[4] Critic Tom Moon found the band's compositional approach reminiscent of hip hop and electronica music, with loops being layered into "richly textured collages".

[2] Guitarist Tim Gane remarked that the shift in style from previous releases emerged from a year-long bout of writer's block, where the band felt they were "drifting about in a musical landscape that wasn't inspiring or particularly exciting.

[7] The artwork for the album was inspired by the LP cover sleeve of a 1964 recording of composer Béla Bartók's Concerto for Orchestra by the Bamberg Symphony conducted by Heinrich Hollreiser.

[12] In 2004's The New Rolling Stone Album Guide, Roni Sarig wrote that Stereolab created their "most well-rounded, confident, and accomplished statement" with Emperor Tomato Ketchup, forgoing their earlier lo-fi aesthetic and crafting "an impeccably produced, creatively mixed collection that's a joy to behold in its full high-fidelity glory.

"[21] Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic stated that "Stereolab were poised for a breakthrough" with Emperor Tomato Ketchup given both their growing influence on alternative rock and their increasingly accessible musical direction.

[24] It was ranked 51st on Pitchfork's list of the decade's best albums, with staff writer Brent DiCrescenzo praising it as Stereolab's "most definitive and recommended statement" and recalling that it "sounded wholly futuristic and alien" at the time of its release.