Sally Shapiro

Another day, another amazing piece of music. I really am being spoilt lately. Paul put me onto this track, he'll be along in a moment to moan that he found her first but I can't not share this! I stole a little info from Discogs, I love the last bit.

"Little is known about the person behind Sally Shapiro, whose real name is something else. So far she has been to shy to record a music video or to perform live. When once asked what she does other than singing, she replied: "I dance all nights long on small disco clubs and walk in the moonshine thinking about my love affairs."

Stream "I Know" from last.fm

Visit her last.fm profile page to hear three other tracks. A single is available to download from Bleep and the album is available on cd from both Amazon and Play.

Gavin @ MySpace

Nathan Fake

Nathan Fake's album Drowning in a Sea of Love reminds me of a cross between Ulrich Schnauss and Aphex twin. Released on James Holden's label Border Community I heard this album for the first time but only recently realised that I'd been listening to a James Holden remix of the track The Sky is Pink for some time prior to hearing the album for the first time.

The two tracks on offer here give a glimpse of the variety on the album. The first Charlies' house is an upbeat number with a nice little melody running throughout and quite the hefty baseline if you're listening through some decent speakers too.

The second track Bumblechord is a bit more melancholy and sounds like something you might hear on the 28 Days Later soundtrack.

Charlies' House [alt link]
Bumblechord [alt link]

Amazon
Bleep

Sa-Ra Creative Partners

Celebrate - Sa-Ra finally have an album to their name. Last week The Hollywood Recordings, released on Babygrande Records, sees an end to their three year absence in a somewhat muted fashion.

It's clear that this is an album that is very very late. Much of the material is already familiar (Glorious, Rosebuds, Ladies Sing, Thrilla...), many of which are already considered classics.

So Special (Ft. Rozzi Daime) (Alt. Link)

So Special will be familiar to Sa-Ra devotees too. Leaked around 2004 the smooth summer vibe of So Special is pretty infectious and shows that Sa-Ra possess some pop sensibilities.

At it's best 'The Hollywood Recordings' invoke strong memories of N*E*R*D* debut 'In Search Of' mixed with Dilla smoothness and a touch of Madlib. At its worst it's Capone-N-Noreaga.

Fly Away (Ft. Erykah Badu & George Anne Muldrow) (Alt. Link)

Unbelievably this the first of two Sa-Ra albums to be released this summer: Black Fuzz is due out on a major label soon, which was originally due out last year on Kanye’s G.O.O.D. Music label. Given past promises I remain pessimistic...

Regardless, for long-term Sa-Ra fans 'The Hollywood Recordings' is outstanding value. For newcomers, it serves as the best introduction possible. I recommend picking it up on lovely double vinyl from Juno/Piccadilly or pop into your local independent (who tend to be selling for around a tenner).

Justice - D.A.N.C.E.

The new So-Me directed video for Justice's new single "D.A.N.C.E." is a piece of art. I don't like the song as much as some but visually, it can't be faulted:

JUSTICE - D.A.N.C.E.
Uploaded by edbangerrecords

On a similar level, So-Me's promo video for Ed Banger's compilation "Ed Rec Vol 2" is something special too:



I happened across this mini-mix recently featuring tracks from the Ed-Rec Vol 2 compilation, put together by Feadz . Like the compilation itself, it's a little patchy but there's some good stuff within:

Dj Feadz - Ed-Rec Vol 2 Medley (MP3) : Alt Link

Highlight of the album is definitely Dj Mehdi's "Lucky Girl" (it pops up at about 4.30 on the mix), the almost nurseryrhyme-esque vocals from Fafi make it sound like Gwen Stefani gone 80s dark-electro.

Buy Ed Rec Vol 2 from Amazon

Bogdan Irkuk aka BULGARI

If I'm posting up a video for Kelley Polar, it seems rude not to post up this one from Bogdan Irkuk aka BULGARI aswell. He recently released The Distant EP on the new Rollerboys Recordings out of Sweden and it's one of the best things I've heard for a long time. Side A of the vinyl contains his original tracks - The Distant Message, All Nite Store and Curare (shown above). All three of them are classy electro/disco grooves featuring some lovely chord progressions. On the B side are a couple of nice remixes - Arken does a great rework of The Distant Message, adding a few neat little touches without losing sight of the original. Plus the Rollerboys' own Yourhighness adds some thump to All Night Store.

You can listen to all the tracks on Myspace. The original versions are on Bogdan's page and the remixes are on the Rollerboys page (links below).

http://www.myspace.com/bogdanirkuk
http://www.myspace.com/rollerboysrecordings

Support this new label by ordering a copy of the EP on vinyl. Picadilly records are the UK stockist. Those of you outside the UK might want to order a copy from the Clone shop.

Gavin @ MySpace

New Kelley Polar!

I've been waiting a long time for some new material and his new EP Chrysanthemum is released today on Environ records. Sadly, the EP and hi-rez video are only available to purchase at iTunes for now, meaning I can't tell you much about the music. I do rather like the video by Marco Cibola though. Although the cosmic theme from Love Songs of the Hanging Garden seems to have gone, the music has retained his own unique style. You can also stream the track Chrysanthemum on his Myspace page. A vinyl release is coming later this month, as are digital downloads from other vendors.

Gavin @ Myspace