Because director Kevan Funk did a hell of a job. Trippy man.
music video of the day: "Land Gone" by Novella
Love that british shoegaze girls with guitars.
music video of the day: "Everything Is AWESOME!!!" by Tegan and Sara ft. The Lonely Island
Because the Oscars were kinda lame but at least I wrote some fire tweets.
Also I guess I gotta watch the LEGO movie now cus everyone keeps telling me to.
music video of the day: "Salty Tear" by Mozart's Sister
Outside it may be snowing and colder than Mars but it's still Saturday baby. Get up and dance.
Her album Being is out now on Paper Bag Records.
music video of the day: "A New Wave" by Sleater-Kinney
These babes. These babes right here.
I guess I need to start watching Bob's Burgers.
music video of the day: "Down With Disease" by Phish
RIP Harris Wittels
music video of the day: "Chateau Lobby #4 (in C for Two Virgins)" by Father John Misty
Because I'm going to tonight's sold out show with my little sister - who is my honey bear.
music video of the day: "The Surge" by Castle If
Currently falling in love with this Toronto (via Saskatoon) experimental synth artist. She apparently has a forth-coming sci-fi concept record titled Sector 03 - but you should check out her bandcamp in the meantime. Castle If is playing March 24th in Toronto at Cinecycle w/ ANAMAI & Twist. Mark if off in you calendars now.
music video of the day: "Us" by Brodinkski ft. Bloody Jay
On snowy days like these I get caught up dreaming of adventures overseas.
music video of the day: "Hey Now" by Matt and Kim
I used to be really into Matt & Kim when I was in high school. They were fun & hyper and I was bubbling with energy & optimistic about life in general. Now I'm slightly older and apparently "too cool" for just the fun stuff. Maybe it's these winter blues that got me down. Whatever though, they're cute as heck and they won't quit. And the makes me happy. Keep fighting the fun fight kids.
music video of the day: "I Love You Money" by Lowell
Because it's Valentines Day and the hustle is real.
Lowell plays Wavelength 15 tonight at the Polish Combatants Hall alongside a bunch of other rad acts. Come on out and have a good time.
music video of the day: "What Kind Of Man" by Florence + The Machine
YAAAAAS!
So good. My god. Damn.
Directed by Vincent Haycock. Choreography by Ryan Heffington. Stunning.
Her new album How Big How Blue How Beautiful is out June 2nd and I'm excited to hear it.
music video of the day: "Innocent" by Hundred Waters
Hundred Waters + animated robot = sign me up
WAVELENGTH 15 + A LOOK BACK AT THE FINAL ALL CAPS!!!
This weekend marks the 15th annual Wavelength Festival and the celebrations are well underway. For those of you not in the know, Wavelength is a non-for-profit that aims to highlight all the exceptional talent Toronto has to offer, that often goes overlooked. They're about the weird stuff and help foster the scene and arts community. Not to mention the festival runs Valentines Day weekend, when often some good music and good people are what we need the most. Respect.
The past couple of weeks have been full of rad events at Huntclub where they've set a Pop Up, featuring tons of packed showcases and some free talks worth checking out. There's also a sweet $3 pre-party Thursday the 12th (tonight) featuring Speedy Ortiz, WISH & HSY (RSVP now) at The Garrison. The festival kicks off Friday night at Sneaky Dee's with a bunch of local acts covering other local heroes. Saturday, the festival takes over the Polish Combatants' Hall with my babes ginla and Lowell. Things close up Sunday with a bang. Fresh Snow, New Fries, Mozart's Sister and more, not to mention the 4am last call. You can check out the full line up and all the sweet deets over at this link.
And as we celebrate this 15th Wavelength Festival, we also look back and go HOLY SHIT FUCK YEAH WAVELENGTH RULES! In honour of this here Wavelength 15, I thought what better time to look back on one of my fondest Wavelength memories and some photos from the final ALL CAPS! Island Festival. Thrown by Wavelength , ALL CAPS! was held annually at Artscape Gibraltar Point on the Toronto Island from 2009 - 2013. While I sadly only made it to the final year, it lives forever in my heart. A great weekend of memories soundtracked by choice tunes, ALL CAPS! stands next to Sappy Fest and Iceland Airways in my top 3 best festivals. What SXSW has in hype and VIP blah blah blah, ALL CAPS! matched in CHILL VIBE, good people, awesome music and then some. It was also the only time you were technically allowed to camp on the island. The festival was also "technically" Saturday & Sunday but if you got a camping pass you could come Friday night which was when (sorry if this is too cheesy) the magic begun...
