Pitchfork

Good news-- "Three Women", the first mp3 from the first proper Stereolab full-length in four years, Chemical Chords, sounds like Stereolab. Some of the touchstones are aligned with the band's later period: the mechanically precise bass and the fluttering French-language vocals of Lætitia Sadier fit into an airy, girl group-esque arrangement replete with sumptuous horns, piano, and a tambourine-splashing percussion loop. Other elements, like the chiming guitars, vibraphones, and wobbly 1960s garage-psych organ, have been Stereolab staples since forever. It's more compact than you might expect from the band, and also, as group co-founder Tim Gane suggested to Paul Thompson in a recent interview, structured more around its lively, ascending chords than undulating krautrock pulses or expansive atmospherics.

MP3:> Stereolab: "Three Women"
[from Chemical Chords; due 08/18/08 worldwide (except for the U.S.) and 08/19/08 in the U.S. from Duophonic UHF Disks/4AD]