Music on a Sunday afternoon? Yes please...

Hello all. Today is going to be an interesting post for two reasons. Firstly, its just me (Aslan) solo today, no Estée. Secondly, we are going for a real change in direction with the nature of this post. What sort of direction? Well if you have not already guessed from the title, I am going to give you guys some music suggestions. 

I have some time to myself on a beautiful Sunday and I was just listening to music in the background and I decided I should do something a little productive by treating you guys to a little aurgasm. (To the confused, that was a pun and this is post will not be sexually related at all, so calm down and stop getting too excited). 

If you are a little sceptical at this point (in a way I am a little too), I say don't jump ship right at this moment: stay. We are going to find out together if our scepticism is true. Bear with it and give it a go and perhaps possibly you might just have discovered a song (or maybe even an artist) you love.

I am going to give you just 5 tracks (it was very painful to get the list just down to 5) suggestions and they are all going to be electronic music. This area of music has gotten a bit of a bad rap because of popularity of horrible 'dubstep' and people like Skrillex but there is so much more happing in this genre of music at the moment that it would a crime if some people did not get to sample so of its real golden moments. 

1. "Before I Move Off" by Mount Kimbie.

These two guys from London formed this amazing electronic brotherhood that has created some of what is arguably the most important music post-2010. "Before I Move Off" is probably the most popular song off their 2010 debut album (Crooks & Lovers), which one is well worth a listen. Critically acclaimed, they are often seen as being partially responsible for the rich world of 'post-dubstep' music, with many successful artists (like James Blake) taking heavy influences from Mount Kimbie. The thing that I like about this song is that you can tell right from the beginning there is a tinge of sadness about it (the title kind of confirms this) which adds a nice human element and makes me want to get up and just do something, no matter how mundane. I love listening to this when I just get off the tube and start to walk home.

The official video for the song is great too, fits it so well: just get up and go somewhere, do something.

2.  "Cushing" by Blithe Field

From the most successful and know in this list at number 1, Blithe Field is the least successful. This is one guy from Ohio who makes music on his laptop and this song is just one beautiful nostalgic journey and this song comes from his 2011 LP "Two Hearted". His songs are often litered with speech samples that sound like they have been taken out of a the perfect Americana childhood. Blithe Field is one of the best examples of the greatest attribute of electronic music at the moment. You do not have to be popular or have a big studio to create great content. The internet is littered with thousands of artists who create amazing tunes and give them away for free. Here is a link to Blithe Field's bandcamp where you can download all his music for free.

Whoever created the video to the linked youtube song was a genius too, work great with the song.

3. "M.O.P.E" by Ambassadeurs 

Don't really know much about Ambassadeurs; I think he is a British DJ/Producer. But what I don't know doesn't really matter because this track is so catchy and the vocals are distorted in such a delicious way that me want to play this song over and over. Incredibly well produced track, the baseline and the clap tie in so well with the vocal samples; and the way they just all seem to organically and effortlessly melt away and combine with each other is done with such skill that I bet many DJs who listen to this are a little jealous. 

4. "Numb" by Clams Casino

Clams Casino is a Hip-Hop producer from the USA, who is has risen to fame recently as he produced records for Lil B, The Weeknd and the great debut from A$AP Rocky that made into a lot of critic's top 50 lists back in 2011. When you listen to just his work on its own (rather when it is being covered by rappers), it is not too beat based, he seems to thrive on creating textures rather beats on their own, there are so many things going on but they all come together and makes something intensely atmospheric. This song is a great example of that and is one of the highlights from his mixtape titled "Instrumentals" that he released in 2011; this song is also used in A$AP Rocky's mixtape under the title "Demons". 

5. "4D" by Koreless

This song is great way to demonstrate how dubstep is not all rubbish crap that teenagers everywhere dance to in terrible clubs and equate music as "tranformers having sex". Strictly speaking this is a dubstep track, but it manages to use not only basslines but vocals and some nice timber sounds to create a catchy track. Koreless is a 20 year old DJ/Producer from Scotland, who has gained some success and was even featured in one of the Boiler Room sessions recently (a kind of holy grail for emerging electronic artists). This song comes from hise 2011 EP titled "4D/MTI", the second track ("MTI") is also well worth a listen. 

Well done if you have stayed with it this far and listened to all the tracks, I appreciate the effort. I hope you might have stumbled across some music that you like and if it features in some of your playlists then that would make me a happy man. Please tell me in the comments what you did like, what you did not like and maybe even why. 

Also tell me if you would like these sorts of posts in the future. I know this is an unusually change from the usual blog posts you see on here, so any sort of feedback about that would be much appreciated. 

Talk to you guys soon,

Aslan

P.S. Before I go here are some honourable mentions that you can delve into if this has piqued your brain cells (they are all linked so just click away):

Reset Head - Seekae

I Didn't Plan For This - Mathbonus

Don't Break My Love - Nicolas Jaar

Fire Ant - Bibio

Cbat - Hudson Mohawke

Places - Shlohmo

Goose & Button Kill Some Time in Soho!

