The PopCulteer
June 27, 2025

Roughly once a year we have a harmonic (and rhythmic) convergence as both of our Friday music specialty shows devote themselves to the music that makes you dance.  Just when the heat and humidity make you feel dead, music helps you feel alive on The AIR Friday afternoon as Mel Larch’s MIRRORBALL and Sydney Fileen’s Sydney’s Big Electric Cat return with new episodes. MIRRORBALL is always all about dancing, but this week Sydney’s Big Electric Cat presents part eight of the New Wave Dance Mix Mixtape and gets into the dance-instigating act as well.

The AIR is PopCult‘s sister radio station. You can hear our shows on The AIR website, or just click on the embedded player found elsewhere on this page.

Rejoice and prepare to feel four or five decades younger (where applicable).

Friday at 2 PM on The AIR, we have a new episode of MIRRORBALL where Mel Larch once again presents a selection of the best and brightest of the classic Disco era. This time it’s a new batch of rare club mixes with a Disco stew of huge hits and underground classics.

Don’t believe us? Check out the playlist. It’s got filled to the rim with Disco…

MIRRORBALL 117

Rose Royce “Do Your Dance”
Foxy “The Way You Do The Things You Do”
Donald Byrd “Love Has Come Around”
Five Special “Why Leave Us Alone”
Gino Soccio “I Wanna Take You There (Now)”
Slave “Feel My Love”
C.L. Blast “I Wanna Get Down”
Frankie Valli “Swearin’ To God”

You can hear MIRRORBALL every Friday at 2 PM, with replays Sunday night at 11 PM and throughout the following week Monday at 9 AM and Tuesday at 1 PM plus there’s a mini-marathon that includes the latest episode Saturday nights at 9 PM

At 3 PM, Sydney Fileen graces us with a terrific new episode of Sydney’s Big Electric Cat that coincidentally turns out to be the eighth Big Electric Cat mixtape of New Wave 12″ extended remixes.

Combined with MIRRORBALL, that makes three solid hours of decades-old dance music, so if you see folks approaching retirement age getting their boogie down, you know why.

This time Sydney decided to dig out some more bizarre mixes from some of the bigger names in New Wave, so you might recognize some of the songs, but not the way you’ll hear them here.

Check out the playlist (all extended remixes)…

BEC 129

Yazz & The Plastic Population “The Only Way Is Up”
DEVO “Disco Dancer”
Billy Idol “Flesh For Fantasy”
Bananarama “Only Your Love”
INXS “I Need You Tonight”
808 State “Pacific 707”
Men At Work “Down Under”
Toyah “Moon Migration”
Malcolm McLaren & The Bootzilla Orchestra “Waltz, Darling”
The Beloved “The Sun Rising”
The B 52s “Love Shack”
B-Movies “Nowhere Girl”
Sisters of Mercy “Lucretia My Reflection”
Pete Shelley “Homosapien”
Bronski Beat with Marc Almond “I Feel Love/Johnny Remember Me”
Kate Bush “The Big Sky”
New Order “Blue Monday”

Sydney’s Big Electric Cat is produced at Haversham Recording Institute in London, and can be heard every Friday at 3 PM, with replays Saturday afternoon,  Monday at 7 AM, Tuesday at 8 PM, Wednesday at Noon and Thursday at 10 AM, exclusively on The AIR. Classic episodes can be heard Sunday morning at 10 AM.

That’s what’s new on The AIR Friday, and that is this week’s PopCulteer.  As your humble blogger has been bravely fighting off a sinus infection of the most nastiest variety this week, the promised photos from The Marx Toy Show will be delayed until the week after July 4th, when the plan is to bring you a bonus photo essay every weekday as we play catch-up from our recent travels. Check back for our regular features every day.