Fall in love with The Shanghais!

School's out, the sun is shining, and the Phillies are a game out of first place. Life is good. And just when I thought this year couldn't get any better, along comes brand-new music from The Shanghais! A proper celebration is clearly in order. I feel like I need to go jump around on a trampoline while I drink a Slurpee and get showered with confetti! I named The Shanghais my best new band of 2014, and I've been eagerly awaiting new material for nearly two years. It would be an immense understatement to say that I was excited about the arrival of new EP Fall In Love With The Shanghais! I believe this is the first release to feature the current Shanghais lineup (Natalie, Aly, Colie, and Nick), and the title is what you might call truth in advertising. If you haven't already fallen in love with The Shanghais, you're about to!

Sticking to the unassailable blueprint of their two previous EPs, The Shanghais are back with more bubblegum garage punk goodness by way of the '60s girl groups. If you love The Shangri-Las, Nikki and The Corvettes, early Donnas, and newer bands like Pale Lips, this San Fran foursome is an essential addition to your record collection. I'm detecting a snottier vocal delivery from Natalie on this release, and that really gives theses songs some extra punch. "Gimme Good Love" is as catchy and fun as it gets, and I love the little nods to the The Isley Brothers' "Shout" (the gold standard of feelgood party songs!). Resistance is futile: you are going to dance! "Going To Hawaii" is exactly what you'd expect a song about traveling to paradise to be - upbeat and cheerful and heavily indebted to the '60s surf classics. It's impossible to have a bad day if you listen to this song! After a wonderfully surprising turn to horror punk ("I Fell In Love {With The Living Dead})", The Shanghais bring it on home with the classic girl group melodrama of "True Love". Oh my god: those harmonies!

If you're a Shanghais fan like me, I'm sure you'll agree that Fall In Love was 100 percent worth the wait. The band really knocked it out of the park with these songs and vocal arrangements. And if you're not yet a Shanghais fan, what in the world are you waiting for?! Head on over to their Bandcamp page and download their entire discography! You can pre-order the Fall In Love vinyl from Endless Daze in the U.S. and Surfin' Ki Records in Europe. It's a limited run of 300 copies, so don't dilly dally!



-L.R. 

https://theshanghais.bandcamp.com/ 
https://www.facebook.com/TheShanghais/ 
http://www.endlessdaze.com/ 
https://www.facebook.com/surfinkirecords/