Stereolab is quite friendly to these ears

I suppose they have a rep for being indie/experimental but for me their music been as easily likable as a..... I don't know... a Beatles song?

No effort required at all. Easily absorbed and I can figure out the complexities later. Well not even. Tim has a way of making even the complex parts easy. Does that make sense? Whatever.

It somehow manages to push all the right buttons. It's just really good music. Obvious.

Re: Stereolab is quite friendly to these ears

They certainly have pop hooks so it is easy to enjoy a lot of their stuff. They aren't really abrasive often and when they are, it is short lived. Their early stuff was a bit grittier. You are right that later listens reveal the deeper layers that have been created to enable the songs to live on past the hooks.