The sixth studio album by English-French rock band Stereolab, Cobra and Phases Group Play Voltage in the Milky Night was released 21 September 1999. Heavily experimental, Stereolab explore mixes of jazz, art rock, and progressive rock, with unpopular time signatures igniting controversy amongst critics.
Alternative Press wrote “few bands make sweetly psychedelic pop as enduring as [Stereolab] do” while Tim Sendra for AllMusic stated that “Cobra is Stereolab at their near best”, effectively balancing the band’s experimental and pop sensibilities.
Later in 2019, Tim Gane cited Cobra and Phases Group as one of his favourite Stereolab albums in an interview with The Guardian: “I like things that are sprawling and not identified really easily, not easy to digest but there’s a lot of possibilities in them.”