STILL MONKI-ING AROUND

Lerima viscose t-shirts; black Peter Pan collar Silvia tee; long sleeve purple Paloma; lambswool Piccolina; sporty Sally sweater

One of my favourite brands from Sweden, Monki, now offers online shopping. I am most excited about The Karolina jacket below. Simplistic with cheap prices and international flare, Monki is not a brand to be missed.



Everything is so cute from each piece down to their whole look and styling! Check out my open love letter to Monki from last summer. My only itty-bitty recommendation for Monki designers? Less polyester, more natural fabrics.

ON CLEANING OUT YOUR IPOD

Why I have over 30g of music and nothing to listen to

I try not to think about the grueling process of cleaning out my iPod, but sometimes I come across a really ugly jam on shuffle and I'm all, "Why god, why do I own this song?" I have an 80g iPod. You'd think I'd want to fill that shit up, but no, I use my space sparingly. My iTunes library holds selection of carefully curated rooms, each filled with artifacts from specific genres. I have everything from 90s to hardcore to Turkish psychedelic music. In total, there are 5777 songs to this day on my iPod. That's over 15 days of music.

Collecting, organizing and labeling is crucial with the iPod. Some albums you store away, removing from your shuffle queue in silence. Others you highlight in newly designed playlists that scream, "I'm new to your iPod. Listen to me before you forget about me!" I study each album prior to uploading to see if it will "make the cut".

Cleaning out your iPod is a difficult process. You may hate yourself for liking that John Mayer song, but if you DARE delete it, the song will come crawling back to you in some way. Is the lesson to store everything as often as possible and be a music hoarder? If anything, it's the incessant amount of options I have given myself that make this whole process of choosing the soundtrack of my life undesirable.

AFFICTIONADOS: THIS IS WHAT IT IS

In Malmö, Sweden, Carl Nordström is a DJ and Producer disguised under the name Affictionados. His latest album, "This is what it is" is an eight-track journey into the mind of a producer who can't make up his mind about what genre he falls into. What artist can, after all, label himself?

The album feels like a film score with its mystic quality and fusing of genres. If I were a director I would want to make Carl's music work in my film. It's so gracious with a very listenable quality that mass audiences would immediately understand. Directors of the world, take note.

Naturally, I have listened to "This is what it is" on repeat like most of Carl's other work which is a great combination of soul, jazz, blues, funk, folk, world and hip hop. All of his work loops and loops in my head, stirring my imagination. Throughout the heavily curated and layered album, Christine Owman makes guest vocal appearances adding a mysterious, slightly haunting element to the whole package.

My favourite track would have to be "My Mind Goes" featuring Swedish hip hop artist Bracey Hansun. It is the most unexpected song on the album but doesn't feel out of place. Bracey Hansun raps about coffee a lot in this song for reasons unbeknownst to me.

For Carl, the intention is not to sound like something specific but rather to make new music without limits and boundaries. If “soundscapes” was ever a genre, then this would be what it is.

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Affictionados on Facebook
Revolving Records
Christine Owman on Facebook

Christine Owman in Toronto for Indie Week:
October 13 (tonight) at Nocturne (550 Queen Street West), 11:15pm, $6
October 14 at Free Times Cafe (320 College Street), midnight, $10
October 15 at The Peacok (365 King Street West), 12:45am, $10

MUSIC-RELATED THINGS I FORGOT ABOUT

That mid-200s mix CD from the person who had a crush on you
All of the songs were good, some were sappy. Other songs were definitely targeted towards you, making you feel powerful instead of vulnerable or like a "victim" of the imagination of your crush. There were enough lo-fi songs on the CD to break your heart and enough hearty jams to make you self-consciously dance in your head. The track list has been uploaded on your iPod; there is no denying that it was a great mix. It will forever be the sound of unrequited love.

Chicks on Speed
Holy riot grrrl in high school. I'll have the anonymous phone number "987 6511" stuck in my forever after hearing the song, "For all the boys in the world". When was the last time you thought about this group? Probably not since that song! File under: Junior Senior, Scissor Sisters, Le Tigre.

Screamo
I had Saetia on repeat as a teenager. I hadn't thought about them in 6+ years until this year when someone bought my copy of their discography from Amazon Marketplace. I still smell the stench of nostalgia in the hardcore/screamo genre on my iPod, but it would be a crime to delete such meaningful moments in my history. Not surprisingly, the hardcore genre holds some of the most underplayed songs on my iPod. I will not touch them with a ten foot pole as they sit there, collecting digital dust, yet I cannot let go of them.


Life before minimalist Deustch techno
What kind of electronic music was I listening to (other than Justice) before I discovered Ellen Allien in 2008? Probably nothing important, and certainly not anything as crucial as Kompakt total series (6, 7, 9, 10 in particular). Minimalist German techno was my 9/11; every day since my discovery of the genre has been September 12. My brain had to adjust for a while, now that shit is like speed.

Arcade fire, pre-Suburbs
I forgot that Arcade Fire released anything else besides "The Suburbs". Remember when they had two other really great albums? Why does it seem like this one matters the most? It was the Grammy, wasn't it?

TOP SHOP LAUNCHES IN TORONTO!

Today I was invited to the TopShop Yorkdale media opening on behalf of She Does the City before the grand store opening, which is tomorrow (October 5, 2011). After meeting Kate Phelan, creative director of TopShop and ex-fashion director of British Vogue, I was privileged to shop the collection and really get a feel for the place.

See the full story here.






It turns out TopShop Canada is equally as rad as it is elsewhere in the world. Here is a glimpse of what is going on at TopShop in Toronto. Canadians, be very, very stoked. Prices will be 10% cheaper than in the States, and students receive 10% with valid I.D. We will not be passed by when it comes to excellent designer collabs and higher end collections like Unique and Boutique.




Kate Phelan and I. She is wondering what I bought (and so are you)
Kate Phelan was a very inspirational and supportive woman to speak to. She wants to encourage people to follow their path, so when we spoke I really felt a personal connection to her. Being a creative director is a dream for me, and even just to sit down and speak with her for 15 minutes was great.










Kate's favourite piece, #1


Kate's favourite piece, #2




TopMan




Straight from the runway, very exciting


I picked up this sweater which reminds me of Scotland meets Rag&Bone, along with a classic black pleated dress