There's a type of fan that's prone to over-explain the tendencies of bands by using an abundance of chained adjectives and the suffixes "-y," "-out," and "-ish." For the most part, these fans reside in Stereolab e-mail lists, enjoy Broadcast, and congregate in record stores for social rather than commercial reasons. Upon first listen to Velodrome, the latest album from this Philly band, I got the impression that those people would probably enjoy Eltro-- not necessarily for any obvious sonic tie to any "Stereolab-ish" band, but because all of the elements that make those bands attractive are present on Velodrome. They might describe Eltro as "drony," "spaced-out," or "trippy," and by the subjective definitions of those terms, they would be correct.

Technically, though, there are very few sustained tones on the album that could be truly be defined as a drone. Every song, however, is composed of one (and rarely two) short, repeated chord progressions in one constant time signature, which, in a way, produces an equivalent effect to that of earlier Stereolab releases. The songs are pushed along by straight, ESG-sounding dance grooves, though, helping to slightly set Eltro apart from the bulk of bands experimenting with retro-futurism.

Eltro, more than any other stereotype, do sound spaced-out with their typically psych-rock employment of reverb-soaked fuzz-guitar on various tracks to signify spatial and metaphysical openness. But for the most part, those aspects are tempered by more particularly structured ones, creating enough balance between foundation and expanse to remain interesting.

Occasionally, as on "Say It," the use of kitschy, space-age electronics pushes good songs to the brink of irritability, but for the most part, the vintage electronic sounds in the drum programming and texture are utilized tastefully. This employment of electro ingredients initially impresses as slightly gimmicky in an album already bordering on a genre that's primarily known for exploiting clichéd gestures. But generally, the implementation is refreshingly bereft of the expected and over-used irony so many similar bands thrive on.

As for the vocals, the press release calls them "urgent" and "sexy." Being an amateur at the nuances of seduction, it's a hard call for me to make. The lyrical duties are principally in the hands of female vocalist Diana Prescott, whose delivery is disaffected and breathy, like a mix between a less abrasive, more domestic Kim Gordon and Luscious Jackson. It's not uncommon, too, for Prescott to duet with her real life beau and Eltro guitarist Jorge Sandrini, and when this occurs, the results are similar to the vocals on June of 44's "Southeast of Boston."

Although Velodrome treads solely on well-traveled musical territory in the psych-rock and drone-pop fields, the combination and distribution of its elements creates an ideal middle ground between the two similar archetypes and differs enough from that of related recordings in execution and affect for hipster and asocial music connoisseurs alike to take a genuine technical and emotional interest in it.

-Michael Wartenbe