Cagey's listening to

Al Corley - "Give It Up"
Square Rooms - 1984
Tough finding information on this guy. I realized this song has a lot of elements that are perfect supplements in the New Wave tradition: background vocals in French from some femme fatale (a tribute to his French audiences or to la mode francaise of the '80s?); a drumbeat that makes a slam sound with irrevocability like you might expect from a Delta Force action movie with Lee Marvin and Chuck Norris; and an addictive synth layer that goes up and down the scales in 3/4 time.

Peter Murphy - "Cuts You Up"
Deep - 1989
Only 2 degrees of Separation to David Sylvian!
"By 1983, Bauhaus broke up and Murphy went on to new projects not involving Bauhaus members.. After some brief dabbling with acting and dance - including a slightly odd televised performance to Bauhaus's 'Hollow Hills' - he soon formed Dali's Car with [the late] Mick Karn, the bass player from Japan." ~Wikipedia

Michael Penn - "This & That"
March - 2001
Yeah, I know, he's Sean Penn's brother...