Squeeze - Pulling Mussels (From the Shell)

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This Hump Day Retro Closet track comes from Squeeze. They came to prominence during the New Wave period of the late 1970s and has built up a dedicated following. The group formed in London in 1974, and first broke up in 1982, then reformed in 1985, broke up again in 1999 and finally reunited for tours through the United States and United Kingdom in 2007 and 2008.

All of Squeeze's hits were written by band members Glenn Tilbrook and Chris Difford who plan to write a new record of material in 2009, during and after another tour of the United States.

Pulling Mussels (From the Shell) is off their excellent 1980 release Argybargy.

Luce - Good Day

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Luce was founded in 2000 by lead singer Tom Luce and keyboardist/producer Adam Rossi in San Francisco. A permanent fixture in the Bay Area, they built up a loyal following and garnered heavy air play on bay area radio stations. They have a good pop sound and tour extensively.

Good Day is off their first album, Luce and is featured in several movies, including 13 Going on 30, How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days and the TV shows The O.C. and Alias.

Brian Culbertson - Funkin' Like My Father

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Brian Culbertson has mainly released Smooth jazz albums with a touch of funk. But, in 2008, he decided to dive into his funk passion and record, as he puts it, "a historic and completely unprecedented revisiting to the land of the sho' nuff uncut `70s-style funk of ages."

This may seem to be boasting and over the top. But when you have the legendary Maurice White (founder of Earth, Wind and Fire) producing the album and have and all-start funk line up of William "Bootsy" Collins and Phelps "Catfish" Collins, members of the Rubber Band and the Horny Horns (all out of Parliament-Funkadelic), Larry Graham (of Sly & The Family Stone and his own Graham Central Station), Larry Dunn and Sheldon Reynolds (of Earth Wind & Fire), Greg Adams (from Tower of Power), Tony Maiden and Bobby Watson (of Rufus), Michael Bland, Cora Dunham and Rhonda Smith (from Prince's bands), solo stars Ray Parker Jr., David T. Walker, Ronnie Laws, Gerald Albright, Tom Scott, Paul Jackson Jr., Perri, Maceo Parker & Fred Wesley (from James Brown's JB’s band) you can be given leeway to boast.

Funkin' Like My Father is the first track off the album, a tribute to his own father, sets the tone for rest of the excellent release Bringing Back The Funk.

Azure Ray - If You Fall

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Azure Ray was formed in 2001 by the duo Maria Taylor and Orenda Fink when they left the band Bright Eyes. Azure Ray disbanded in 2004, leaving Fink and Taylor to work on solo and other collaborative projects.

They got back together in 2007 to do a one-off show in Los Angeles. Maria Taylor announced on KCRW's Morning Becomes Eclectic show that the band would reform on a more semi-permanent basis in July 2009 for a handful of shows before working on a new Azure Ray album.

If You Fall is off their last released album in 2004 on Saddle Creek Records, Hold on Love.

Stephen Marley - Iron Bars

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Stephen Marley is Bob Marley's 2nd son. Stephen played in the Melody Makers with his brother Ziggy.

In 1996, he began working behind the board as a producer and in 2001 he produced the album, Halfway Tree, for his younger brother, Damian. The album won the Grammy for Best Reggae Album that year. In 2007, he released his own album, Mind Control, which included the track Iron Bars.

Cary Brothers - Ride

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Cary Brothers has used quite a unique method to reach his listeners. In 2004, he hit upon an idea for connecting with potential listeners by providing a free, downloadable "song of the week," that would allow fans to send him feedback on what they liked and what, for them, could use some retooling.

His college friendship with actor Zach Braff gave him the opportunity to air his music on the TV show Scrubs and the Braff written and produced movie Garden State.

Ride is off his 2005 EP Waiting for Your Letter.

Copeland - Coffee

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Hailing from Florida, Copeland is a soft and introspective indie rock band. Initially, they didn't jump out at me, but after hearing them a few times I have come to appreciate their relaxed and unassuming style.

Coffee is off their debut independent album, Beneath Medicine Tree.

The Velvet Underground - Rock and Roll

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I am starting a new Hoi Polloi feature: The Hump Day Retro Closet. On Wednesdays, I will spotlight a track from more than 10 years ago. Today's track is from The Velvet Underground, a band that was far ahead of their time. In their brief history, they were not a commercial success, but their influence for future musicians was immense.

Founded by Lou Reed and John Cale in the early 60's, The Velvet Underground's history was as turbulent as the times they played. Rock and Roll is off their great album Loaded. To read their interesting history, check out the un-official Velvet Underground fan site.

Black Joe Lewis and the Honeybears - Sugarfoot

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Austin, TX based Black Joe Lewis and the Honeybears know how to groove. Joe Lewis first picked up a guitar in 2002, when he was 20 years old and working at a pawn shop. “I just ended up buying one one day, and then I just kind of learned on my own, and then would try to hang out with people that are playing,” he recalls. “I did some really bad shows and I surprised people when I’d keep coming back.”

It was a gig at the University of Texas’s Forty Acres Fest, that Lewis first connected with the musicians that now form The Honeybears. Together, the seven members developed the garage soul sound that has struck a sympathetic note across the Austin musical landscape: a stew of old funk, dirty delta-soaked blues and brassy soul, topped with stream-of-consciousness lyrics that teem with humor and profanity.

That sound can be heard in the track Sugarfoot, off of their first full length album Tell 'Em What Your Name Is!

Chester French - She Loves Everybody

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Chester French took their name from the Lincoln Memorial sculptor Daniel Chester French. Why, I have no idea.

Vocalist/songwriter D.A. Wallach and multi-instrumentalist/songwriter Maxwell Drummey met while freshmen at Harvard. She Loves Everybody is off their album Love The Future, which they completed and released in the spring of 2007 at the same time they graduated from Harvard.