here at metropolis towers we are currently grooving to some swedish pop from sally shapiro

go visit her here

and download moonlight dance here

and thanks to the tracasseur blog for switching me on to this

2009/ Washed Out – High Times + Life Of Leisure

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00’s/ Sally Shapiro – Disco Romance

2009/ Sally Shapiro – My Guilty Pleasure

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00’s/ Herbert – Bodily Functions

One of my favorite things about the holiday season is the melancholic music that comes along with it. I can’t stand the tacky, jarring music sometimes associated with the Christmas season. It’s a pretty emotional time, I think, for a lot of people. Myself included. So I put on some Christmas songs that really affect me and also other tracks that fit the mood of the mix. I hope you like the tracks!

♫ From Now On Our Troubles Will Be Out of Sight (44.57 min)

♫ Grouper – Wind and Snow
♫ Department of Eagles – Phantom Other
♫ Joni Mitchell – River
♫ Erlend Oye – Last Christmas
♫ Judy Garland – Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas
♫ Vince Guaraldi Trio – Christmas Time is Here
♫ Feist – Lo, a Rose E’er Blooming
♫ Bon Iver – Brackett, WI
♫ Sufjan Stevens – Star of Wonder
♫ Low – Silent Night
♫ Sally Shapiro – Anorak Christmas

]]> http://heelsandheadphones.wordpress.com/2009/11/28/get-outs-the-house-go-see-woodhands/ Sun, 29 Nov 2009 03:47:32 +0000 Lena http://heelsandheadphones.wordpress.com/2009/11/28/get-outs-the-house-go-see-woodhands/

Hey, whatchoo doin’ tonight?

Me? Going out!

And not in that “watching-someone-play-music-in-the-bath” kind of way.

First, I am attending the Woodhands show at the Biltmore (yay!) and then I’m checking out a steampunk party with a few friends.

But…what does one wear to a steampunk party?

I mean, I know it when I see it – I loved Steamboy – but how do I put it all together?

Wikipedia defines “steampunk fashion” has having no set guidelines (great). However, it says the style tends to synthesize modern styles as filtered through the Victorian era.

Mmmkay… more please.

“This may include gowns, corsets, petticoats and bustles; gentlemen’s suits with vests, coats and spats; or even military-inspired garments,” says Mr. Pedia.

Not wanting to look like an idiot at Woodhands (although, honestly, see above photo), I opted for a more subdued take on the genre inspired by this wicked laptop!

Wearing:

Scarf-Anthropologie; tank-TNA; corset-Value Village; shorts-Liquid Clothing; boots-Winners

Listening to:

Photo courtesy of popsbluemoon.com and geekologie.com

According to ITunes, these are my top 20 most played songs during the past year. I wonder what that says about me?

1. Poison Prince–Amy MacDonald
2. Telepathy–Emiliana Torrini
3. Tomoko–Hafdis Huld
4. Thursday–Askobi Seksu
5. Fuck You–Lily Allen
6. Sun machine–The Shortwave Set
7. Run–Amy MacDonald
8. Torn–Natalie Imbruglia
9. Fucked Up Mind–Hafdis Huld
10. Love At First Sight–Lush
11. Wonderwall–Oasis
12. This Is The Life–Amy MacDonald
13. Run–Snow Patrol
14. Anorak Christmas–Sally Shapiro
15. Tape Song–The Kills
16. Kids-MGMT
17. Waves–Nouvelle Vague
18. Light From A Dead Star–Lush
19. Common People–Pulp
20. Not Fair–Lily Allen

Sally Shapiro’s “Miracle” has really got that 90’s shoegazing sound and I like it.

Clues features members from Arcade Fire and the Unicorns. They also have a video for “You Have My Eyes Now” starring Tim Heidecker of Tim & Eric fame. And it is grand.

Tim also directed Aimee Mann’s Christmas Carol last year and the video for “You Don’t Know Me” by Ben Folds. I hope he keeps it up because I have enjoyed his video work so far.

The modelling industry has been described as “cut-throat”, and is demonstrated in the Silversun Pickups‘ video for “Substitution”. Fierce.

Throw Me The Statue’s “Hi-Fi Goon” sounds like it could have easily been a Built To Spill song. I like Built To Spill though.

Again, my love for all things Japanese rears its head. If only I could find something Japanese that sucks, but I can’t, because everything Japanese is awesome.

