It is hard to take Stereo Total seriously. Listening to this European group for the first time evoked the same reaction I had when I heard The B-52s…”Damn! They’re good. But are they joking?”

Rare Songs is a free on-line album of 13 tracks that were either unreleased or are no longer available on disc. They were recorded from 1996 to 2002 and represent a hodge-podge of styles from punk to disco to oldie rock. Indeed, Stereo Total’s gift seems to be the ability to lift from many genres and create a music that is fun to listen to and a little bit insane. There’s a lot of intentional humor but never so much that the result overflows into silliness.

The first track, “in/out” is a nice example of the campy lo-fi euro-pop that the band embraces. The song moves along like a beach party romp as vocalists Françoise Cactus and Brezel Göring lay on a mock seriousness. Francoise continues with a sultry but punkish “Prend Moi” then breaks out with “Carta Postale” which is a wild and thinly disquised cover of “California Sun” made famous by The Rivieras and later, The Ramones. I do not understand French but I’ll bet you a warped frisbee that they are not the original lyrics. “Ex Fab Des 60ties” is a sweet and wistful number about dead rock stars while “The Other Side of You” is sweet with a taste of bitters. “Party Anticonformist” reaches back to disco as does “Schon Von Unten”, a breezy little electronic trifle. Each song has its own twisted charm. It can be argued that Stereo Total makes light-weight dispensible pop but I doubt you will be able to get some of these infectious tracks out of your head once you hear them.

The album is available in 128kbps MP3. If you enjoy the album support the artists and buy their CDs.

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