I've always thought that the New Pornographers' brand of pop was quite unique, but here we go - Sparks, on the strength of "The Decline and Fall of Me", must have been a huge influence, because that song sounds an awful lot like a template for much of the Pornographers' (still genius) output. Other discoveries from this mix cd (from Julian): a mash-up of "Head Like A Hole" and "Call Me Maybe" ("Call Me A Hole", by PomDeter) works quite well but probably would work better if I was more familiar with Carly Rae Jepsen's original; a band called Wondermints made some nice retro-sounding pop a while back ("Fleur-De-Lis"); "Our Own War" by Loudon Wainwright III is good and so too, from her last album, "Shine" by Joni Mitchell.
