Watch It!: The Raveonette's "Black/White"

happy boxing day everyone!!! i have to admit this is one of my favorite days for the year (along side christmas) because of the massive dutch family gathering we always have.  i'm heading off to that in a few moments but i thought i should catch up with a quick post in the mean time.

this is a music video from The Raveonettes, a danish alternative rock duo (i know, again with the northern europe artists! i can't help myself) which was created in 2001. this song comes from their 2008 EP Beauty Dies.  the song itself follows the typical style of the band mashing up sixties laid back swagger including guitar riffs reminiscent of psychedelic rock bands, while infusing a driving beat and rolling bass licks (the coolest of which i've heard in a while). this music video, directed by Chris Ho, uses this rolling motion as the basis of the video.  each scene builds upon the next and is constantly shifting such that you can't really be sure exactly where you are headed.  the video uses graphics which allude towards shadow puppets giving the video a very dark and fuzzy edge. as the song itself explores opposites (black and white), the video represents this through also exploring black and white as well as light and dark, happy and sad, beautiful and ugly, so on and so forth. the music video also evokes images of a fairy tale which in turn represents the elements of dark and light (original fairy tales are quite graphic and gory, while the modern day remakes (thanks to disney) represent a much more toned down light version of the tales).  over all this video is extremely visually interesting and compliments the videos sixties psychedelic vibe. plus the song in incredibly addictive. 

Watch it here

Enjoy

- J

Listen Up!: Fredrik

back to some music that's a little more easily digestible than yesterdays (again, sorry about that, but i just had to) Fredrik is another band i've been wanting to blog about for awhile.  they are a swedish indie experimental band. front man Fredrik Hultin and bandmate O.Lindefelt originally created the band as a duo however have continued to bring on other artists to help with the creation of their albums.  for their release Na Na Ni in 2008, they banned with other artists to create a group fo six, but more recently for their release of Trilogi, they added Anna Moberg.  i think this bringing on of different artists really helps them to keep their sound so fresh and interesting. the music they create is quite solid at the base with lots of hard rhythms and downbeats, however the beautiful part about it is the intricate bells and guitar riffs which float over everything.  this kind of airy music seems to be highly linked to northern europeans (you only have to look as far as music heavyweights Jónsi and Bjorn to see it).  it must have something to do with the landscape or climate.  what i love most about it is that it's energy isn't overwhelmed by its lightness.  there is still a strong driving force behind everything which you both feel and hear.  probably the best description of the band's album Trilogi comes from musicremedy, 

"Together they represent a trilogy of contemporized viewpoints of the Lovecraftian dream passage - orientation at great cost and understanding at the risk of sanity."

unreal

You will like them if you like: Jónsi, Solander, Radiohead, Zero 7, Oren Lavie

Why they are important: the music is simple and soft, yet has an unstoppable driving life force behind it.  none of their songs can be labeled happy or sad or melancholy or whatever because they are constantly mixing elements of darkness and lightness which keep each piece in constant motion.  what i admire most is that they don't simply rely on their own capability as artsits, but are always willing to take on others visions and opinions and thus each time they create something, while it still holds the same basic idea, it never gets stale.

Songs to listen to: "Na Na Ni", "Angor Sleepwalking", "Holm", "11 Years", "Locked in the Basement", "Milo", "Ava", "Viskra", "Black Fur" 

- J

**P.S. if you have trouble finding their stuff on youtube (which is fairly difficult to navigate) listen to them at their myspace page here

Just the Cuddliest Dog

this is magdalene one of my very good friends dogs. she is the sweetest puppy on the block and i love her. thought i should share

