Editing Stereolab (section)

==Lyrics and titles==
{{Quote box
| quote = "What enters my work, we call it human complexities, and politics is a part of that. In the sense that I feel that humanity can do much better… [and] we could organize ourselves in a much more fair and efficient way. In [[Cinema of the United States|Hollywood]] and in the media, they seem to flatten things up— it's simple and one-leveled and easy to digest. This is not how we feel life really is.  I'm always trying to explore and make sense of contradictions."<ref name="jimsullivan"/>
| source = Sadier in an interview with ''[[The Boston Globe]]'' (1997)
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}}Stereolab's music is politically and philosophically charged.<ref name="Reynolds (1996)"/> Dave Heaton of ''[[PopMatters]]'' said that the group "[uses] lyrics to convey ideas while using them for the pleasurable way the words sound."<ref>{{cite web |last=Heaton |first=Dave |title=Sound-Dust |url=https://www.popmatters.com/stereolab-sound-2496081238.html |website=PopMatters |access-date=27 September 2018 |date=27 August 2001 |archive-date=12 January 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210112114216/https://www.popmatters.com/stereolab-sound-2496081238.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Lætitia Sadier, who writes the group's lyrics, was influenced by both the [[Situationist International|Situationist]] philosophy ''[[Society of the Spectacle]]'' by [[Marxism|Marxist]] theorist [[Guy Debord]],<ref name="Harvey (2017)"/> and her anger towards the [[Iraq War]].<ref name="Stanley (2003)">{{cite news | last=Stanley, Bob |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110517034615/http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/music/article994976.ece|archive-date=17 May 2011| url=http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/music/article994976.ece | work=The Times | title=Stereolab—starting at zero | date=17 October 2003}}</ref> The [[Surrealist]], as well as other Situationist cultural and political movements were also influences, as stated by Sadier and Gane in a 1999 ''[[Salon (website)|Salon]]'' interview.<ref name="Stark (1999)"/>

Critics have seen Marxist allusions in the band's lyrics, and have gone so far as to call the band members themselves Marxist.<ref name="Shapiro (1996)"/><ref name="Jenkins (5 November 1999)"/><ref name="Fritch (2004)"/><ref name="Reynolds (1996)" /> Music journalist [[Simon Reynolds]] commented that Sadier's lyrics tend to lean towards Marxist social commentary rather than "affairs of the heart".<ref name="Reynolds (1996)" /> The 1994 single "[[Ping Pong (EP)|Ping Pong]]" has been put forward as evidence in regard to these alleged views. In the song, Sadier sings "about [[capitalism]]'s cruel cycles of slump and recovery" with lyrics that constitute "a plainspoken explanation of one of the central tenets of Marxian economic analysis" (said critics Reynolds and Stewart Mason, respectively).<ref name="Mason (AMG: Ping Pong)"/><ref name="Reynolds (1996)"/>

Band members have resisted attempts to link the group and its music to Marxism. In a 1999 interview, Gane stated that "none of us are Marxists&nbsp;... I've never even read [[Karl Marx|Marx]]." Gane said that although Sadier's lyrics touch on political topics, they do not cross the line into "sloganeering".<ref name="Jenkins (5 November 1999)"/> Sadier also said that she had read very little Marx.<ref name="Stark (1999)"/> In contrast, [[Cornelius Castoriadis]], a radical political philosopher but strong [[Criticism of Marxism|critic of Marxism]], has been cited as a marking influence in Sadier's thinking.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.vanguard-online.co.uk/archive/music/stereolb.htm|title=Stereolab – Lataetia and Tim|website=Vanguard-online.co.uk|access-date=25 December 2017|archive-date=28 February 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190228223025/http://www.vanguard-online.co.uk/archive/music/stereolb.htm|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.reviler.org/2010/09/16/high-five-with-laetitia-sadier-stereolab/|title=High Five with Laetitia Sadier (Stereolab) – Reviler|last=Behm, John|date=16 September 2010|website=Reviler|access-date=25 December 2017|archive-date=26 December 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171226022904/http://www.reviler.org/2010/09/16/high-five-with-laetitia-sadier-stereolab/|url-status=live}}</ref> The name of her side project, [[Monade]], and its debut album title, ''Socialisme ou Barbarie'', are also references to the work of Castoriadis.<ref name="Fritch (2004)"/><ref name="Phares (AMG: Monade)">{{cite web | last=Phares, Heather | url={{AllMusic|class=artist|id=p514220|pure_url=yes}} | website=AllMusic | title=Biography (Monade) | access-date=1 June 2007}}</ref>

Stereolab's album and song titles occasionally reference [[avant-garde]] groups and artists. Gane said that the title of their 1999 album ''[[Cobra and Phases Group Play Voltage in the Milky Night|Cobra and Phases Group…]]'' contains the names of two Surrealist organisations, "[[COBRA (avant-garde movement)|CoBrA]]" and "Phases Group",<ref name="Stark (1999)"/> The title of the song "Brakhage" from ''[[Dots and Loops]]'' (1997), is a nod to [[Experimental film|experimental]] filmmaker [[Stan Brakhage]].<ref name="Stark (1999)"/> Other examples are the 1992 compilation ''[[Switched On]]'', named after [[Wendy Carlos]]' 1968 album ''[[Switched-On Bach]]'',<ref>Taylor (2001), p.108</ref> and the 1993 song "[[Jenny Ondioline]]", a portmanteau of inventor [[Georges Jenny]] and his instrument the [[Ondioline]].<ref>Taylor (2001), p.109</ref>