Around the time that Garbage hit big, there were many female fronted techno-rock groups emerging as well. One of these was Sister Soleil, fronted by blonde beauty Stella Katsoudas. Sister Soleil’s debut album was very hard, very synthy and very strange, not to everyone’s tastes to be sure. As a result, the album went nowhere and Stella branched out on her own in the hopes of attracting a more mainstream audience. As Stella Soleil, she released her only solo album. And what a gem it is! With a voice and look similar to Gwen Stefani, and backed by a battalion of pop and rock producers, Stella crafted perfect dance-pop-rock songs. She should have been huge, but alas, it wasn’t meant to be. However, obviously some people took note of the album’s brilliance: her first semi-hit single “Kiss Kiss” (itself a reworking of Turkish star Tarkan’s “Simarik”) was later a hit by Holly Valance, and Aqua lead singer Lene released a version of “Pretty Young Thing” as her second solo single. The album is a pure pop pleasure. Ms. Soleil went on to form the rock group Whorse in 2002, and they released only one album the following year. She also recorded a song with Dolphin in 2003 entitled "Eyes". Eventually she joined the hard funk metal/industrial group Dirty Little Rabbits, who released one self-titled album in 2009. A couple of years later reformed with Sister Soleil, who self-released a mini album entitled Eskimo in 2011. Check out the video for "Water" for a sample. (And also check out Lastfm, for a free download of over 30 B-Sides & Rarities.) In 2013, Stella revealed her new alter ego, DubWitch, and released several videos and eventually an album in 2014, which you can download for free at Bandcamp! You MUST check it out, as it contains the best elements of all of Stella's previous bands and solo work, including a dark electronic twist and her unmistakable vocals. The girl just keeps going strong!Video for Kiss Kiss
Download Dirty Little Secret
| 1 | Kiss Kiss | |
| 2 | Pretty Young Thing | |
| 3 | You | |
| 4 | Imperfect | |
| 5 | Runaway Crush | |
| 6 | Stand Up | |
| 7 | Love You To Death | |
| 8 | Angel Face | |
| 9 | Twilight | |
| 10 | Look My Way | |
| 11 | Let's Just Go To Bed | |
| 12 | Dance With Me |
"Imperfect" is one of the greatest pop songs EVER! She's got some new stuff up on her myspace, http://www.myspace.com/stellasoleilmusic
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ReplyDeleteI LOVE this album!!!I worked at a retail-music chain store at the time of it's release,and they shipped us Stella Soleil t-shirts(the album cover,with Kiss Kiss printed on the end of the sleeve)to give out to those that purchased the disc.Well,we never sold a single one(don't blame me,I played the promo disc to death in-store!)so I ended up keeping all the shirts...I still have a couple to this day!
ReplyDeleteA great,overlooked album that shines throughout.Pretty Young Thing is one of my favorite pop songs of all-time!!!
I bought the CD single back in early 2001 and her sinig is great!
ReplyDeleteToo bad this never took off, I bought the promo CD on Ebay as well as a few other things by her.
This is a GREAT album no matter what anyone says!
Thank you for posting this. I bought a lot of these cds when they were in the shops but recently I had a lot of my cd collection stolen and can't afford to purchase all my cd's again. Thank you for your hard work. *hugs*
ReplyDeleteGod I can't thank you enough for uploading this and showing me the video for Kiss Kiss. The moment I heard it I realized it was a song I've been trying to find for 8 years. Only the version I heard was by Holly Vallance, who made it a no.1 in the UK in 2002. Cracking song!
ReplyDeleteCan you please reupload this? I'm loving "Kiss Kiss!"
ReplyDeleteIt's been reupped.
DeleteHi , could you reupload this one, please?
ReplyDeleteThank you
It's been reupped.
Deletereup?
ReplyDeleteIt's been reupped.
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