The PopCulteer
April 30, 2021

May 1 marks one full year since MIRRORBALL, Mel Larch’s Disco Mixtape program debuted on The AIR as a one-off music special, and became such a runaway hit that we decided to put it on our weekly schedule full-time. The AIR is PopCult’s sister radio station. You can hear these shows on The AIR website, or just click on the embedded player at the top right column of this blog.

It was during the late summer of 2019 when Mr. and Mrs. PopCulteer were careenig through Eastern Pennsylvania, listening to The Rialto Report podcast about Andrea True, when Mel remarked on how much she loved Disco music, and we began to talk about doing a show of Disco music for The AIR. The show didn’t happen until the pandemic shut everything down and gave us more free time, and the first MIRRORBALL debuted as an AIR Music Special on May 1, 2020.

One year later and Mel still does a fresh episode of the show every other week, but because it’s been a full year since its debut, to celebrate we are going to run 24 hours of MIRRORBALL beginning May 1 at Midnight (that’s Friday night, into Saturday, if you’re keeping track at home). We will play every episode (except for holiday specials) and we will wind up with Mel’s latest Disco opus, which debuts Friday at 2 PM.

To mark one full year of MIRRORBALL, Mel put together an hour of some of her absolute favorites from the Disco era. Tune in at 2 PM Friday, and check out this playlist…

MIRRORBALL 024

Jimmy “Bo” Horne “Dance Across The Floor”
Labelle “Lady Marmalade”
Chic “Le Freak”
Dan Hartman “Instant Replay”
Anita Ward “Ring My Bell”
Peter Brown “Dance With Me”
Bee Gees “Stayin’ Alive”
Donna Summer “Dim All The Lights”
The Trammps “Disco Inferno”
Heatwave “The Groove Line”
Andrea True Connection “More, More, More”
Village People “YMCA”

You can hear MIRRORBALL every Friday at 2 PM, with a 24-hour marathon beginning Saturday at  Midnight and with replays at 9 PM, Sunday at 11 PM, Monday at 9 AM, Tuesday at 1 PM and Wednesday at 7 PM, exclusively on The AIR.

At 3 PM, Sydney Fileen graces us with a special mixtape show of her own. In response to request from her fans in New Zealand, Sydney has done a deep-dive into her New Wave record collection to assemble an all-Kiwi edition of Sydney’s Big Electric Cat.  Sydney promises lots of bands that are barely known outside of the Islands of New Zealand, along with a few ringers who went on to have international success.  Best of all, every track is drenched in crunchy New Wave goodness. Check out the playlist…

BEC 070

Split Enz “What’s The Matter With You”
The Androidss “Auckland Tonight”
Flesh D-Vice “Kill That Girl”
Car Crash Set “Fall From Grace”
The Body Electric “Pulsing”
DD Smash “The Gambler”
Th’ Dudes “Bliss”
Penknife Glides “Taking The Weight Off”
Mi-Sex “Computer Games”
Alms For Children “Danny Boy”
The Verlaines “Death And The Maiden”
The Mockers “Good Old Days”
The Gordons “Sometimes”
Desperate Measures “Generation Gap”
Screaming Meemees “Sunday Boys”
The Tall Dwarfs “Nothing’s Gonna Happen”
Blam Blam Blam “Don’t Fight It Marsha, It’s Bigger Than Both Of Us”
Danse Macabre “Between The Lines”
Dum Dum Boys “Idiot Boy”
The Instigators “Hope She’s Alright”
The Scavengers “Mysterex”
This Sporting Life “Total Loss”
Broken Dolls “Serenade”
Coconut Rough “Sierra Leone”
Coup D’etat “Dr. I Like Your Medicine”
Pedestrians “Saturday Night”
Newmatics “Riot Squad”
The Knobz “Culture”
The Features “City Scenes”
Citizen Band “Feel Good”
Spaces “Just Like Clockwork”

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

That’s what’s on The AIR Friday, and that is this week’s PopCulteer. Check back for fresh content every single freakin’ day.