wnyc.org / 93.9fm / am 820

Every Monday, the Soundcheck staff digs through their inboxes for the best, catchiest, or strangest music they can find.

Shivaree, Tainted Love: Mating Calls and Fight Songs (Zoe) Indie group fronted by Ambrosia Parsley covers songs penned by some of love's most notorious outlaws: Phil Spector, Ike Turner, Gary Glitter, R. Kelly, Michael Jackson and more. --Joel Meyer

Tainted Love: Mating Calls and Fight Songs is available for purchase at amazon.com

Manu Chao, La Radiolina (Nacional) Chao's first studio album in six years is a typical -- for him -- blend of multilingual and multicultural music and politics. And of course, it's very danceable. --Gisele Regatao

La Radiolina is available for purchase at amazon.com

Erik Friedlander, Block Ice and Propane (SkipStone) One of the most versatile cellists around, Friedlander here evokes American roots music, inspired by the family road trips he took as a kid in a ’66 Chevy pickup with a camper on top. --Brian Wise

Block Ice and Propane is available for purchase at amazon.com

Simone Dinnerstein, J.S. Bach: Goldberg Variations (Telarc) Fans of the legendary Glenn Gould felt (as I did) that we didn’t need another pianist recording the Bach Goldberg Variations. The 34-year-old Dinnerstein’s personal, idiosyncratic approach shows how wrong we were. --John Schaefer

J.S. Bach: Goldberg Variations is available for purchase at amazon.com

The Real Tuesday Weld, The London Book of the Dead (Six Degrees) Stephen Coates loves old instruments and old song styles, but he creates something completely modern with them. It's as if Serge Gainsbourg and Cole Porter have been hitting the absinthe and then decided to write an old-fashioned radio play. --John Schaefer

The London Book of the Dead is available for purchase at amazon.com