Sex Cryptics, Freak Mystics

Scala Choir “I Touch Myself” – I can barely contain my enthusiasm for this song! I hadn’t seriously thought about this Divinyls tune in years, especially since the original has become a kitsh touchstone, but this recording by a choir of teenage girls from Belgium is a revelation. I had no idea how amazing this song was, but then I don’t think that the original presented the melody and lyrical content with as much grace and emotion as this version. Something about this arrangement sweeps me up in the sentiment every time I hear it, and my heart just melts whenever I hear them sing the line “a fool could see how much I adore you.” This recording captures the incredible, irrational rush of intense young love perfectly, perhaps moreso than anything that I’ve ever heard. The Scala Choir have covered a wide range of contemporary pop songs (including “Bittersweet Symphony,” “With Or Without You,” “Every Breath You Take,” “Under The Bridge,” “Exit Music (For A Film),” “Can’t Get You Out Of My Head,” and “Smells Like Teen Spirit”) to great effect, but nothing comes close to this. This is a truly special recording. (Click here to buy it.)

Gene Serene “Electric Dreams” – I’m very enthusiastic about this one too. Though it’s not quite as intense as the Scala Choir song, this is a pretty ecstatic tune in its own right. As it stands right now, this is my favorite electropop song thus far in 2004. Sometimes I can feel like Goldilocks sorting through bowls of porridge when I’m going through dance pop singles, but this song is just right. This is taken from Gene Serene‘s debut EP Electric Dreams, which is just about to be released in the UK.

Elsewhere: Phonequail presents The Weeping Mule, a series of longform audio collages compiling a wide range of found audio and music samples. The first in the series centers on the autistic, and the second includes historic station ids and audblog entries. A new collage including recordings of conference calls is forthcoming.