Playlist:
OMD / The Misunderstanding (1980) / YouTube

This song isn't one of their hits and it absolutely should be...

Playlist:
B-52's / Song for a Future Generation (1983) / YouTube

Playlist:
Wolf Parade / Shine a Light (2005) / YouTube

Another track from this band on this album is currently everywhere due to a certain sports-romance show (and for the record I think the music choices in that are fantastic), but this is the one I can put on repeat (almost) forever.

Playlist:
The Apples in Stereo / She's Telling Lies (Bryce's Mix) (2002) / Bandcamp

Since this takes place in 2005, it's not completely bizarre that someone's asking "if" Sara has a cell phone, but by that point most people would have had one. There would have been plenty of pay phones still around (maybe not in this particular neighborhood). It's hard to think of any time when asking a stranger to use a personal phone wouldn't have been a bit odd, and this is indeed supposed to feel off. Calling a car service would have been the only way to get a ride in an outer borough.

Playlist:
The Postal Service / We Will Become Silhouettes (2003) / Bandcamp

Playlist:
Pretty Girls Make Graves / Ghosts in the Radio (2002) / YouTube