Stereo Total, Paris-Berlin

While driving my usual commute to school, I was fumbling around trying to find a suitable radio station — or at least one that wasn’t depressing country — when I remembered about a little college radio station and automatically veered to it. After several minutes of interesting music, this nauseating song spilled from my speakers. Although it was entirely in French, its diabetic pop energy immediately piqued my interest. Despite my four years of French classes, I was overwhelmed by the fast lyrics, which left me with only a few decipherable words to aid me in the search for the band that birthed such a song. With the help of Google, I found out it was by those experts of the chanson, Françoise Cactus and Brezel Göring, who make up the eccentric pop group Stereo Total.

They’ve been around for years, with plenty of productions to boast, and have brought us lo-fi poppy song after lo-fi poppy song, continuing to do so with Paris-Berlin. The songs range from a song about a sexual revolution to a repetitive song about the infamous terrorist Patty Hearst to one about nonsensical chewing gum. Expect some name-dropping of dead rock stars in the song, “KÜSSE AUS DER HÖLLE DER MUSIK,” although I’m sure that none of those mentioned would approve. Most of you won’t understand the album, since the majority of the songs are in French, German, or a mixture of the two. Alas, do not fret, because there are a couple of songs in English and there’s always freetranslation.com. Do a quick translation, and Brezel and Françoise expose us to their lack of creativity in lyrical style, already evident in their English songs, by repeating the same phrase over and over.

Such an album might impress virgin ears but will sound like regurgitated songs with different song titles to those who’ve heard Stereo Total before. Cactus’s phony, youthful vocals will irritate the listener, especially since she’s on almost all of the tracks. Göring, not to be outdone, will creep you out with his cavernous voice. This album is not a breath of fresh air but the recycling of pop hooks and the repackaging of them into a weird, offbeat list of songs that make no sense. Their band’s energy remains a constant in this album, but it seems a little repetitive and boring now. If I had known things would turn out this way earlier, I would’ve quickly changed the radio dial.