Customer Reviews

Musique Automatique

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For my money Stereo Total are the greatest contemporary pop band in the known universe (a recent article in the respected British newspaper the Guardian strongly agreed with me on this). Their music is of the past, of the future and of the NOW. There songs are sexy, funny, melodic, beautiful, true, dumb, intelligent, witty and inventive. They reflect the trully international nature of popular culture and their music contains references from Germany's Kraftwerk and their revolution in electronic pop, France's Ye Ye pop and Gainsbourg, the dark comic book rock 'n' roll of the Cramps, Japanese anime, hip hop, NYC punk, techno and a whole lot more. Despite all these reference points they never come across as too knowing, because of a beautiful amateur purity, joy and commitment that they bring to all their work. I now own 3 copies of this wonderful album: an original German vinyl edition, a UK cd version and this newest American issue... featuring the superior in French reading of L'Amour a 3 and lots of cool bonus tracks. If you think you only need one edition this is probably it. This is pop music at it's heroic best. When I first discovered the Beach Boys duo of masterpieces, Pet Sounds and Love You, I felt my life had been changed forever... I felt reborn, I wanted to tell the whole world about it. I never thought I would find a contemporary band that would me feel quite that way but I have and their name, just in case you haven't already guessed it, is STEREO TOTAL.

Further listening recommended by Stereo Total My Melody and Jukebox Alarm.

I kinda discovered these guys by accident. One of my friends got this as a Christmas gift and I was intrigued by the cover art... I took a listen and thought it sounded really good. I have a different friend for whom I thought would REALLY enjoy this band, so I picked up the CD for him and as it turns out, I'm keeping it for myself. I cannot stop listening to it.

For those of you into Komeda, Ladytron, or even Kraftwerk - you'll really love this. Most of the album is sung in French or German, although two tracks are also featured in English (including the absolutely superb "Love With the 3 Of Us"). Heavy on analog synth lines and Casio keyboard blips, the album features campy female vocals, pure pop melodies, beats firmly rooted in new-wave and even in hip-hop. It has a punkish attitude as well, some tracks feature chunky guitar riffs and most of the songs clock in at under three minutes.

I do not own any of Stereo Total's previous albums, but I have read that this one is more lightweight (lyrically, at least) than others. It does have a tongue-in-cheek quality to it, but at the same time it definitely is not a novelty. This is just great fun.

Somehow, I think Andy Warhol would like this band. They're not exactly the most original band, but they've mastered their sound. Most of their melodies are almost directly ripped of old beatles, serge gainsbourgh, and soul music, but they manage to paste it all together with cheap keyboards, drums machines, and guitars, and make it all sound more fresh and exciting than you'd ever think it could (with a cute french vocalist to boot). Just about every song on this album is catchy and danceable. I saw them live, and despite the small amount of people there and the countless mistakes they made playing the songs, their show was still completely fun and energetic. on the last song, they pulled half the crowd on stage to dance with them. if you like le tigre, but some of the politics grate on you, and you're really just looking for something fun (but worthwhile), buy this album.

Stereo Total (emphasis on the second syllable of total, evidently) has been a favorite on WZBC, a local indie station, for a while now, but I didn't realize just how much I had been hearing until I went picked up Musique Automatique and Total Pop -- suddenly all the catchy tunes I had heard bits of were flowing out of my headphones!

Musique Automatique seems more polished & electronic than Total Pop, which is a compliation of their harder-rocking early albums (don't miss the incredible punk cover of Salt 'n' Peppa's "Push It"), but it still manages to ride a fine line between funk, melody, kraftwerk-y bloops, and all-out rock. It's been a while since I picked up an album that I couldn't get enough of. This is totally worth a try if you're looking for something exciting and offbeat.

Wow, massive pop attack! You like pop, you like Europeans and keyboards? This is the album for ya. Brezel and Franciose mix up some uber-cool tracks, my favorites being "Wir Tanzen in 4-Eck" (means,"we dance in four corners"), "Nationale 7". and "L'Amour a Toi" (french: "love between three (of us)". The new release has cool new stuff, but my favorites were on the original as well. Japanese, turkish, french, english and german listeners will get the lyrics, but anyone can rock out with em. Cool cartoon-y album art as well.

A gem.
I was only recently introduced to Stereo Total by a friend of mine, I must admit I completely missed their first albums.
I think I have a slightly different version, it contains a Spanish song ("La pequena melodia"), a German and a Turkish version of "Forever 16" and no English songs.
German music, French lyrics sung in any European language and English cover art: thanks to Francoise Cactus and Brezel Goring Europe now looks more united than ever, and even sexy like a French woman :-)
Who knows, maybe even Wynona Ryder was listening to Kleptomane and could not resist...