- J

Listen Up!: Flux Information Sciences

ok...stick with me on this one because it gets a little weird. Flux Information Sciences is a noise rock trio formed in 1996 (i know, usually i write about newer artists, but this group has been holding my attention in a vice grip since i first heard them).  the last album they put out was in 2001 with a release called Private/Public, and soon after this they went their separate ways, with front man Tristan Bechet forming his own label Pinksock Records and putting out various other experimental albums.  however during the time this band was together, they managed to create some really bizarre but captivating stuff. i don't know that i can fully explain why i'm so drawn to it and i'm sure some of you will disagree with me that this band should even be recognized.  i think it has something to do with their intoxicating rhythms which are really the only element which holds their music together (for the most part).  each song begins very simply, usually with a single beat or note, but very quickly digresses into a symphonic mess with disconnected phrases and some really absurd sound effects.  you never end up quite where you started with their music and are left at the end feeling quite disoriented and strangely energized.  or at least that's what it does to me.  i really suggest to give this band a try, even if they don't become a spotlight on your iPod, because their music truly is an experience.

You will like them if you like: Sonic Youth, Broken Social Scene, The Mars Volta

Why they are important: they start with something extremely simple and take you somewhere so completely foreign that its hard to know where you started. it's a true experience through sound, as opposed to using words to communicate a specific meaning.  there is no definite way to describe their music and so remains more or less mysterious. whether or not you like it, it grabs your attention.

Songs to listen to: "Love", "Priceless Memories", "Luxury and Excitement Meet", "Celebrity Cruises"...i leave it up to you if you are adventuresome enough to explore more

- J

Starting to think of Christmas

- J

Fashion Post?

i know i never do posts about fashion, as much as a love it, but i came across this website today that i thought was really fun.  it's called polyvore and it essentially lets you create a little custom outfit by choosing from a huge list of designer items. this is one i made.

if anything its a fun little tool to help you waste some time

- J

Lazying About

looking for ways to procrastinate from marking papers and studying for exams, i've been fooling around with this app called Hipstamatic that my friend jess is attempting to convince me is the next best thing since brie and baguette at 2am. you judge the results. i'm going to continue to be a bum and not move from my couch for the next couple hours

some neat looking oranges on my dining room table. i then proceeded to eat half of them

my incredibly cute and sad looking puppy  

his favorite stuffy; a bunny he stole from a neighbour dog

i should probably stop stalking my dog

fancy chair

equally fancy carpet

- J

Listen Up!: Pomplamoose

if you haven't heard of them yet, you best start listening. Pomplamoose is an indie youtube band from san fransisco comprised of talented artists Jack Conte and Nataly Dawn. they joined forces in 2008 to create the band and started pumping out covers of popular songs on youtube.  their philosophy is essentially, what you see is what you get.  the two play every instrument themselves and create all the vocals including harmonies out of recording of their own voices. no lipsyncing.  their music videos on youtube, however, are what really set them a part from other artists. each video is cleverly constructed to show every single instrument and every single voice you hear on the track.  it truely is amazing the sound they are able to create out of so very little.  their popularity continues to grow as they have recently been featured on several Hyundai commercials singing popular christmas carols. because they create and mix all the sounds themselves, their music is incredubly organic and underprocessed which makes it truely special to listen to.

You will like them if you like: Regina Spektor, Feist, (honestly they are so incredibly unique i challenge you to find more artists very similar to them)

Why they are important: they prove that truely special music does not need to be created in a massive studio and over proccessed to the point of oblivian (such as music's sad recent obsession with autotune).  their music is true and honest and interesting.  they take popular music and show how it can be completely deconstructed to its base elements making each interpretation completely unique.