Again, the sleek but empty urban digital Japanese-vibe fills this epic but intimate vid for Sally Shapiro’s ‘Miracle”, directed by Will Joines. In big cities we can live our lives so closely grouped together that it makes our loneliness feel even more cavernous for the lack of actually being physically alone.

Music @ Gigs

You can read the full review of The Jesus Lizard from last Tuesday night here.

Also caught the enjoyably lo-fi Times New Viking at the weekend when they played Whelan’s. In particular, Adam Elliott on drums and vocals kicked ass. Their new album is out now. I am not sure that it is going to prove as good as last year’s Rip It Off. So, if they are a new band for you, I suggest starting with that one instead! They are well worth a listen.

Music @ Videos

Grizzly Bear do be visiting Dublin in early November. Their latest album has caused much swooning amongst us indie types. Below is one of the reasons why!

Hopefully, there is a couple of less familiar names below for you to also become acquainted with!

Good weekend chaps! What-ho!

Grizzly Bear – While You Wait for the Others

oooOOOooo

First Aid Kit – Hard Believer

oooOOOooo

Chantal Kreviazuk – Invincible

oooOOOooo

Sally Shapiro – Miracle

Sally Shapiro je My Guilty Pleasure (kdo by se taky chlubil že poslouchá “Italo Disco Queen”?!)

Reviewed on Wednesday, September 09, 2009 by Areti Sakellaris
Published on URB.com
Paper Bag Records
2.5 Stars

My Guilty Pleasure doesn’t live up to its alluring title. With a handful of good moments, and one standout track, this sophomore effort by one Sally Shapiro and her producer Johan Agebjörn, is mediocre.

The Swedish duo’s follow-up to 2007’s Disco Romance, which garnered a nod as one of Pitchfork’s Top 50 Albums of the year, lacks the drunken dance grooves and blissed-out sonic booms crossing the Atlantic to our shores. My Guilty Pleasure struggles with lyrics and sounds particularly bland.

The blogs fueled the initial round of success and supported two remix albums with the Junior Boys and the Juan MacLean lending a hand, plus scoring a song on Felix da Housecat’s 2008 mix. But My Guilty Pleasure can’t push the envelope and it sounds like it holds back; whereas, some other albums transform that tension into excitement, My Guilty Pleasure falls short. With all it’s dreamy packaging and song titles like “Miracle” and “Moonlight Dance,” it’s really more like a bleary-eyed Sunday morning album that fades into the background.

“Looking at the Stars” can’t hold up the entire album, though it makes a bold attempt. Following that track is “Love in July, which is more of the same easy, romantic lyrics but with so much stellar music coming from Nordic land, Sally’s nine flimsy tracks can’t catch a break.

Swedish italo-disco artist Sally Shapiro is excited to release a brand new video for the first single, “Miracle,” off her sophomore release, My Guilty Pleasure, out now on Paper Bag Records!

A little bit about the making of “Miracle” according to Sally and her producer Johan Agebjörn, “This music video is directed by Will Joines, whom we had the pleasure to shortly meet during our one and only (and short) DJ tour to North America. He photographed us during the appearance in New York and was really nice. We like his work so we had him to direct this music video together with the producer Gilana Lobel and a few more people.”

Following on the success and critical acclaim of Disco Romance, My Guilty Pleasure, continues Sally’s natural progression towards a blend of 80s-inspired italo disco and twee indie pop – melancholic yet hopeful, sweet yet danceable. The album takes influences from genres like trance, cosmic disco, acid, ambient and jazz while retaining that sweet disco romance you know and love. My Guilty Pleasure contains 9 tracks, including the singles “Miracle” and “Love in July,” and is available now on CD and limited edition 180GRAM vinyl.

Sally Shapiro “Miracle” from the album “My Guilty Pleasure” from Paper Bag Records on Vimeo.

