Digital Roundup: 9/14/2015

New this week in the Rhino Room at iTunes:

Stereolab, The Studio Album Collection 1992-2004 - Of the myriad of bands that briefly found their way into the ear-holes of mainstream listeners during the 1990s, arguably the most surprising of the bunch - or certainly one of them, anyway - was Stereolab, the critically-acclaimed post-rock outfit whose music was deliciously original but certainly not the stuff that Billboard Hot 100 hits tend to be made of. This, of course, explains why the band never actually made that particular chart, but of the seven albums they released during their time on Elektra, six of them made it onto the magazine's Heatseekers chart, and of those six, four of them made it onto the Billboard Top 200 Albums chart, which is not too shabby a performance at all.
Oh, but you're wondering what seven albums are contained in this set, aren't you? Well, we can certainly answer that question easily enough:
Transient Random-Noise Bursts with Announcements: The band's major label debut, featuring their first single to crack the UK charts, “Jenny Ondioline” and, getting co-billing, “French Disko.” Mars Audiac Quintet: Best known for the single “Ping Pong” as well as for the fact that it was the last album by the band to feature Sean O'Hagan, late of Microdisney, who opted to focus full-time on his own band, The High Llamas. Emperor Tomato Ketchup: If you ask Pitchfork, this would probably be their pick for the band's best album, as they have it listed at #51 on their picks for best albums of the 1990s. Dots and Loops: The band's songs have popped up in plenty of ads over the years, but this one contained a highly notable one: “Parsec,” which was prominently featured in ads for the Volkswagen New Beetle. Cobra and Phases Group Play Voltage in the Milky Night: Awesome album title or best album title of all time? You make the call, but whichever way you lean, this definitely isn't your best entryway into the band's discography. Sound-Dust: Sadly, the reason most people remember this album is that it was the last one to feature singer Mary Hansen, who fell victim to a fatal bike accident the year after its release. Margerine Eclipse: Although Hansen's death left a hole in the Stereolab sound, it must be said that the process of paying tribute to her in song resulted in one of the strongest albums the band had released in a few years, making it a solid conclusion to their time on Elektra.