Ah! Quel Cinema!＜限定盤＞

Stereo Totals audacious 2017 return Les Hormones was such a high that a comedown was almost inevitable. While Ah! Quel Cinema! is subdued by comparison, Brezel Goring and Francoise Cactus take the opportunity to explore the complexities of their music. The album gets off to a deceptively raucous start: Einfach is a reminder of just how easily they concoct an irresistible groove out of unlikely elements (a revving motor, wind chimes, a jackhammer, and a siren are all tossed into the mix). On Mes Copines, they trade vocals over synths and mechanical beats that bubble up like soda pop, while Ich Bin Cool is as raw and rinky-dink as their earliest albums -- and thats a good thing. However, it isnt long before shadows creep into Ah! Quel Cinema! Sometimes, Stereo Total treats them with whimsy, as on Die Dachkatzes haunted-house organ melody or the nervous beat that urges Cinemascope forward. At other times, they let the darkness take over, whether on Dancing with a Memorys bitter undercurrents or the dissolution of Methedrine, which uses the albums intentionally cheap sound to paint a seedy portrait of Andy Warhols Factory scene that gives a vampiric quality to its imagery of prowling the streets of New York behind black sunglasses. The duos always-deft pop culture homages continue on Brezel Says, which pays tribute to the Velvet Underground and Trios Da Da Da at the same time; later, Cactus quotes Little Richards Tutti Frutti on the equally funky and punky Keine Musik. At times, the albums more somber moments recall Do the Bambi, the last time Stereo Total peered into the void for longer than a second. Yet Ah! Quel Cinema! is more complex than most of the duos other work. Its ups (the bouncy French pop of Sur Un Fil), its downs (the disconcerting final track Electroshocktherapie), and its strangeness (the layered trippiness of Le Spleen) must be taken as a whole. This cohesive storytelling gives Ah! Quel Cinema! a fittingly cinematic scope -- and proves that Stereo Total can still find unexpected and intriguing nuances in their music more than 20 years after they began. ~ Heather Phares