Worldwide Groove Corporation, Besame Mucho
Cat Power, Silver Stallion
Catatonia, Mulder and Scully
Royalchord, Mighty Minor
Neko Case, At Last
Chairlift, Garbage
The Do, The Bridge Is Broken
Call and Response, Landscapes
Camera Obscura, Shine Like a New Pin
Florence & the Machine, Kiss With a Fist
Cadallaca, Your One Wish
Corrin Campbell, Shame
Amy Millan, Old Perfume
The Butchies, Shooting Star
The Bran Flakes, Dance of the Sugarsnap Fairy
Uke of Space Corners, Doggies
The Breeders, Divine Hammer
Bran van 3000, Drinking in L.A.
The Inner Banks, Lemon Tree
Brassy, Play Some D
Bratmobile, I’m in the Band
The Nocturnes, I Love the Lighthouse Keeper
Boyskout, Lobby Boys
Boy Least Likely To, I Keep Myself to Myself
Lhasa, Is Anything Wrong
Boyracer, Ask Too Much
Bjork, I Miss You
Blonde Redhead, Four Damaged Lemons
The Black Tales, Boys Underwear
The Dead Weather, Hang You From the Heavens
Black Box Recorder, New Baby Boom
Munchausen by Proxy, Sweet Ballad
Blackberry River Band, Too Drunk to Remember
Taken by Trees, Anna
Blake Babies, Temptation Eyes
Bis, I’m a Slut
Sally Shapiro, Miracle
Bitesize, Cold Turkey
The Bird and the Bee, Love Letter to Japan
Sex Presleys, Teddy Bear
The Cardigans, Happy Meal
Yacht, The Afterlife
Bikini Kill, Rebel Girl
The Husbands, Nobody But Him
Suddenly, Tammy!, Supersonic
Anjulie, Love Songs
The Rocking Horse Winner, Novelty

Sally Shapiro “Miracle” from the album “My Guilty Pleasure” from Paper Bag Records on Vimeo.

41.Badges

Hopefully back in a BIG way, but definitely huge ones and definitely not band themed ones– nil point for deftones or a hummus brothers “give peas a chance” number. Why does nobody make good badges anymore? How much do you want to go out and just do this look? How much would it even cost? About 50p probably

I used to have one as big as a plate, yellow and red, with EMPLOYEE OF THE MONTH on it that I bought in Miami. Then lost in Hampstead.

via stylisightings

42. Roberta from Spotify

“SHE’S BACK”

Does she sound the same – can we remember what she used to sound like?– just having her back is ENOUGH, enough after that dreadful, cockney inflected Mark Kermode soundalike who I actually thought was Mark Kermode for a long while.

43. Sixpack’s patchwork sweater

Key component for new look – crew neck sweaters, washed out polo shirts, looser tracksuit trousers, sneakers, aviator spectacles and belt loop, inspired by Christopher Shannon. Another fantastic piece from Sixpack, by French artist Akroe.

44. Damir Doma front zip boots at oki-ni

We saw these backstage at the show in February, I wasn’t sure if they’d go into production:

Now they’re available in grey at oki-ni.com

45. SALLY SHAPIRO’S NEW ALBUM, “my guilty pleasure”

Not technically the girl on the cover, “Sally Shapiro” is merely the given name of the group which includes instrumentalist Johan Agebjorn and the nameless girl below. Not heard this second record yet in full but if first single “Miracle” and the last album are anything to go by it should be the best of the year. Not really Italo-disco after all, more like a 21st century Saint Etienne.

46. RAF sleeve jackets, as seen in V MAN- yes I know Raf’s been on this list before but these are a bit different

Five things MENSWEAR would endure to get one of these Raf Simons outfits

1. Listen to the entire new Jamie T album
2. Listen to the entire new Black Eyed Peas album
3. Eat a soggy cardboard box
4. Do the Derren Brown ‘knife foot polystyrene cup’ task
5. Can’t think of a fifth thing

47. Carolyn Massey fingerless gloves/mittens

Fact: best gloves of the season.

They fit like a glove (of course) but have an elongated ribbed cuff that makes them almost gauntlet-shaped. That, plus the fact they are very usefully joined on a long knitted cord makes them feel curiously military-ish. It’s something that you can’t quite put your finger on (no pun intended), how nice and sculpted and masculine these gloves feel, and that’s probably down to the archive research that went into all these pieces for A/W 09.

I just wish my camera was good enough to take a decent picture of them.

48. CAN, Bel Air

One of the best 20 minute long, early 70s polyrhythmic synth ballads ever recorded, and literally not a single minute doesn’t sound like it could have been recorded recently. From their spectacular “Future Days” album.

49. Chunky patterned cardigans

Got this one in Beyond Retro the other week, £15, thrown over a t-shirt, gets the job done

50. Lanvin felt-collared shirt

Lanvin update their silk and ribbon-collared shirts with one made of felt. Sounds unremarkable until you see it in real life; dressy enough not to need a tie but never scruffy. Available at Browns.

