SURE, I might typically come off as some high-brow cultural aesthete, foisting on you each week my well-balanced accounts of and thoughts on our fair city's club scene, but deep down within me there's a longing to do two wild and crazy things: write High Fidelity-style dissertations on how pop music affects my daily life, and sing from the rooftops.

My inspiration for both lately has been the comprehensively archived back catalog of Gallic pop king Serge Gainsbourg. But while prancing delicately around the room and crooning "Ford Mustang" to my heart's content, I've realized that even Gainsbourg's masterpieces can use a little tweak now and again. Enter his 1979 dub and reggae experiments with Rita Marley and Sly and Robbie, titled Aux Armes et Cætera (Polydor), and the figurative scents of Gitanes and ganja mingle together for a sound clash all their own.

Perhaps Norwegian singer Annie's peppy hybrid isn't quite as unexpected as Parisian-pop-meets-Kingston dub, but her Mighty show July 1 definitely found her adapting the sounds of Gainsbourg's vocal protégés Jane Birkin and Brigitte Bardot while volleying her own icy electro-chic shtick into the mix. With months and months of Internet-driven buzz behind her, the Bergen-born singer drew quite a cross-section of hip boys and girls, although ultimately her next-big-thing hype failed to follow through. Thin vocals and sound difficulties aside, the synchronicity between Annie and her DJ-programmer partner was sloppy throughout, and it practically fell apart during the hit "Heartbeat," which played like an amateurish remix. Luckily for her, though, when a crowd is as hell-bent on having fun as this one was, Annie could do no wrong. And for me, Popscene resident Omar Perez's opening set of killer electro-house tunes, including Chicks on Speed covering Tom Tom Club, and Droyds covering Squeeze, made for pretty much my all-time favorite DJ set since moving to SF nearly two years ago, and I kept the sweet taste in my mouth for days (and record store visits) to follow.

Everybody's talkin' 'bout ... pop

So, with Annie's faltering performance fresh on my mind, I strongly advocated that my recent day-job departure sendoff take place at a karaoke joint, where I'd be free to confidently indulge my hankering to drunkenly belt out Dr. Hook's "Sylvia's Mother" or some other schmaltzy '70s radio hit. (Yeah, I know that one was never a hit.) But I found the Mint Karaoke Lounge is hardly the place for "k" greenhorns to test the waters. I mean, I can sing, just like I can run when I need to, but for those who define the term with strict standards, these pipes won't normally pass muster. Thanks, however, to a monopoly of the KJ's playlist by the club's regulars, an avid RuPaul fan, and a midweek corporate gathering, I escaped scott-free from any embarrassing ditty-singing duties. And later in the week, while standing in line for a screening of Me and You and Everyone We Know at the Lumiere and witnessing an absolute butcher job of Journey's "Don't Stop Believin'" coming from the bar next door, I realized that Polk gulch's Encore Karaoke Lounge is a bit more my speed. Don't stop believin' – in the karaoke world, they're words to live by.

OK, here's a quick story. Last year, I'm back home for Christmas at my cousins' house, I'm playing some Nintendothingymadoodle that the kids are into, and I discover that I'm a natural at this game called Dance Dance Revolution. If my mastery of video game system names is any indicator, you'll understand that I typically fail miserably at these things, but because of my unabashed love for Junior Senior's "Move Your Feet," a classic on the gay dance-pop circuit of a couple years back, I impress my family to no end with my brilliant moves – all on beat, I'll add – and perfect recitation of the song's rather simplistic, stuttered lyrics. There were plenty of other similarly silly club tracks in the game's database – something by Eiffel 65 and a bad, bad, bad, bad Pet Shop Boys remix – but they all sucked. My teenage cousins quizzed me: "Why do you like that song but hate the others? They're all the same." I had nothing to say. But now I'm intent on figuring out exactly why I dig "Move Your Feet" to such a weird degree, and hopefully I'll chat about it with the Denmark band's Jeppe Laursen at his DJ gig July 15 at Blow Up, not so much for my own personal edification but to be able to explain to my younger relatives why something so wrong can feel so right.

Popscene presents Foreign Born, Thurs/14, 10 p.m., 330 Ritch, 330 Ritch, SF. $5. (415) 541-9574.

Blow Up presents DJ Jeppe Laursen of Junior Senior, Fri/15, 10 p.m., Rickshaw Stop, 155 Fell, SF. $7. (415) 861-2011.

Mint Karaoke Lounge is open daily, noon-2 a.m., 1942 Market, SF. Free. (415) 626-4726.

Encore Karaoke Lounge is open daily, 6 p.m.-2 a.m., 1550 California, SF. Free. (415) 775-0442.

E-mail Ken Taylor