off the hook teamed up with vans to make yet another ridiculously cool upperground boutique. floating another floor just above off the hook, i stopped by to pick up some vans when i couldn’t find my favourite pair. the great thing about their sneakers is that even when you’ve worn them to death they still look amazing, and they will bring you endless amounts of comfort. i decided on these boat style shoesies. check out their new blog, oth avenue, for women!
1021 Ste Catherine Ouest, Montreal
my recent eyewear purchases. oh so proud and in love with them. the first pair are karen walker ‘one’ sunglasses and the latter are oliver peoples glasses. i guess i went a little tortoise crazy.
stromae recently played a show here in montreal, and took some time out of his urban outfitters shopping spree to have a chat with me. honestly, im a big fan. ‘cheese’ is a great album that you should take the time to listen to! it also helps if you’re french speaking.. but even if you’re not, the music is great! throughout his show you could really tell how much of himself he puts into his music. he was continuously switching up his tracks, and kept the crowd guessing. everything was unbelievably well planned, including the set. the videos really dont do it any justice. the belgian mastermind even sang his most popular song ‘alors on dance’ with a holographic orchestra! there was, of course, ‘les lecons de stromae’ or lessons with stromae, which is when he literally remakes the song in front of you. so much respect. watch the video! i added english subs.
as i’m preparing to leave for china, my curiosity for the chinese music scene peaked. you don’t hear much about said scene, but there’s got to be something going on amongst the enormous sea of people. through the push shove, a blog which documents chinese youth culture, i found a playlist of what was primarily chinese punk bands. PAIRS was indeed a standout from the bunch. a powerful noise band with some flipping catchy tracks; my favorite being ‘i want to die in the ocean’. their entire EP is up for download for free on their bandcamp.
the shanghai-based duo consists of xiao zhong, drummer originally from australia, and ‘f’ on guitar. xiao zhong explains that “the scene in shanghai is pretty active, but not as active as a city of 22 million could, or should be. lack of organized venues seems to be a big problem. a lot of bands here do a lot of DIY stuff, give out their CD’s for free at their launch, trying to do something different to get noticed/throw a nice party”.
why are you drawn to making the kind of music you make? “we make the music we make as it’s pretty much all we can make. f’s guitar playing style is pretty strange, and she is learning the guitar, so right now it’s all simple and fast as that’s her playing style. basic chords and cocksuckery, really.”
what other chinese bands should goldzmine readers check out? yantiao, the instigation, guijian, death to giants, hotter than teppanyaki, small train heart, your boyfriend sucks.
two looks i really enjoy from band of outsiders resort 2011 collection. digging the casual cool on the runway. a lot of labels went a little too overboard with their resort collections for my liking. plus, you can wear these outfits into the fall. these looks suit pretty much anyone too! and are easy to replicate, even if you cant get your hands on the real pieces.
sometimes i think for too long, i blink twice, and then the person is gone! if i see you once and don’t get your photo, it’s a missed opportunity. if i see you twice, then i just have to ask. wondering how one should go about wearing white pants? simple ..or at least this man makes it look so.
Montreal’s DJ Cosmo put together this 60 minute mix of straight hip hop. Pass the Torch highlights that artists of today can indeed live up to the standards of yesterday’s rap. Actually, I’m looking quite forward to peeping yelawolf at warped tour next week. If you’re wanting the specifics, catch the track list here. You can download this mix for free here!
These are my favorite picks from Kane’s Resort 2011 collection. I’m still not sick of the colorblocking so it seems. I think I like it more in this case because of the flower embellishments and the pairing of bright colors with silver and white. Needless to say, they kept things fresh. Not only with the clothes, but with the model as well. I found a lot of the lookbooks featured models with somewhat ‘distracting’ faces, taking away from the clothes.
For summer 2011, the GPPR crew reflects on their carefree summers as rebellious young boys. Now that they are all grown up, rather than reject their past years, they embrace their youth and bring us Circle of Dissidents. The pieces have their boyish charm, but are well tailored. The animal print hints at their wild side, while the structure shows that they have indeed matured.
“But we could not be delinquents forever; none of us wanted to be forty-five and imprisoned for vandalizing street signs. Eventually we matured, developed careers and became initiated members of a civilized world. But we still hold in our hearts the inclinations of our youth, the antagonistic views we held about society. This collection reflects our respect for contention, for the man standing outside looking in with distaste.”
