stereolab create an arresting blend of pop and electronic music. they tread the thin line of pop culture and the avant garde with an elegant savoir faire. singles like "crumb duck" (with nurse with wound) and " john cage bubblegum" reveal in their simplistic pop songs a euphoric repetition, bizarre sounds and profound political ideas. here i discuss some of these concepts with laetitia, one half of the the creative nucleus of the band. she's french, kids. so forgive her grammar.

bmg: what is the lyrical content of jenny ondioline about?

laetitia: it is a song about germany's weimar years. in germany during the weirmar republic, after the first world war, they had a revolution that actually suceededÑwithout blood. the left wing tendency people got in and ruled the country and it was very artistic, it had a really really cool atmosphere. but little by little, the right wing started to come back in and there was no opposition to them (apart from the artistic movement) that knew what was going on and they fought back with art, with songs, like brecht, so they were very socially concious. the song jenny ondioline is about that, and there is a parallel with today that i am making because i feel that governments are getting more and more right wing, more and more militarized. so i'm saying in this song: take from what's there, take from all the tensions and be creative with it. don't put your arms down and say you can't do anything; you can. from all the tensions, you can do something out of it, and fight it. i speak to some very intelligent people, very sensitive people who tell me (her voice takes on a deep ennui) "ah, you can't do anything about it." it's with that kind of mentality that we're not going to get anywhere, because, the way i see it, we're being quite oppressed by government, more and more so, and nothing is going to be given to us. we have to fight for every bit of control for ourselves over our lives, our freedom, depending on the way you view it. i view it as control over our lives, because we won't be given it, on the contrary they say we have more and more rights, but in fact it's wrong; our rights are taken away from us. we're on the tour bus recently and some cops just barged in, just walked in the bus. (she gets quite indignant) they're not supposed to do that. it's just a small example, but everyday our rights are being taken away from us, and we get less and less control of our lives. we have to fight that. i know it's easier said than done, but it won't be given to us.