Songs to listen to: "Nature Boy" (Nat King Cole cover), "La Vie en Rose" (Edith Piaf cover), "If you think you need" (Pomplamoose original), "Makin' Out" (Mark Owen cover), "Jungle Animal" (Pomplamoose original, compliation with Allee Willis)

- J

Tone Matrix

once again sincere apologies for being a super lame blogger. my computer broke about a week ago and i haven't totally gotten up the confidence to blog a the library so i'm temporarily borrowing my housemates computer just for a quicky

check out this website.
a friend of mine showed it to me and it now consumes a lot of my time i hate to say. much to entertaining. anyways, once i have access to a real computer again, i will do a real blog because there are a couple artists i am just itching to talk to you about!
peace and love for now

- J

Songs to Strut to



The Sartorialist

let's be honest about this. there are certain songs that when they come up on your ipod, you simply can't help but to get that little wiggle in your walk.  you straighten up, take longer strides, lift up your chin, sway your hips, get that sexy little smirk on your face, and kinda make you wish you had worn heels that day (note to self: learn to walk in heels so as to anticipate this moment).  you can't help it! we all have those particular songs that make you feel just a little more confident and a little more happy.  here is a list of songs that i find change the way i walk on my daily route to class.

1. I Turn My Camera On - Spoon

2. Sex Machine - James Brown

3. Steady as She Goes - The Raconteurs

4.FutureSex/LoveSound - Justin Timberlake

5. The Nitty Gritty - Gladys Knight and the Pips

6. Everyday People - Sly and the Family Stone

7. Signed, Sealed, Delivered - Stevie Wonder

8. Green Onions - Booker T and the MG's

9. Heartbreaker - MSTRCRFT feat. John Legend

10.The Girl You Lost to Cocaine - Sia

11. Kiss With A Fist - Florence + the Machine

12. Gronlandic Edit - Of Montreal

13. Strict Machine - Goldfrapp

14. Time to Pretend - MGMT

15. Kiss - Prince

16. VCR - The XX

... the list goes on and on

what are your favorite songs to strut to?

- J

Listen Up!: The XX

this is one of those rare bands that manages to capture cool in their music without even trying. an indie band from the UK officially formed in 2005, their roots go way back as lead singer romy madley croft and oliver sim grew up together as children.  their debut album xx  released in 2009 was met with rave reviews and peaked the worlds interest in this mysterious band.  their music is now all over television as it was featured on episodes of Gossip Girl, Lie to Me, Hung, Grey's Anatomy, Law & Order, and 90210.  these semi-gothic misfits are known for being incredubly quiet about their private lives and manage to stay under the radar by simply not speaking. drummer jamie smith has been known to literally not say a single word during interviews.  this laid-back, quiet, mystery comes through in their understated music.  simple guitar riffs and smooth, lazy vocals are characteristic of all their work. none-the-less their music is catchy and interesting.  perhaps most interesting of all is the fact that they claim that none of their songs are implicitly about sex despite what would appear to most people to be highly sexual lyrics. even so their lyrics are highly poetic such that mutiple interpretations to the meaning of the lyrics are possible, which is the original intent of the band.  i look forward to seeing what this band comes up with next.

You will like them if you like: Two Door Cinema Club, Crystal Castles, Florence + The Machine, Passion Pit, Boards of Canada

Why they are important: The XX manage to create a new era of cool through their smooth, lazy vocals and spacey guitar riffs over strong underlying beats.  Their relaxed and airy approach to music is refreshing in that they don't do this for anyone but themselves.  It seems a privilege that we get to listen in on what they create.

Songs to listen to: "Crystalised", "Islands", "Shelter", "Stars", "You've Got The Love" (a cover of Florence + The Machine)  

- J

Fall Moon

- J

It's Been A Dream

so i realize i've been very absent from blogging for awhile, so let me show you what i've been up to.

since april i've been working on a production of A Midsummer Night's Dream as production manager.  after 7 1/2 months worth of work, nights of very long hours, and innumerable amounts of emails, the show is finally going to mount tomorrow.  i'm so proud of what the show has become and am really truely greatful for the work everyone has put into making it so wonderful. over tech weekend i snuck some photos. cheers to all who've worked on the show; it's all about to pay off!

