Wang Chung - "Fire in the Twilight"

Wang Chung - "Fire in the Twilight": "This is totally 80s-tastic, but still completely enjoyable new wave. From The Breakfast Club, so this is also my belated John Hughes tribute."

Mew - "New Terrain"

Mew - "New Terrain": "It's literally backwards and forwards at the same time - and during most of the song, I can't tell which. In concept, it's amazingly irritating but, in reality, it sounds right despite being like nothing you're used to hearing. That's what makes it brilliant."

Radiohead - "Climbing Up The Walls"

Radiohead - "Climbing Up The Walls": "A little spooky, but it's arguably the sound of Radiohead turning the corner from their early work to the band we know today."

Phil Collins - "Don't Lose My Number"

Phil Collins - "Don't Lose My Number": "I don't know why, but this song popped into my head when I just went to get coffee. I really am at a loss as to why."

Keane - "Spiralling"

Keane - "Spiralling": "It has some overly polished moments - which is what initially kept me off this song - but I've since come around to it. The group "oooo!"s are pretty fun and there's a joyous white funk edge to things, miles away from the soppy 'Somewhere Only We Know'."

Marianne Faithfull - "Ooh Baby Baby"

Marianne Faithfull - "Ooh Baby Baby": "How did I not know about this when it came out? Or, better question: how did Antony (of Antony and the Johnsons) and Marianne Faithfull wind up recording this dramatic reworking of Smokey Robinson & The Miracles' "Ooh Baby Baby"? I can't even imagine how those pieces came together and, man, is it surreal! Antony sounds sublime, as usual, and it works better for Marianne than you might expect (only in that Smokey's original is smooth and Marianne, though awesome, is not what generally comes to mind when you think of smooth). It doesn't hurt that the original song is classic."

Samantha Fox - "Touch Me (I Want Your Body)"

Samantha Fox - "Touch Me (I Want Your Body)": "Hearing about Samantha Fox's (apparently lesbian!) wedding today totally put this song back into my head - which is great, because I had gone too long without listening to it. This is the night! (The sex noises are just a bonus.)"

Medicine - "She Knows Everything"

Medicine - "She Knows Everything": "A blast of delicious sweet-and-sour noise to help wash away this week."

Steely Dan - "Any Major Dude Will Tell You"

Steely Dan - "Any Major Dude Will Tell You": "Any major dude with half a heart surely will tell you my friend /
Any minor world that breaks apart falls together again"

Stars - "The Aspidistra Flies"

Stars - "The Aspidistra Flies": "I can't quite explain why, but I want to give this song to Jeremy, for Meg. I know the song won't make anything better now but perhaps someday it will because he'll know she knows too."

Duran Duran - "New Moon On Monday"

Duran Duran - "New Moon On Monday": "All this press about the recent vampire entertainment craze (largely focused around HBO's True Blood and Twilight: New Moon)...really just makes me think about "New Moon on Monday" by Duran Duran instead. I hope someone figures out how to get it on the New Moon soundtrack so the tweens can discover it's awesomeness. Besides, I hear that the Twilight vampires sparkle...not unlike Duran Duran's Nick Rhodes."

Shakira - "She Wolf"

Shakira - "She Wolf": "I can't get over how there is now a pop song whose lyrics include 'this is lycanthropy' - and doesn't automatically kill the flow of the song. I even kind of like the disco-club vibe of the song, even if I still somehow prefer parts of in Spanish. (Perhaps someone will mix the two versions together...) I just wish she didn't actually howl in the song, in either version."

Sarah Michelle Gellar - "Teen Horniness is Not a Crime"

Sarah Michelle Gellar - "Teen Horniness is Not a Crime": "I stumbled onto this track completely by accident - I had no idea it was on the soundtrack to Southland Tales, the convoluted-yet-fascinating (if in a train-wreck kind of way) movie by Richard Kelly of Donnie Darko fame. SMG performs this track as her character in the movie, Krista Now, a porn star/recording artist/talk-show host. Even if you haven't seen the movie, just knowing that it's SMG performing this song should make it entertaining enough."

Gladys Knight & The Pips - "I've Got To Use My Imagination"

Gladys Knight & The Pips - "I've Got To Use My Imagination": "Miss Knight gives it to you rough and the Pips give it to you smooth. The music is taut, using lush strings and horns in what is largely an economic arrangement, all as a perfect stage for Gladys' raw-but-strong lead vocals."

Servotron - "I Am Not A (Voice Activated Child Identicon)"

Servotron - "I Am Not A (Voice Activated Child Identicon)": "Following up on yesterday's 'robot' track, here's another. This time, evil-Devo-on-speed rockers Servotron become a murderous version of pre-teen humanoid robot Vicki from television's "Small Wonder" - now plotting the death of all humans, chanting "HARRIET TERMINATED! HARRIET SHALL DIE!" while hunting the show's precocious red-headed neighbor. Twisted and brilliant."

Royksopp - "The Girl And The Robot"

Royksopp - "The Girl And The Robot": "Pulsing Giorgio Moroder synths back Robyn's glorious vocals for a tale of girl-on-metaphorical-robot love and drama. I don't like the way she says the song title, for some reason, but everything else sounds terrific."

Culture Club - "Do You Really Want To Hurt Me"

Culture Club - "Do You Really Want To Hurt Me": "I will always love the video for this song, where Boy George:
- emerges out of a pool completely dry!
- wears a shirt with Hebrew on it, but only to be different!
- is thrown into jail after harassing stuffy old rich men for some reason or another!
- is then freed from jail by 'magical' Caribbean women who open his cell by simply holding onto his cell bars and dancing. Boy helps by looking at them and pouting.
Then again, he is hurt.

Of course, it helps that this is a great song, equal parts soul and pop, with a touch of island rhythm."

I Was a King - "Norman Bleik"

I Was a King - "Norman Bleik": "This album reminds me of Olivia Tremor Control's retro vibes turned back in a more straight-forward manner, but this song specifically echoes 60s California pop, with its Byrds-y jangling and energetically hushed androgynous vocals."

Messiah - "Temple Of Dreams"

Messiah - "Temple Of Dreams": Remember when rave culture seemed like the biggest trend ever? This song can't help but make me think of that time, but also listening to KROQ in LA, circa `92. I'm pretty sure the "stomp your feet" sample is the 'Spirit Child' from Prince's Lovesexy album, but the real sample gem is - obviously - Richard Dawson from The Running Man movie. Survey says 'awesome'."

The Human League - "The Lebanon (12'' Extended Mix)"

The Human League - "The Lebanon (12" Extended Mix)": "I know that I've already posted about "The Lebanon" before, but this version is even more Lebanon-y than the original - which means a few extra go-arounds of the bass line that I love so well."