  It's a good album, surprise. Generally speaking, one can periodize the history of Stereolab into four distinct eras: the first, comprising the albums Peng and Transient Random-Noise Bursts With Announcements could be glibly described as their punk period. These two albums feature the most simplistic chordal structures, the instrumentation is more traditionally "rock", and the grooves are straightforward and driving. Next is a period of increasing sophistication, with more emphasis on the organ and more interest in Latin American forms ( The Groop Played "Space-Age Bachelor Pad Music" , Mars Audiac Quintet ); this progress culminates in Emperor Tomato Ketchup and Dots And Loops , which showcase the canonical Stereolab sound: French 60s pop classicism is the most apparent element of the sound, and the Neu! cribs are mated with electronic flourishes of a more recent vintage. Following this is what I call "the crap years". The next three albums, Cobra And Phases Group Play Voltage In The Milky Night , The First Of The Microbe Hunters , and Sound-Dust , are bad and I don't enjoy listening to them. So I don't, and therefore I can't describe them for you. Fortunately, however, Margerine Eclipse is not bad. It is quite good, in fact. In part, it represents a return to the sound of the Dots And Loops era, although the extent to which this is true is unclear to me, because as I said I don't listen to the albums which came out between this one and that.
That's not to say it's a stylistic retreat, although Stereolab appear to have resurrected elements of their earlier sounds in making this one. "Margerine Rock" for example combines the sort of dorky organ line one finds on Emperor Tomato Ketchup with a very urlLink Peng! -y sense of flow. Plus some gonzo guitar histrionics. So it's all good. What seems to distinguish this album from the previous few is the attitude.
The songs here are punchier, the playing more aggressive, the mood a little more sour. That's not to say that this is an all-new, all-ass-kickin' Stereolab, but it goes quite a long way in convincing me that the familiar on this album is not simply in due to retrenchment or a wilful shining up of the old as the new. 
