Time Festival

Time Festival rolled around two Saturday's ago and I had the pleasure of attending. The lineup was short but sweet, including a few greats, making this one worth hitting up. The day was sweltering to the point where by the time I waited in line to get my ticket scanned and let into the festival, I was already all sweaty and dying of thirst. But I trudged through because DIIV was about to hit the stage.  

DIIV hails from NYC and is fronted by Zachary Cole Smith, linked to Sky Ferreira (I love her to death). I'd seen DIIV once before, at a festival in Montreal two summers prior and at that time they had just released their debut, Oshin. This time around, they hadn't released a new album since then, but with a new one set to drop in the very near future (October 2015), via inclinations made from a many a tweets thanks to Smith's Twitter. The set included a few songs from Oshin and a ton of new, unreleased ones. It was great to be able to hear them for the first time in a live setting, heightening my anticipation for the new album. The new songs had their quintessential shoe gaze / dream pop element, but I did notice that these set of songs were definitely more vocal heavy than the last. I guess that's what we can expect for the next album then, to move in a more vocal direction as opposed to letting the musical atmospheric elements take over.   

I think it is better... and definitely more Instagram-able.

I tried Hawaiian pizza for the first time and it's become a new fav!

Ariel Pink went on before Mac Demarco hit the stage and he played a crazy set, equipped with rambunctious hand motions and movements. But once Mac went on, it started to get crowded. This is my third time seeing Mac now and he always puts on a good show. He and his bandmates are the men of the hour, cracking out jokes and just plain absurdities in between songs in the set, making the entire crowd laugh. With the release of Another One, he opened with a track from there, then, moving onto the crowd favourite, "Salad Days". This time around he mostly played songs from his new EP, but in keeping with the usual additions to his set including: "Cooking Up Something Good", "Freaking Out The Neighbourhood", "Ode To Viceroy" (personal fav), "Let My Baby Stay", "The Stars Keep On Calling My Name" and finally, ending the show as he always does with, "Still Together". I had a really fun time, dancing and singing along to all the songs and it was great seeing Mac play in a festival-type setting again. Now here's to the next time I get to see him because I'm sure there will be more times in the future to come!  

Psychic Chasms

So all of the summer sales are happening right now so of course I had a browse around the shops and of course I made a sneaky little online purchase. Zara is having their "everything is $39.99" sale and some things I'd been lusting after went on super sale so I had to snatch them up before they were gone forever. I finally got my hands on this amazing floral velvet fringe kimono. This thing totally screams summer of love and I feel like I'm letting my inner Janis out or like I should be a fortune teller, enclosed in a booth at one of those traveling fairs. All I need is a crystal ball so I can gaze into the future or a tarot deck to read your cards. I love the way the fringe sways in the wind as I walk and when I raise my hands to the heavens it feels like a total sleeve party. 

To let the kimono do the talking I decided to keep the rest of the outfit pretty simple, a black slouchy tee messy tucked into some high-waisted denim cut offs. Some rings piled high, oversized sunnies and my signature black ankle boots and I'm good to go. Also, this necklace, making its appearance on the blog yet again... I'm sure it's total overkill at this point and everyone (in real life) is probably sick of me wearing it but I love it! I find it's the piece I always gravitate toward when I have to make an outfit sing and give it its own little musical soundtrack accompaniment, it's totally perfect! I can't promise you won't ever see it again, only that you'll probably see it more.  

Now let's throw it back to 2009 when I was first discovering music of the "indie" variety. I stumbled across this little band called Neon Indian. Not going to lie, what struck me at first was the name of the band, (super cool right?) and it instantly painted this image in my head, one filled with bright colours and that was all cool. Then I found the album Psychic Chasms. It's filled with electronic beats and vivid abstract colours, as the album artwork would suggest, making this album feel like a total trip (and not to make mention to songs entitled, "Should Have Taken Acid With You" and "Laughing Gas" haha). I recently started listening to it again and I fell re-in-love with it. Apparently they're set to release a new album this year with the dropping of their single, "Annie" so I'm excited to hear what that album has in store. But if I had to say, I feel as if this is Neon Indian at its finest, in all its messy experimental psychedelic glory.  

Local Joke by Neon Indian

Bright Blue Day Haze

After yesterday being filled with nothing but rain, rain and more rain and pretty humid and muggy temperatures it's nice to see Mr. Sun's face again! Summer for me is all about the kimono's... they actually epitomize it for me. They're light, flowy and free like a summer's day. I love this kimono I got from Threadsence a while back. It's got the biggest sleeves I've seen, I feel like a bird or a faerie ready to take flight or join a little woodland community and it's in the prettiest shade of pink to boot. It has this beautiful crochet detailing throughout as well and I paired it with this black t-shirt dress and gold coin necklace (clearly one of my fav's). It does the little jingle jangle when I walk, like there's a musical soundtrack to my life, I love it! 