Riding the ferry out of the city towards the island at sunset was stunning. Like... crazy beautiful. Like... so pretty. Like... my heart was exploding. Just melting really. It was mid-August and the perfect mix of warm wind. Talk about setting the scene for the weekend.
Upon arriving on the island it was totally tent times. Set up them tents. I was super excited.
So very hype.
After settling in and linking up with friends/making some new ones via tent help set-up, we went down to the beach where Lemon Bucket Orchestra were welcoming us with some crazy sounds. Horns! Accordion! Gypsy punk tunes man. Say what you will, it's some fun stuff.
Their set ended and off went fireworks. ALL CAPS hadn't even officially begun, but that doesn't mean you can't start things with a literal bang. Like, ARE WE IN A MOVIE WHY IS THIS ALREADY SO CUTE?
Classically, the dude with a guitar around a campfire is annoying and maybe kinda sucks, but seeing as a bunch of the bands playing the festival were also camping on the island, the late night campfire sing-a-longs till sunrise were actually great. We drank. The campers got to know each other. We were all friends by the morning.
Benefit of camping of the island? Waking up & already being on the festival site. Biking around and adventuring. Going to the beach. Swimming in the lake. Hanging out with babes.
Justine is a true hippy & is allowed to wear flower crowns.
The first official ALL CAPS set that I caught on Saturday was Toronto duo Most People. The electro-indie dance dudes released their self titled debut in the winter of 2012, stream it from their bandcamp yo. They're actually playing Wavelength 15th this Friday, covering Broken Social Scene. Neat!
Local electronic pop experimentalists ev re whun followed. They make the kind of stuff that is both chill and hype at the same time. Check out their new track "Namazu" to hear what I mean.
Vancouver post-pop indie-rock kids beekeeper slammed it down. Fun fact: Devon (playing on the left above) interviewed me on his old podcast The Exploding Sandwich back in 2010. I'd link you to it but it's probably super embarrassing...
Shotgun Jimmie played to some amazing fans who came dressed in homemade Shotgun Jimmie shirts and drunkenly sang-along to every song.
We joined in. Enthusiasm is contagious!
My dear friends Alex and Kathleen are great dancers and so good at having fun.
Giant Jenga break. I love giant Jenga.
Hooded Fang kept the dancing vibes going.
By the end there was a nice lil mosh pit.
The Blow closed up the mainstage that night with a bunch of fun weirdness.
So many moves and crazy crowd surfing .
She ended her set by taking off her pants and dancing but not in like a "sexy" way more of a wild toddler taking control way. It was amazing. We all headed down to the beach where DJ Eytan Tobin did it up.
There was more campfires and the most magical Cher dance party.
Another late night. Another sunrise.
After waking late on Sunday, I was more than happy to stumble down to the beach & enjoy Eons.
The waves crashed along the shore as they played.
It was lovely calm Sunday.
We watched the sunset.
Catl rocked out.
Rich Aucoin closed up the festival with his trademark interactive good times. So much crowd surfing. Parachute popcorn. Posi vibes x a million. Way too fun.
ALL CAPS all in all? All love.
Taking the ferry back to the city that night it almost felt unreal.
Thanks for the memories Wavelength! Looking forward to making more. See you this weekend!
music video of the day: "Learning To Relax" by Dan Deacon
Because I'm having a hella stressful day and gosh does this help.
Dan Deacon's new album Gliss Riffer, comes out on Domino on February 24/25.
There's also an insane tour underway. If you haven't seen Dan Deacon live before YOU MUST GO!
music video of the day: "How Big How Blue How Beautiful" by Florence + The Machine
She is finally back. Out goddess has returned.
Life us up darling. Take us there. We've missed you.
music video of the day: "Julia" by Jungle
Every Jungle video has hit it out of the park and this one is no exception. Like the Jungle videos before it, yet again they've given us another fucking smooth as a silk stunningly shot piece featuring some incredible moves. If it ain't broke don't fix it right? Love the tie in at the end featuring some of their past video stars as well - see b-girl Terra and the boys from The Heat.
I totally wore a tracksuit all today. It's the look.
Check out Jungle's self-titled debut album out now on XL.
music video of the day: "Loser" by Beck
Because he just won the Grammy for Album of the Year.
music video of the day: "Everything In Its Right Place" by Radiohead (live Paris 2001)
OOPS so yeah once again this isn't an "official" music video but I really wanted to post this song because we were driving around in the snow today bumping this track and everything truly was in its right place. Also Thom Yorke takes a high-five break during the track which is rad.
music video of the day: "Moonlight Desires" by Gowan
Because we had a dance party to this at a friend's bday house party and the cops had to come tell us to turn it down. So it goes.