- J

Brunch! @ John Eh's

so i've decided that my new favorite thing in life is sunday brunch, and therefore plan on going to many more sunday brunchs in the future so this is the second in a series of hopefully many more to come posts on the kingston brunch.  last sunday my two housemates (elle and jon) and i went to a really small restaurant called John Eh's (how perfectly appropriate for kingston). we actually had to wait for about 20 minutes before we could even sit down! the kitchen, which is completely open to the restaurant, has a large wooden oven in which they cook pretty much everything. and while we ordered breakfast food, i'm anxious to go back and order some of their pizza.  the food was alright; not entirely mind-blowing, but not bad. just a simple, some-what greasy bacon-and-egg breakfast, which honestly is exactly what we needed at that point.

after brunch we went to look at the antique market in the downtown square (wish i had taken some pictures, because there were some very interesting pieces. oh well. next time) and then rented a series of horror films to all cozy up on the coach at home and watch together. our movie viewing was interupted however by the first official snow fall in kingston! may i remind you that this happend on october 31st of all days...could it not at least have waited one more day? i only like my snow to start come november. anywho today has been a stressful one (thought my computer died thus imploding my world but it seems to be alright for the moment), so i'm going to drink some tea and relax a little.

elle appreciating the snow which you can't actually see in this photo, but i promise it was real

- J

Watch it!: Temper Trap's "Love Lost"

this has absolutely got to be my new favorite music video of all time. The Temper Trap's is an aussie band who released their first album Conditions in june 2009.  "Love Lost" is the opening track of the cd.  the music video for this song was released may 2010. it features a troupe of nerdy school boys doing laps for gym class whilst lip-syncing the song and executing complex choreography.  not only is the song fantastic (upbeat, hopefully, catchy) but there is just something about watching nerds dance which warms my heart.  the part that always makes me smile is near the end when the explosions are going off; you can see the excitement in the little boys face to the farthest left. hilarious. watch it!

- J

Brunch!

this sunday i woke up at a reasonable hour (something that lately is becoming increasingly more difficult to do) and went for brunch with some friends. i think brunch is a meal which doesn't get quite enough credit. because really, it allows you to sleep in just a little bit more than is acceptable on a regular day and still get up in time to have a meal, you get to sit down and chat with really lovely people (barring that you invite only really lovely people as one should do at a brunch), and you get to choose between breakfast or lunch-type foods; savory or sweet. and who really doesn't love a little something sweet around 11:00am? anyways, a new crêpe place called Geneva Crêpe Café opened about a year ago now near my house, and i`ve always been looking for an excuse to go. so finally myself and two of my very lovely friends decided to try it out. it`s been so long since i`ve had a crêpe, i forgot how delicious they can be.  i ordered an apple cinnamon crêpe (pictured above) and it was absolutely fantastic! if you live in kingston, and get a chance to go, i very highly recommend it. i know we will be going back again soon to try some of the others because everything sounded amazing.

end of story...add more brunches and crêpes to your life. you will not be disappointed.

coffee is necessary every day

- J

No Sleeping After Noon

this is a picture mitch took of me when i was refusing to get out of bed one day. i sleep too much

- J

Listen Up!: Jónsi

i was so excited to here that Jónsi, the front man of one of my all time favorite bands Sigur Rós was coming out with a solo album.  i've always been fascinated by the way Sigur Rós was able to capture the essence of Iceland through their expasive chords and Jónsi's soaring vocals.  however while Sigur Rós's music comes across as being very meloncholy and thoughtful, Jónsi amps up this same musical style with youthful insight. the music is still wonderfully epic in it's nature, but is approached from a completely new angle filled with hope and eager anticipation.  i've always admired him for his focus on the musical construction itself over everything else. in a world were the majority of artists fall back on the simple Pachelbel's Canon chord progression, it's so nice to see someone pushing the compositional boudaries of what pop music can actually sound like and experimenting with an array of instruments.  His solo album entitled Go is absolutely necessary for every music lover to here. You will not be disappointed.

