as a song about freedom, Sadier insisted that oppression not only operates externally but embeds itself internally. We have the freedom to revise how we interact with one another, as much as we want to change the systems which operate to corrupt. Sadier proposed that we pick between two options: to fear or to love.

The track ‘Percolator’ pushed this further, framed as a song about fear, one Sadier connected to the hostile atmosphere she felt while travelling on the Midlands leg of the tour, seeing flags go up everywhere.

“Sadier proposed that we pick between two options: to fear or to love”

I went to the gig alone, as I had panic-bought a resale ticket months after it sold out – a consequence of procrastination and a delusional belief that being Stereolab’s biggest fan would somehow guarantee entry. Around me though, the energy was electric. Thankfully, I made friends with two older American dudes who kept my spot warm while I ran to the loo 10 minutes before the band came on, ensured I could see well, and moved energetically with me. At one point, someone barged into me with unexpected force, only for me to turn around and realise an attempt at a mosh pit was forming, which I can only describe as rather absurd for a Stereolab gig.

For a moment, it felt like I was being transported to the incredibly cool scenes of Stereolab’s 1994 performance of ‘French Disko’ from the Live on The Word TV show. Alas, that same unselfconscious intensity is harder to sustain now. Modernity has had its way, replacing true experience with spectacle.

They closed with ‘Cybèle’s Reverie’, which would have been a pleasant shock for me if I hadn’t already looked up the setlist (I am just a product of the screen age unfortunately). Not to be cringe, though I suspect the band would reject this term altogether, but for the longest time, this song has helped me when I have felt most distorted, and it brought plenty of tears to my eyes.

This is the second time I have seen Stereolab and they have yet again secured goat status in my books. They have a timeless sound and a political urgency which will never fail to have impact.