The PopCulteer
January 26, 2024

Your PopCulteer is heading to Louisville for some toy fun this weekend, but we aren’t going to abdicate our bloggerly duties! This week’s PopCulteer column reverts to radio notes mode. We have a hot new episode of MIRRORBALL to tell you about, and a very special new artist spotlight episode of Sydney’s Big Electric Cat, both debuting Friday afternoon on The AIR.

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.

Friday at 2 PM on The AIR, Mel Larch devotes a full hour to a pseudo crossover with The Swing Shift. I didn’t butt in to co-host or anything, but Mel has highlights from two albums by a Disco group called “Tuxedo Junction.” They take their name from the classic Glenn Miller tune, and their mission from the Big Band Swing songbook.

Only, they don’t really Swing.  They run these songs through the Disco-transmogrifyer, and the results are…danceable.  It’s a bizarre little novelty that shows that classic dance music can be timeless.

Check out the playlist…

MIRRORBALL 089
Tuxedo Junction

“Tuxedo Junction”
“Moonlight Serenade”
“Rainy Night In Rio”
“Chattanooga Choo Choo”
“Fox Trot”
“Volga Boatmen”
“Take The ‘A’ Train”
“Toot Toot Tootsie Goodbye”
“Begin The Beguine”
“Night In Tunisia”
“That Old Black Magic”

You can hear MIRRORBALL every Friday at 2 PM, with replays throughout the following week Monday at 9 AM and Tuesday at 1 PM and a mini-marathon Saturday nights at 9 PM

At 3 PM we bring you a two-hour salute to the exotic New Wave Goddess, Lene Lovich.  Rumored to be of Slavic origins, but really born in Detroit, Lene Lovich emerged from the early Disco/New Wave club scene in Europe before landing at Stiff Records and helping to define the New Wave sound.

Sydney mines Toy Box, the recent Cherry Red Four CD set compiling everything Lene Lovich released for Stiff Records between 1978 and 1983. Toy Box is the ultimate compilation of Lene’s years with Stiff. Lene Lovich arrived at Stiff Records in the summer of 1978, surfing the new wave and the subsequent ‘Be Stiff’ UK tour, and Sydney celebrates her New Wave trailblazing music.

Check out the playlist…

BEC 112
Lene Lovich

“Be Stiff”
“I Think We’re Alone Now”
“Lucky Number (Slavic Dance Mix)”
“Sleeping Beauty”
“Too Tender To Touch”
“Writing On The Wall”
“Telepathy”
“One In A Million”
“Say When”
“Momentary Breakdown”
“Tonight”
“Trixi”
“The Fly”
“Bird Song”
“What Will I Do Without You”
“Angels”
“Lucky Number with intro”
“The Night”
“You Can’t Kill Me”
“Egghead”
“Wonderful One”
“Monkey Talk”
“Joan”
“The Freeze”
“New Toy (extended mix)”
“Cats Away”
“Details”
“It’s You, Only You (Mein Schmerz)”
“Blue Hotel”
“Savages”

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. Check back for our regular features every day.