You will like him if you like: Radiohead, Bjork, Frakkur, Mogwai

Why his is important: Jónsi is pushing the boundaries of what pop music is.  He explores the importance of musical composition over lyrics in communicating a message. He's infusing an already important band's style with more youthful energy making it relevant again for our generation of listeners.

Songs to listen to: "Go Do", "Animal Arithmetic", "Boy Lilikoi", "Sinking Friendships"

- J

Coffee Date

went for a coffee this afternoon with my lovely friend Thea.  if i've learned anything this year it's that as busy as i think i am, i will always have time to sit down with a friend and actually talk to them, as opposed to the usual quick passing by and "hello, how are you?" without waiting for an answer which typically seems to be the case...run on sentence.  i am lucky enough to have some very lovely people in my life and i plan on keeping them in it. therefore, viva la coffee date

my wonderous Thea

- J

Listen Up!: Laura Marling

Laura Marling is an incredible young artist from Hampshire, England.  While her roots stand strongly in folk music, she tours with various Alternative artists, and you can see the influence in her work.  A talented guitar player and wonderful lyricist, her music is soulful and poetic.  Her debut album Alas, I Cannot Swim released in Feburary 2008 was nominated for the Mercury Prize (a prize awarded to the best album in United Kingdom and Ireland).  She followed this with her album I Speak Because I Can in March 2010, which was also nominated for the Mercury Music Award and entered the UK album charts at Number 4.

You will like her if you like: Mumford and Sons, Noah and the Whale, Florence + the Machine, The Avett Brothers, Joni Mitchell

Why she is important: Her mature, poetic lyrics well preceed her age.  Her angelic voice is powerful and melodic without overpowering the music.  A perfectly simple voice to overlay complex lyrics

Songs to listen to: "New Romantic", "Ghosts", "Rambling Man", "I Speak Because I Can", "Devil's Spoke"

- J

Friend Love

i have to say this is one of my favorite photos. my friends are so lovely and wonderful
-J

Benny

this is one of the loves of my life.  my parents dog benny.  he always gives me more love than i know what to do with. simply the best

Toronto Fall

Favorite Things: Music

My newest discovery in music is not a particular artist or a rediscovery of genre, it's online radio.  I know I may be a little bit behind the times on this one but I was extremely excited the other day when I stumbled across http://www.sky.fm/. 

It's a free online radio website that allows you to choose a channel based on genre.  I've really been into the Indie Rock channel, however they have everything from Smooth Jazz to Classical Guitar to Urban Jamz, even a Beatles Tribute channel...literally any genre of music you are in the mood for.  I love it so much because while it gives you the option to upgrade to get some better features, it doesn't cheap out on the free version.  No time limits or restricted genres.  So if you're getting bored of listening to your own iTunes and want to open your mind to discovering some new music, seriously give it a try.  You may discover a new found love for Bossa Nova Jazz

The Perfect Bag?

As my sister can confirm I've been looking now for awhile for a new bag.  But I don't want just any bag. I want the perfect, within budget, carry-all-of-my-crap-but-doesn't-look-like-a-suitcase bag. Sadly, I have yet to find said bag. However I am inspired not to give up the search by these beauties, even if some of them are a touch out of reach. 



Alexander McQueen Faithful Medium Satchel



Coach New Madison Gathered Leather Sophia Satchel

MARC by Marc Jacobs Classic Q Francesca Hobo (love!!)



Urban Outfitter Cooperative Spectator Bag



Forever 21Verstile Briefcase Bag

I love the slightly masculine feel of these last two bags.  Makes me think of my dad's old briefcases.

Dad's Music

One memory I will always treasure is driving around with my Dad and having him quiz me about whoever was playing on the radio.  Music is a huge part of my life and so I proudly adorn a selection of his records on my wall.  Amongst many other things, I plan to post a bit about some of my favorite artists and why I think they are important to know.  My Dad taught me a lot about music and really sparked my interest in discovering and learning more about it. 

thanks dad