Stereo Total

★★★★

Chanson Hystérique 1995-2005

TAPETE. CD/DL/LP

116-song testament to the late Françoise Cactus’ peculiar genius.

Cactus, who died from breast cancer in February aged just 57, was a cult heroine nonpareil. As singing drummer in the late-’80s Franco-German garage-rock band Lolitas, her deviant raunch wowed producer Alex Chilton, and after starting up lo-fi synth duo Stereo Total with life partner Brezel Göring, her kinky, uniquely infectious songcraft about threesomes and Holiday Inn trysts won high-profile fans like Beastie Boys and The Strokes, and TV ads for Dior, if never the outright crossover it deserved. Before her passing, Cactus was readying this box set of Stereo Total’s first six albums, which reveal the pair’s maverick range – like a saucy, trilingual Saint Etienne, with governing predilections for both ’60s French pop and trashy ’50s ramalama, plus a propensity for ace covers (Bowie, Hot Chocolate). Almost all the previously released material is terrifically entertaining, while a bonus disc packs 19 way-upto-snuff offcuts, including hilarious Gallic reworkings of California Sun and Drive My Car. Andrew Perry