Meet Catcall.

Née Catherine Kelleher, the Australian chanteuse released her first single, “Swimming Pool,” last year to rave reviews. “Swimming Pool” is an uncanny slice of Italo disco-referencing indie dance in the vein of Sally Shapiro or the Golden Filter; the track was helmed by GLOVES, the producer who has remixed fellow down-under acts like Bag Raiders, Van She, and Kimbra.

Now, Catcall’s ratcheted up the pop on her new single, “Satellites,” a pounding piece of ‘80s nostalgia with a melodically potent chorus that invites comparisons to Ladyhawke and I Blame Coco. “Maybe we are satellites/Maybe we are meteors,” she sings over layers of melancholy guitars and resonant drums.

I first heard a clip of “Satellites” during an episode of 90210 way back in May (yes, I watch 90210; yes, I know it’s an execrable show; no, I don’t care), but it’s only just being released now — and it was well worth the wait. “Satellites” has the same kind of reflective, downbeat energy as a Xenomania ballad, with a luminous spaced-out quality that’s both referential and futuristic. Basically, it’s synth-spangled gorgeousness that’s already one of my favorite tracks this year — and it bodes extraordinarily well for her debut album, The Warmest Place, due out at the top of 2012 via Ivy League.

Take a listen below:

Catcall – Satellites by rosequartzblog

“Satellites” was released on October 14. (iTunes)

Girls Aloud member Nicola Roberts–or, as PopJustice rightfully suggests we call her, NICOLA FUCKING ROBERTS, has released one of the best singles of the year, “Beat Of My Drum.”

For those who pre-ordered the single on iTunes UK (which just went on sale at midnight tonight in the UK), the song came bundled with a brand new B-side: “Porcelain Heart.”

In short, it is a perfect song. Literally: It’s a perfect pop song. Like a Girls Aloud or Sophie Ellis-Bextor track, “Porcelain Heart” is a perfectly sophisticated glam-pop track, made all the more dramatic thanks to Roberts’ (unexpectedly!) theatrical vibrato–think Clare Maguire produced by Xenomania.

It’s absolutely lush. Beyond. A favorite of the year, undoubtedly. To quote the Nicola: “I wouldn’t change a single thing.”

But the best moment of the entire song, OBVIOUSLY…

“My porcelain…
HEEEEEAAAAAAAAUUUUUUUHHHHRRRTTTTTT!”

Note: My actual face upon hearing that note for the first time.

NICOLA FUCKING ROBERTS: Shitting on your faves since–well, since two days ago.

“Beat Of My Drum” was released on June 5. (iTunes UK)

Oh, Sophie Ellis-Bextor.

After over six months (and counting!), the British disco queen’s highly anticipated fourth studio album, Make A Scene, continues to lie in limbo, facing a seemingly endless series of push-backs and delays.

As the record remains but a twinkling star in the far-off distance, it was only natural then that its contents would slowly begin to trickle out. And so they have, with the album’s latest leaks: “Starlight” and “Revolution.”

“Starlight,” produced by British pop mastermind Richard X and co-penned by Xenomania scribe Hannah Robinson, is a quintessential Sophie Ellis-Bextor production: A heaping slice of Italo-disco revivalism, coated in warm waves of synthesizers and lazily cooed vocals. It’s an incredibly gorgeous number, worthy of playing on repeat for hours on end.

For fans of the latest efforts by Annie and Sally Shapiro, “Starlight” will surely tick all the right boxes. (I’m utterly obsessed!)

“Revolution,” on the other hand, is a much more frantic production which sees Ellis-Bextor letting her hair down and getting rowdy and rebellious, along with a shout out to her legendary 2001 smash “Murder On The Dancefloor.” The track is packed with punchy beats and electro-blippy noises similar to Sky Ferreira‘s “99 Tears” (which shouldn’t exactly come as a surprise, given that both songs were done by the same producer: Greg Kurstin.)

While “Starlight” is surely the better of the two, both tracks are indicative of yet another incredible pop album from Lady Bex…that is, if it ever sees the light of day.

After performing her latest single, “Not Giving Up On Love,” on The Alan Titchmarsh Show last week, Bextor announced that her new album (which she describes as “quite doncey and up-beat”) is due to be released in May 2011. We’ll see about that.

I’m not giving up on love, Sophie…or Make A Scene for that matter!

Genre: Dream-pop, shoegaze, indie electronica
For Fans Of: Sally Shapiro, Late Night Alumni, M83, Imogen Heap

I first discovered Caroline Lufkin back in freshman year of college. I’d heard nothing about her, except that she was the sister of J-Pop star Olivia Lukin (who I absolutely adore). Knowing only this and nothing else, I took a dive and checked out her debut album, Murmurs.