51. Radishes with salt and butter

Party snack du jour, as eaten at the Acne Spring/Summer 2010 afterparty at Rochelle School in Arnold Circus, Shoreditch; home not only of Celia but also of the crazy trendy restaurant Rochelle Canteen. Surprisingly addictive combo.

52. Digby & Iona “Lusca” ring

Yup, it’s mini OCTOPUS for your fingers! Available at Kabiri, talking of which…

53. Kabiri’s new website

Packed full of beautiful “investment” buys, the excellent Nathalie Kabiri’s online jewellery store has relaunched with some great picks and a constant flow of exclusive pieces and new names to add to your wish lists. It seems like the only store in London that really makes the most of directional men’s jewellery and treats it with the seriousness it deserves.

Screw earring by Victoria Archer

Babylon key necklace by Scosha

Triangle necklace by Alex & Chloe

54. Dover Street Market’s 5th Anniversary

The alternative sign of a good anniversary must be surprising people with how short something has been established. DSM feels like it’s been around forever – in the best possible way. The basement has also been completely changed to mark the event, bringing in Supreme, Visvim and Original Fake to haul it up to date.

55. India Knight’s Aspirin mask

India Knight– chic-lit writer turned writer of amazing shopping/thrift based books to read in the bath, literary genius

Aspirin– a painkiller.

Put the two together and you have the ultimate quick fix, chips-cheap skin clear/facial that means goodbye to expensive, uhm, other stuff.

The full method is here, via The Times – I’m not going to put it here in case someone does it and it goes wrong. Better to blame it on them.

56. Twat Boutique

Officially the best lesbian night in East London– don’t all rush at once– taking place in Dalston Superstore. Music is excellent, vibe is excellent, everyone is very, very nice, did I say the music was excellent? Here’s me and the Celia– courtesy of Holly Falconer via the amazing online magazine The Most Cake: “cherry picking the best of lesbian London and frosting it with our own buttercream of cool”.

57. Topman Design parka

The new Topman collection launches Thursday in the UK, but in New York it’s already hit the shop floor. After a few somewhat ropey seasons this is the most wearable, wantable Topman Design collection for a long time. First up is this jacket:

58. And this wadded jacket

59. And this amazing (and very heavy) ‘landscape’ knit

60. And this Dexter Wong for Topman trenchcoat

Nice layers. Fake fur collar? I don’t completely understand it, but one of those throw-on pieces that you know would go with anything:

First of all, just to brighten up everyone’s day:

I know the topic of Lady Ga-Ga’s alleged discostick has been beaten to death, but I’m going to play devil’s advocate for a second here and argue that she absolutely does not resemble Vin Diesel in a peroxide wig.

Now I know what you’re thinking…”but with those paint skills you could make her look like anybody.”  Whether or not “sir” would be a more accurate title for David Bowie-esque Gaga (who cites him as one of her main musical influences.  Coincidence?  Has anyone actually seen the two in the same place at the same time?) is a question I leave to you to decide, but either way, not a face I’d like to poke (come on, its her fault for popularizing such a clever innuendo.  She totally left it open).

On to something more palatable…

Nothing says “ancient wall restoration” like brightly colored kids toys.  Apparently I’m not the only one of this opinion, as evidenced by these pictures taken in Bochhignano, Italy of  ‘20 Eventi’, a collaborative art project that patches up old architecture with lego blocks.  It’s a pretty cool juxtaposition, and marks the first time I’ve ever heard of Bochhignano.  Could this signal the humble beginnings of a revolution, one that sees 50’s T-birds with lego tailights roaming free and antique stores finally scoring big with the elusive preteen demographic?  The world may not be ready.

Finally, some oldish and newish tunes to get the week started:

M83 – Slowly

We Plants Are Happy Plants – Apollo

Starfucker – Mike Ptyson

Sally Shapiro – Looking at the Stars

nick brandt : a shadow falls- photoraphs from east africa

the flaming lips : silver trembling hands

flying lotus : aunties lock-w-life force

edward sharpe & the magnetic zeros : desert song

freeland : only a fool

the cribs : we are aborted

the smith westerns : be my girl

memory tapes : magic sequence

memory tapes : plain material

sally shapiro : dying in africa

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