For fifteen years, Stereo Total’s Francoise Cactus and Brezel Goring have concocted curious synth-pop/garage rock tunes in an effort to evoke the French New Wave with maximum lightheartedness. The French/German duo’s last record, appropriately titled “Paris-Berlin,” proved that they’re still the benchmark for vaguely hilarious music. Between the constant switching between English, French and German (and amusing quotables like “put your Marxism where your mouth is” and “heterosexuality is the opium of the masses”), the pseudo-flamboyance and the Atari-based video-game synths, it’s sometimes difficult to nail down which aspect makes Stereo Total burst with European silliness. At one point, during “Ta Voix du Telephone,” I thought for sure I was listening to some unreleased sequel to Flight of the Conchords’ “Foux Da Fafa.” Catchy, funny, occasionally weird as hell and almost a parody of everything Europe has ever put out. (Andy Seifert)
March 23 at Bottom Lounge, 1375 W. Lake, (312)929-2022, at 8pm. $15.
Last Punks Standing: A Preview of Mekons at Hideout Mekons have endured by refusing to adhere to anyone's ideas regarding what is and isn't punk rock (which is in and of itself a defiantly punk attitude).