As it turns out, the two couldn’t be more different: Olivia has a full bodied voice, while Caroline all but whispers with her high-pitched coos. Olivia’s music is much darker and rock-tinged, while Caroline delivers lush, angelic dream pop. And whereas Olivia is usually depicted in heavy black make-up and gothic fashions, Caroline is pictured looking natural, frolicking amongst flowers and smiling contently. Jessica and Ashlee Simpson? Sort of, anyway.

After hearing the gentle, hazy beauty of songs like “Bicycle” and “Pink & Black,” I was immediately enamored, and Murmurs was put on constant replay–especially as I was drifting off to sleep.

Time’s since passed, and it appears Caroline is finally preparing to release the follow-up to her fantastic 2006 debut.

“Gone” is the first single from Verdugo Hills, due out on January 25.

Keeping true to the sound of her debut, “Gone” is yet another gorgeous dream-pop production. Atop twinkling piano and a simple strumming beat, “Gone” plays like a gorgeous lullaby–even if the underlying message proves much more sorrowful than its warm, sleepy sound implies. “It hurts me now, when you’re so far away / Now that you are gone,” Lufkin sadly croons throughout. (LISTEN/DOWNLOAD)

“Swimmer,” another song from Verdugo Hills which can be downloaded for free at Caroline’s record label website (and is available to stream below), is another treat. Tripping electronica beats join together with warm synthesizers and light strings to envelop Caroline’s lush, layered hums, resulting in one truly mesmerizing love letter.

If “Gone” and “Swimmer” are any indication, it sounds like Verdugo Hills–like Murmurs–will have listeners hopping on a cloud and drifting far, far away.

Verdugo Hills will be released on January 25. (iTunes)

Frederic Riviere, otherwise known as Anoraak, is a French “producer/singer/multi-instrumentalist.”

While his biography includes the phrases “indebted to Italo disco” and “M83 on Ecstasy,” it wasn’t until I saw the words “featuring Sally Shapiro” that I was sold.

Click above to stream “Don’t Be Afraid (feat. Sally Shapiro),” an album track from Anoraak’s upcoming debut.

As one might imagine, the track shimmers with Shapiro’s icy, wafer-thin delivery, complimented and made all the better by Anorak’s sun soaked, ’80′s-inspired synth production.

All together, it’s one glorious moment of Italo-disco revivalism.

Anoraak’s debut, Wherever the Sun Sets, will be released in stores on October 26 (and is available now on iTunes).

I first heard about Sunday Girl thanks to a brief PopJustice feature posted back in late March regarding the singer’s largely brilliant debut (buzz?) single, “Four Floors.”

Today, I received an e-mail about the singer’s next move, a cover of Laura Branigan‘s “Self Control,” which you can now hear streaming above.

Muusers who may not be familiar with the original track may know it thanks to Infernal‘s hi-NRG cover back in 2006.

With her own rendition, Sunday Girl tackles the track through icy italo-disco melodies, moving across the song’s glittering soundscape with a kind of Sally Shapiro-meets-Annie mix of sleepy delivery and lush, layered coos.

It’s honestly gorgeous. I love!

For more, check out Sunday Girl’s website, full of random ramblings and high fashion inspiration.

While passing through the PopJustice forums, I stumbled upon a post mentioning the Toronto-based band, Parallels. While I didn’t (and admittedly, still don’t) know much about the group at the time, I now know this: their debut is amazing.

Visionaries, the band’s debut album released on February 6, brings to mind a potpourri of influences: Sally Shapiro, Belinda Carlisle, The Knife, Cat5, New Order and Cut Copy, among others. Not a bad set of sounds to come to mind, is it?

For fans of italo-disco, crystal synthesizers, and chilly grooves inspired by the dance floor sounds of yesterday, I believe you’ll find in Visionaries a truly unexpected delight.

Click here to stream Parallels‘ debut album, Visionaries, in full.

Click here to visit Parallels’ MySpace, and here to check out their music on iTunes.

Image courtesy of YlvaLindberg.com.

Today, Paper Bag Records celebrates its Sweet 7 in the industry (as a certain bunch of ‘Babes might say) with the release of a free cover album, featuring many of its recording artists. Among the tracks? Sally Shapiro‘s “Dying in Africa.” Yep–it’s a cover!

“Dying in Africa” was originally recorded by Nicolas Makelberge, a Swedish synth-pop artist. As far as I can tell, he’s only released one album–Dying in Africa, back in August of 2006.

If you want, you can hear many of the album tracks on his label’s site, which I strongly recommend. The entire record is well-done; a highly stylized, slightly darker collection of throbbing, ’80′s-inspired pop tunes.

Not only did I fall for the original artist and album, but the artwork as well.  There was something about the cover’s clean lines and sophisticated style (see above) that really stuck a chord with me. After some more digging around on the label’s website, I found that the album layout was conceived by Ylva Lindberg, the same artist behind Friday Bridge‘s Bite My Tongue.

With that, I effectively discovered an artist, an album, and a graphic designer of my liking all in one go.

Très neat.