Pictured: in my natural habitat with my real life woodland pet

This summer's been filled with music, music and more music and I couldn't be happier. I wish everyday was a concert or festival. Just to feel the music in your soul and the vibes in the air. People coming together as a collective, sharing an interest in the sights and sounds and just having a good time. Seriously, my favourite thing ever. I'm longing to take a road trip, going from festival to festival during its season. I'll do it one day for sure... But for now I'll just pretend I'm Lindsay Weir on that last episode of Freaks and Geeks with a bunch of Deadheads, following the band around.  

Eventually

When rompers became a big thing a couple years ago I was ecstatic because it was functionality and fashion at its finest. You can literally throw one item on and look cute AND put together, perfect! I love this romper, it's such a pretty shade of cranberry and I love all the detailing on the shorts with the feathers and baroque style patterning and with the colour palette reminding me of a pretty sunset in the summer. I wore this outfit doing just that, chatting with friends in their backyard on a summer night, mixed drinks in hand talking of tarot cards, black cats and the like, as the summer sun went down.    

I'm still riding that spiritual high from the Tame Impala concert, almost a month and a bit later, I just can't shake it. It was the best concert I've ever been to, hands down! I still remember the visuals coinciding with the music, brightly coloured and mesmerizing. I've been listening to the singles dropped non-stop and thinking July 17 can't come any faster. I NEED this album. I fluctuate between my favourite songs, sometimes it's Let It Happen and sometimes it's Disciples, but as of late it's, Eventually. I know the album will be going in a more electronic direction, but nonetheless still carrying its signature Tame Impala sound. I hope their tour brings them to my neck of the woods sometime soon because I need to experience their live show again! 

    

Field Trip Music & Arts Festival

I attended Field Trip Music & Arts Festival on the weekend located in the heart of Toronto. This year's lineup consisted of: Father John Misty, Temples, Alabama Shakes, Marina and the Diamonds and My Morning Jacket. 

As I made my way through the festival grounds I realized I was actually starving! Poutine (if you aren't sure what this is you're likely not the only one as it's a total Canadian dish, that's basically fries in gravy with melted cheese curds...need I say more?) was my weapon of choice; but instead of going for normal ole poutine I went for a Greek-style poutine. Now it was a hard decision on what to choose to eat as there were a multitude of food trucks, with tons of things on the menus, many of which were calling my name, but I'm so glad I chose to get what I did. Now if you're wondering how poutine can be Greek-ified you just add some feta and tzatziki of course! The mix of flavours from the saltiness of the feta and the mildness of the tzatziki in combination with the Canadian style gravy was divine. Jimmy the Greek you definitely know your stuff! Whenever I need my fill of poutine with an added kick I know where to head. 

You know it's a festival when you just want to sit crosslegged in the grass and dig in. 

What really drew me into even attending the festival in the first place was that two of my favourite bands / artists were playing, Temples and Father John Misty. As mentioned previously on this blog post here, Temples is a psychedelic rock group from the U.K. Their sound is a mix of 60's / 70's just like their style. Now this was my third time seeing them in the last year (dedicated fan girl status much?) and I was blown away yet again! Although a large crowd didn't gather around their stage they played a killer show! They played the ever so popular Colours To Life, Keep in the Dark and Shelter Song. And James' renowned black fringe jacket made its appearance yet again. But the greatest thing about the entire set was that they debuted a new song, called Henry's Cake! (Still not sure if that's the actual title). I absorbed every last bit of it in and was ecstatic beyond belief. They're currently working on their follow-up record and I'm excited to see what's in the works and can hopefully see them again when they prepare to embark on another East Coast tour. 

After Temples' set I swung on over to the next stage to catch the remainder of Father John Misty. Father John Misty is the alias Josh Tillman, ex-Fleet Foxes drummer, *wipes tear*, goes under. He's crazy and eccentric and his on-stage antics make him a fun artist to watch.   With the release of his newest record, I Love You, Honeybear, I've seen him become bigger than ever. He's headlined a lot of festivals this year and done a lot of touring and the album is awesome to boot. If you're into 60's sounding folk with strong musical accompaniment  and songs written from the deepest crevices of your little heart you'd probably dig his sound. He played a mix of songs ranging from his first album, Fear Fun, to his most recent release, pleasing new and returning fans alike. He's just an awesome act to see all around. Definitely check him out if he's ever in town! 

A festival is never complete without an outfit on fleek! I put my best festival outfit foot forward and ended up wearing this black romper that has awesome crochet detailing and bell sleeves, channeling my inner Woodstock (the usual). Equipped with a rust coloured floppy hat and oversized sunnies I felt like a total 60's babe. I kept the accessories to a minimum, with just a single gold moon necklace and some rings. My trusty black ankle booties were a must because the weather looked gloomy and the potential for a downfall was high (and luckily I did because it ended up raining just a bit). I was humbled and honoured when a photographer asked to snap a pic of my outfit and when multiple people came up to me to tell me they liked it! Totally made my day even better! So thank you to all those kind people. Field Trip was absolutely fabulous and I'm so glad to have gone! And now till next year and another killer line-up!