Stereo Total
Do the Bambi
(Kill Rock Stars)
With the recent return to popularity of electronic pop music in the United States and the enormous amount of attention garnered by albums like the Postal Service's Give Up and Bright Eyes' Digital Ash in a Digital Urn, it is a wonder it ever went out of style.
The mystery deepens upon considering the genre never actually went out of vogue in Europe. For example, Berlin's Stereo Total has been turning out witty, catchy pop albums since the mid-'90s.
Part dance, part glitch, part funk, part synth-pop and chock full of camp, the band's latest release, Do the Bambi, focuses on making sure whoever's listening is having a good time.
From the spoken word narration opening the album on \Babystrich"" to the dizzying synthesizer riffs on the band's cover of Lou Reed's ""Chelsea Girls,"" Do the Bambi is a likeable and easily accessible collection of pop-culture commentary and awkward syntax (on the few tracks actually in English). The pop culture references here come fast and thick, with no less than two tracks about Jean-Luc Godard's film ""Weekend,"" songs about German theatre, and of course, the title track.
Anyone who has wondered why there have not been more songs written about ""A Clockwork Orange"" will be satisfied by ""Orange Mecanique,"" with its verses about droogs and ultraviolence in tow.
With a sufficient understanding of the lyrics being necessary to appreciate the humor and wit of many of the tracks, the fact that most of the album alternates between French and German would be problematic. Thankfully the album's liner notes serve as excellent translators and bridges the language barrier.
When a band releases an album as heavily referential as Do the Bambi, it often becomes the target of criticism for being ""shallow."" But when it seems like anyone with a sad story-or at least the trappings of one-and a microphone can make it big, perhaps an intelligent, lighthearted take on things is what's needed. Besides, who else has the courage to write a song so completely lacking in metaphor as ""I am Naked?\
