Though they're based in Berlin, the witty pop group
Stereo Total draw bandmembers and musical influences from across Europe. Vocalist/guitarist/drummer
Françoise Cactus is French and vocalist/guitarist/keyboardist
Brezel Göring is German, and the group has included members from Italy, Scotland, and Bohemia. Their 1995 debut album,
Oh Ah! on Bungalow Records, introduced their kitchen-sink approach to pop music, which embraces punk, hip-hop, disco, '60s pop, and rock from France, the U.K., and the U.S., as well as electro and new wave elements. Further Bungalow releases like
Monokini and
Juke-Box Alarm followed; in 1998, they made their U.S. debut with their self-titled album on Bobsled Records.
My Melody followed in 1999.
Musique Automatique appeared on Bobsled in late 2001, but was reissued -- along with
Oh Ah! and
Monokini -- by Kill Rock Stars over the next two years.
Stereo Total returned with their sixth full-length,
Do the Bambi, in 2005. Kill Rock Stars' reissue campaign continued in 2006 with new editions of
Juke-Box Alarm and
My Melody, while Disko B released the
Bambi remix album
Discotheque. For 2007's full-length
Paris-Berlin,
Stereo Total returned to the rawer sound of their earlier work. The duo issued a Quebec-only release,
Carte Postale de Montreal, and a Spanish-language best-of collection, No Controles, before the 2010 full-length
Baby Ouh!, which featured guests including
Khan and members of
Cobra Killer and
Hawnay Troof. The duo returned in 2011 with the soundtrack to Underwater Love, a "pink musical" by director Shinji Iamoka. The following year, Cactus Versus Brezel, which
Stereo Total recorded in Los Angeles with producer Gus Seyffert, was released in Europe; a U.S. release was expected in 2013.
–
Heather Phares, Rovi