Stereolab Member Dead

Stereolab keyboardist and vocalist Mary Hansen, 36, was killed when her bicycle was struck by a car in London on December 9th. "It is with great regret and deep sadness that I must announce the death of Mary," a terse statement on the band's site reads. "We will all miss her dearly. Stereolab."

Stereolab formed in the early Nineties in London and quickly emerged as one of the most innovative alternative bands of the era, matching lo-fi aesthetics and Marxist politics to the sounds of Sixties pop, lounge, jazz and dance with lyrics sometimes sung in French.

Hansen made her debut with the group on the band's second full-length release and major-label debut, 1993's Transient Random-Noise Bursts With Announcements. Stereolab's most recent release was a compilation of BBC recordings, ABC Music: The Radio 1 Sessions, released in the U.K. The band had been working on its next record and planned to convene in the studio in January.

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Song Stories

“Time to Pretend”

MGMT | 2008

Listening to MGMT’s breakthrough song, one might interpret it as being about the excesses of rock stardom, but it’s actually about the duo’s pet praying mantis. Ben Goldwasser and Andrew VanWyngarden told Rolling Stone they got the idea from the insect's jerky movements. The mantis died, but the two bandmates kept the egg sack and allowed the hundreds of eggs to hatch. “We tried to name them all, but they died after a day,” said Goldwasser, with VanWyngarden chiming in, “But the praying mantis dance inspired us.”

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