…the two versions are actually a lot closer in sound than you’d imagine. At least, it seems that way to me. I would go so far as to say, though, that I prefer this over the Nouvelle Vague version. Both are fun, though, and I’d never have heard this if I hadn’t first heard Nouvelle Vague. So.

There’s not much to say about this other than it’s fantastic. Stars, a New-York-turned-Montreal band, was once known for the uber-hipster electro-pop song “My Radio,” but have since dropped the “tool cool for school” identity and revealed Heart in 2002. Where Nightsongs was too busy keeeping up appearances to reveal too much emotion, Heart almost has the opposite tendency. Nevertheless, there’s more than enough of a pop sensibility to keep the whole album afloat, and much of the quieter, twee atmosphere is stripped away both on their better songs (”Elevator Love Letter,” “Death To Death”) and in their great live performances. I’ve seen them upstage Broken Social Scene, and then joining them so Amy Millan could sing brilliant versions of “Almost Crimes” and “Anthems For A Seventeen-Year-Old Girl.”

Set Yourself On Fire is the latest album, out in Canada now and set for an early 2005 release stateside. Based on this track, it sounds like Stars are headed a little further into shoegazer territory, but I’ve yet to grab the album.

A couple of years ago, Craig McCracken found himself with a hit kids’ cartoon on his hands. The Powerpuff Girls managed to mix in enough witty references and style to appeal almost as much to adults as to the huge audiences of young children tuning in on the Cartoon Network. One great Cartoon Network had the girls smash into the patio door of a bachelor pad, leaving the two guys inside a little confused. “Buttercup, you okay?” “Naw, man, that’s Blossom.” “Hey Blossom. Want some water?”

Indie music and saturday morning cartoons have been close bedfellows for quite a while now. A compilation album filled with indie covers of Schoolhouse Rock! songs was only the beginning; it was the Powerpuff Girls soundtrack that broke things wide open. Suddenly seven-year-olds with hipster older siblings found the likes of Devo, Frank Black, Komeda and Cornelius in their stockings come Christmas day, and by golly, they liked it too. You can thank McCracken for the inspired pairing of the Powerpuff Girls and Frank Black; when it came time to put together the CD, he just picked a bunch of bands and artist he was inspired by while making the series. So if you ever hear a little kid singing along to Dressy Bessy or Optiganally Yours, you’ll know why.

Spongebob Squarepants is arguably the most popular Saturday morning cartoon with adults since the Powerpuff Girls, so it’s fitting that the soundtrack for the upcoming movie should also include some interesting choices. The Shins and Wilco are set to provide tracks, and the Flaming Lips contribute “Spongebob And Patrick Confront The Psychic Wall Of Energy.” And yes, apparently there really is a psychic wall of energy in the movie.

Whoever said that being a little kid is like being on a permanent acid trip is pretty spot on. So who better than the Flaming Lips to contribute to a kids’ show soundtrack?

Tuscadero’s another one of those teenybopper twee-punk bands that sounds like they just came out of high school. There really isn’t anything to explain why Elektra signed them in 1996 after a short stint on Teenbeat, who released the first version of The Pink Album, except that out of the band’s simple formula grew a formidable ability to write a good hook or five. It’s probably the only reason so many people (relatively speaking, of course) have “Nancy Drew” in their MP3 collections, even if they don’t know anything else about Tuscadero. Really, “Nancy Drew” is like a highly addictive drug made up of Nancy Drew books and model horses from Massachusetts.

If you care to look deeper into Tuscadero’s early days, though, you’ll not only find the rough original cut of “Nancy Drew”—which you may or may not like more than the glossy Elektra version—but a lot of other lost gems just as fine as “Nancy Drew.” And if you’ve never heard anything from Tuscadero, you might be surprised at how quickly their cute pre-Donnas pop-punk gets into your head. What else would you expect from a band that took its name from a rock singer on Happy Days, to which “Leather Idol” pays tribute?