Definitely one of the more unique groups to emerge from the 1990's, London's Stereolab were made up of members from both England and France, and these cultural origins informed the music in a major way. Beautiful harmonies, often sung in French, cascade over swirling keyboards, guitars and horns, creating a timeless feeling of safety, fun and joy. It's a dreamy, luxurious world of art school drop outs and girls wearing sunglasses inside dimly lit bars, having fascinating conversations over strong dark coffee and cigarettes. A place I would like to visit.
Stereolab have put out a ton of records over the years, many of which I have not heard, but I would recommend any of their 1990's albums as a good place to start: Mars Audiac Quintet, Emporer Tomato Ketchup or Peng! are all great (they are also known for incredibly silly and surreal sounding album titles).
Robyn Hitchcock's original band, The Soft Boys were definitely in a class of their own in the late seventies/early eighties. Highly reminiscent of Syd Barrett's absurd psychedelic style infused with punk's new energy, their sound was nonetheless very distinctive and instantly likeable.
The Soft Boys released a pile of singles and 2 full LPs during this time period: A Can of Bees, which still had that raw punk edge, and the classic Underwater Moonlight, which really saw the band stretch into a formidable psychedelic pop outfit with a sound all of their own. Much of Robyn Hitchcock's solo material is also very good, but I have not heard the Soft Boys reunion album from 2002, Nextdoorland.
