Sally Shapiro: "Starman (feat. Electric Youth)

A nice little blast of Scandinavian pop for your morning from Ms. Shapiro. Perhaps an homage to one "Starman" who had a pretty big birthday week.

Blackouts, Voting, and Sally Shapiro

It's been a big few weeks: the East Village blackout, Sandy devastation, Brooklyn relocation, voting, and election day -- not to mention CMJ just a few weeks back. We're pretty faithful to our faves here, so we're taking a few seconds from the chaos to get this blog up on its feet again with the new single from longtime favorite Sally Shapiro. Today, she announced the follow up to 2009's My Guilty Pleasure. Somewhere Else is out February 26. The excellent new single "What Can I Do" is below. We're suckers for her throwback nostalgia-laden disco melodies. Via the press release:

Somewhere Else features Electric Youth (known from the Drive soundtrack), Anoraak and Le Prix. The duo's melancholic harmonies and the 80s disco feel are still present, but there are also indie pop influences (á la Belle & Sebastian), as well as touches of funk, IDM, trance, jazz and ambient. Shapiro says, "The title describes the recurrent theme in the music and my life, to somehow never be satisfied with what you have, or where you are - to always wish you were somewhere else."

Johan Agebjörn 'Casablanca Nights'

[mp3] Johan Agebjörn & Lovelock ft. Sally Shapiro – Casablanca Nights

This delectable pop-disco album from Sally Shapiro's key collaborator seemingly came from nowhere. With guest spots from CFCF, Wolfram, and the aforementioned Ms. Shapiro, Agebjorn's 'Casablanca Nights' (out now, Paperbag Records) is the perfect soundtrack to those sweet and humid summer dance parties.

Sally Shapiro: "Miracle"

[mp3] Sally Shapiro: "Miracle"

While we can't honestly say that we love Sally Shapiro's new record My Guilty Pleasure as much as 2007's Disco Romance, we can say that Guilty Pleasure is absolutely worth picking up. While the new album has darker overtones (and literal thunder booms), Shapiro's melancholy pop spirit is intact and so are her hooks. Here is the new video for her single "Miracle."
VIA

Monday Blog Reel

Summer Cats: "Super"

the bird and the bee: "My Love"

Lily Allen: "22"

Sally Shapiro: "Love in July"

Sean Bones: "Dancehall"

Although we usually like to run these joints on Friday, today seems to be a fairly slow news day and there is a surprising plate of nice videos that have been hitting recently. Even though we really despise the whole cat themed thing (apologies to Karp) we're still making this video from Slumberland artists Summer Cats our lead. Besides their penchant for annoying felines, this band knows how to write a catchy summer pop jam, and in fact wrote a whole album of them. Songs for Tuesdays comes out tomorrow (Tuesday). Hah. Oy.


the bird and the bee "My Love" - which is unembedable because EMI apparently hates marketing. Yet, somehow the Lily Allen video is embedable below because it's labeled Parlophone?? 

New Sally Shapiro "Miracle" mp3

[MP3]

Sally Shapiro: "Miracle"

It's almost become a cliche to call Sally Shapiro's 2007 album Disco Romance a "guilty pleasure." Why should it have to be though? It was a great album of nostalgic dance-pop. Sure it could be a little twee at times, but we loved the shit out of it honestly. It was catchy, a little melancholy and generally perfect for winter listening. Therefore, it's fairly ironic that her follow up record is entitled My Guilty Pleasure. Today, we get the first mp3 "Miracle" from that record (due out in August on Paper Bag Records (thx)) via Stereogum. Her signature melodic hooks and great voice are intact here amidst booming storm clouds and layers of synth and keys. As most of her songs do, Miracle reflects on "the nostalgia you can feel over a lost relationship. Maybe it really felt like a miracle when it was going on, at least for you. Or maybe you just remember the relationship as better than it actually was." We've all been there.