Two of my favorite albums of the year are officially out today: Sally Shapiro’s My Guilty Pleasure and Mew’s No More Stories…
On first listen to Guilty Pleasure i was kind of skeptical, while it was certainly catchy and still had very much of a Sally Shapiro “sound” to it, the themes were almost opposite from Disco Romance. Where her debut touched on the awesome, almost ignorance-is-bliss, aspects of the beginning stages of a relationship, Guilty Pleasure finds her on the other end…the end where things didn’t quite work out as planned in those early stages and all almost seems lost…and feels especially lonely.
After listening to the album more though, it’s those more serious/somber themes that make me enjoy it even more than Disco Romance. I guess it’s a more heavy album from an emotional standpoint, which took a bit to grow on me, but now i appreciate even more for it. The beauty of Shapiro is that she can take these almost heartbreaking tracks and make them sound beautifully full of hope.
Sally Shapiro – Miracle (MP3)
Also out today is Mew’s No More Stories, which goes the opposite route of the poppy Shapiro, and heads deep into psychedelic prog territory. I’ve talked about how much we like this album, so all i can say now is we highly recommend it. 1st half = catchy rock songs with great licks, 2nd half = deeper down the rabbit hole into more experimental areas of sonic adventure (with even some slower songs thrown in there). That’s the quick review.
Mew – Repeaterbeater (MP3)
BONUS: Sally Shapiro’s producer/beat master Johan Agebjörn just come out with a sweet italo-disco mix for FACT Magazine that you can download for FREE here. I listened to it on my drive home yesterday and it’s really really good.
UPDATE: Turns out Sally Shapiro is also giving away another track off the album, “Dying in Africa”, which is a cover of Nicolas Makelberge’s 2006 version.
Sally Shapiro – Dying in Africa (MP3)
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Uncategorized, johan agebjorn , Mew , sally shapiro
