WARM WEATHER WISH LIST

WARM WEATHER WISH LIST

Today it dawned on me that summer is right around the corner. No longer is it socially acceptable to wear my trusty black jumper coated in cat fur. It is, however, slightly more weather appropriate to wear my crocs. That's always a plus.

As well as realising that I share the same skin pigment as the piece of blank A4 paper sitting next to me, I realised I'm completely unprepared for the warmer weather. All I have in my wardrobe are yarns of wool, a pair of earmuffs, ski gear and my favourite nap-time blanket. Or, in other words, nothing obnoxious to wear to the beach. Basically I need new clothes.

Here's a collage I whipped up containing some of the things on my alliterative #WarmWeatherWishList.

1. Handsom 'Navy Short Sleeved Shirt' - $99
Oversized printed shirts are priceless in hot weather and this one is killer.
2. American Apparel 'Le New Big Tee' - $46
When your Bintang singlet is in the wash it's handy to have a white t-shirt to deflect the sun's evil rays.
3. American Apparel 'Long Sleeve Tennis Shirt' - $65
Because it reminds me of The Royal Tenenbaums and my failed tennis career. Sportswear swaggie.
4. Vanishing Elephant 'Powell Green Embo' shirt - $110
You can't really see it, but this shirt has little embroidered coloured flags sprayed across it. It represents my belief in cosmopolitanism. Deep.
5. American Apparel 'Printed Short Sleeve Tropical' - $80
I don't need to explain why everyone needs to have a hawaiian shirt in summer. I don't and I won't.
6. Liv Wealthy 'Star Tee' - $50
Even though black clothing pulls the sun towards my albino skin, I still live in Melbourne and by contract must wear black all year round. Plus this one kind of looks like Givenchy.
7. Vanishing Elephant 'Keegan' pants - $150
These pants feature some embroidery too, this time an intricate trail of roses. A good alternative to plain chinos!
8. New Balance '1300' - $230
Again I'm not athletic so I don't know why I want runners of all things, but I just do and I DON'T NEED TO EXPLAIN MYSELF TO ANYONE. #sensitivetopic #nocameras #getyourcameraoutofmyfaceNOW!!!

MUSIC: PLAYLIST #5

I curated a new playlist perfect for a humpday kick. I hate people who say "humpday". I think everyone does. Gross. Anyway it has some new tracks on it including a remix of my favourite The xx song from Coexist, Fiction; one of my favourites from Willowbeats who I saw again last Saturday night; Le Youth with Cool, their incredible reinterpretation of Cassie; and a mashup of Kanye and Chromatics. Nice!

PUT YOUR BACK IN IT from dylanmccarthy on 8tracks Radio.

MUMBLING ABOUT MUSIC

July: The Month of Music

Today on the #blawg I'm going to chat about some music-related topics. I kind of wish I wrote this on a Monday so I could get some 'Music Monday' alliteration going on but I think I brought it home with 'The Month of Music', no? Anyway, let's just launch straight into it:

Gig calendar for July:

Pls ignore the stuff about the dentist. Can't believe I left that on =[

I saw Willow Beats for the second time last Friday and they were incredible (again). They hypnotise their audiences with an odd juxtaposition of dreamy vocals and dubstep-infused beats, causing everyone to emphatically sway in unison like some kind of cult. 
Fun fact: the last time I saw Willow Beats I drunkenly told the singer how 'amAzgNIG' she was and that she looks exactly like Chloë Grace Moretz (which I probably pronounced wrong) so now I can't look her in the eye. #MoreLikeSadFact

The Rubens were surprisingly impressive live. In all honestly I only went because the tickets were $15 but they actually sounded like seasoned professionals, not a band on the verge of releasing their first album. The crowd at the Corner Hotel went crazy for their infectious summer tracks armed with catchy guitar riffs, and then waved their glowing iPhones back-and-forth in silence during their very Kooks-esque ballads. I even bought their EP at the end of the gig, pictured later down, because I was that impressed. Oh- and to the girl at the front who was wildly waving a double black and incorrectly miming the lyrics all night... I like double blacks as well lol =]

So now I've got The xx, Lana Del Rey and Youth Lagoon to look forward to. I reckon by the end of the month I'll perfect my gig stance. I'm still trying to find the middle ground between the "fuck yeah I'm so into this right now I'm going to nod my head like ape shit and sing every word so everyone knows that I ROCK" stance and the "na bro I'm too cool to 'move' or 'bop' so I'll just stand here like a badass statue lol I'm better than you xox" stance.

Blawg question of the day: whats UR #gigstance? R u an #ApeShitRager or a #BadassStatue? #AudienceEngagement

Some music I'm loving this July:

• Seatraffic
  I took this from a write-up I did for ITNO.co.uk. Check out the full thing here. Oh yeah, I'm writing for a website other than my own now! Fun times.
  
  “We make dreamy synth pop!” Seatraffic sum themselves up perfectly in those five words because that’s exactly what they do. Who are these “dreamy synth pop” wizards? They are the San Fransisco duo of Mark Zannad and Brandon Harrison.
  
  
  Seatraffic first appeared with their debut self-titled 5-track EP on Bandcamp last November. This year they’re back again with a two-single 7″ vinyl, “Crimes”, set to release on August 1st. In the meantime you can download the title-track for free on SoundCloud. 
  This is my favourite track of theirs: "Leave It Alone".
  
  

• Twin Shadow
  Last week George Lewis Jr made a return with his second album 'Confess', and it received the same level of praise as George Lewis Jr's debut effort (his name is so good that I refuse to use pronouns). Sonically, George Lewis Jr hasn't changed the Twin Shadow formula that much, in fact, it sounds very similar. That's not an insult though, because George Lewis Jr didn't leave much room for improvement with George Lewis Jr's first album. George Lewis Jr simply confirms that George Lewis Jr is a true master of pop music. This cathartic track has been in my head ALL WEEK. Don't let that put you off, though:
  
  
  

• Purity Ring
  Purity Ring are set to release their first full length album "Shrines" later this month and I've already been loving what they've shown us so far. Synth pop at its finest. Check out the brand new clip for "Fineshrine" and see if you understand what the fuck is going on. Hint: you won't.
  

What is l i f e

Music loving ME this July:

Yes, you heard right. This month I've been getting a lot of love from various musicians. I've gotten so many offers to join bands recently it's a joke. Take a look for yourself:

Thanks Seatraffic but I live in Australia? :S

Not very professional of you, The Rubens.

Others included Muse (gross), Black Eyed Peas (...no) and K-POP band 2ne1 (sorry girls I don't speak Korean). Everyone wants a piece of my #yoloswag.

Playlist #4: GOLDEN LIGHT

Playlist time! Featuring some of the artists I mentioned throughout this post like Seatraffic and Twin Shadow, this fourth playlist is the mellowest of marshes. Did u get it? Coz marshmellows? Leave a comment below if u got it lol. Hopefully I led you to some new music and if not, I owe you a double black.

GOLDEN LIGHT from dylanmccarthy on 8tracks Radio.