Nineties legends Stereolab have shared rare track ‘Household Names’ ahead of the release of their forthcoming compilation ‘Electrically Possessed’.

The song, which you can listen to below, appeared on the band’s 2000 mini-album ‘The First of the Microbe Hunters’.

Reflecting on the original recording of the track, guitarist Tim Gane said: “During a two-week break in touring for the Cobra and Phases Group LP we decided to go into Blackwing Studios to record a bunch of tracks “old style” – straight to tape for what would become the world’s first double-mini album ‘First of the Microbe Hunters’.

“It was a spur of the moment kind of thing and there was only one song already written (‘Outer Bongolia’ – originally played by Turn On for three concerts played around the time of the release of their LP 28/07/97) and one song that had already been recorded and mixed earlier (‘I Feel the Air’ – originally meant for ‘Dots & Loops’ but we run out of time to mix it for the mastering and so it was left off).”

“Consequently – as time was tight -all of the other tracks were written very fast across two or three days. ‘Household Names’ was one of three tracks written on the first day (according to the running order on my Fostex cassettes) and it’s a little bit of a hark back up to the poppy side of the ETK period I suppose.

“The track has some lovely singing throughout and great keyboard arrangements courtesy of Sean O’Hagan. We played pretty much as a band and unlike the previous two LPs we didn’t use any computers. Andy [Ramsay]’s working title for the song was ‘Dicky Bows at Dawn’, a reference to its cabaret wedding band sound.”

‘Electrically Possessed’, which is out on February 26 via Warp and Duophonic UHF Disks, is a 3xLP set covering the period 1999 to 2008.

It will feature rarities, outtakes and non-album tracks including ‘The First Of The Microbe Hunters’, unreleased outtakes from the ‘Mars Audiac Quintet’ and ‘Dots And Loops’ sessions, and a track called ‘Dimension M2’, which was first released in 2005 on the ‘Disko Cabine’ compilation.

The compilation will be released on vinyl as part of the fourth installment of the group’s ‘Switched On’ reissue campaign. You can pre-order it here.