Estée and I both had a day off so we decided to just take a look around Soho since she still has not fully explored it.

 We started off by going to Oxford Circus and quickly getting away from the madness of Oxford Street by heading south.

Up ahead is Liberty, oh how I wish I could get a few pieces from their basement which has a great menswear selection.

Thought it would be nice to show a photo of one of my favourite stores- Monki! 

If you don't live near one, you've probably heard about it so maybe this will KIND of tide you over?

That or make it so much worse, haha! 

(Thats right, twist that knife Estée.)

This was inside a quaint little vintage shop in Soho.

Can't remember the name (sorry).

It's a store along Berwick Street where the market usually is. 

They had a really nice shirt I wanted to buy for Goose, but he says vintage isn't his "thing."

He's too cool, man. 

Here are some CRAZY lashes!

I can't even wear normal ones, so imagine the hard time I'd have wearing these feathery creations! 

Woof woof?

I just HAD to put this photo in!

SO BRITISH IT HURTS! I'm really beginning to love London! 

Ahem...excuse the Dutch flag in the middle of the photo.

Crispins in Chinatown is a great place to go if you want to pick up some Americana sweets and snacks.

Here i am reaching for my favourite Deluxe Kraft Dinner!

I just couldn't bear to spend over £5 on one box, though.

Guess I'll have to stock up next time I go home to Canada! 

Mmmmm...Jiffy! If you don't know, I am obsessed with peanut butter and the super sweet and creamy American kind (lets keep on subject here) is the best!

BALL CAKE LOL!

How old are we again?

Wonkeys! My favourite place to eat in Chinatown. Where you are forced to sit on the same table with complete strangers, the waiters are rude and the food is most mediocre. I don't know why but I always crave it, oh and its fairly cheap.

What is your favourite Chinatown restaurant?

Classy sellotaped menu.

Cash only in a tourist filled centrally located restaurant huh?

Nothing suspicious here. I seriously think that this is the biggest money laundering front for the Chinese gangs in London.

Beautiful photo taken by Estée.

Did I mention you get free green tea here?

Crispy fried seaweed! My favourite, especially here since they add so much sugar. 

We popped into Cyber Candy & these intrigued be quite a bit. 

Didn't end up buying them (imagine your BREATH), but I might have to go back!

We ended up spending the whole afternoon and a bit of the evening just loitering about Soho and I think Estée now has a much better idea of the area so it was worth the effort. 

Can you guys think of some interesting places that might tempt us back to Soho?

Birthday Celebration: MOM STYLE!

So it was my mum's birthday recently and I thought I might tell you guys what me and Estée got for her and what we did on that day. 

Obviously flowers are a must for any sort of celebration that involves a female but Estée suggested that we get a plant instead of flowers as a plant can flower for much longer. 

It's the gift that just keeps on giving in my opinion! 

With spring in full swing I thought this was a good idea and we went over to 'Wild at Heart' (located at the main entrance of Liberty) and got some purple hyacinth plants that came in this rustic looking bucket. 

 The whole thing does look perhaps a little too 'farmer' at the moment but I am hoping that when the flowers are in full bloom it will look cute.

 But that was not our only task at Liberties that day. 
We decided to kill two birds with one stone and get my mum her present there too. 
Estée was the mastermind behind the idea; we decided a Mason Pearson brush would nice as my mum is big fan of haircare and this seemed like the perfect little hidden English gem. 
We got her the 'Popular' type, which is a large brush with a mixture of nylon and boar bristles. 
An in-depth review of this hairbrush should be on my beauty blog SOON, so keep your eyes peeled!

The brush was a big hit with my mum but I think she was a little underwhelmed with the flower bucket.

We're both convinced she'll love the plant once it starts blooming, though!

 Anyway, it was her birthday and we didn't really have anything planned so she made the decision of going to the Victoria and Albert museum. 

I think the fact that Estée had never been there was the motivating factor there; speaking of Estée here she is in front of some giant wall of Jesus bling.  

We saw probably half of the normal displays and also went in to see the special exhibition about the pictures of the Queen taken by Cecil Beaton. 

I actually loved the exhibition & I'm not normally a Queen-lover. 

Some really beautiful photos that really cause your imagination to wander. 

It was great, but that artifact saturation point hit us and we decided to get out of there and head over for some lunch. 

We went for some Lebanese cuisine at the Comptoire Libanaise branch near South Kensington station. There was a bit of a queue but the wait was worth it; they have some of the most delicious drinks there and great food. 

I absolutely LOVED & I mean LOVED the fresh mint & rose tea! Delicious! 

Here is one of their best creations 'Mira' a.k.a. frozen mint lemonade.

This mint lemonade is one of the most unique things I've ever tasted!

We spotted this amazing creation after lunch. This guy was just riding this ridiculous thing down the road when he suddenly jumps onto the curb and pulls up by the door of this cafe and starts to hit on the girl. SWAG. How could she resist?

The rest of the day was a little painful for me as my mum decided that we were all going to see Titanic in 3D at the cinema.

Goddam you James Cameron for your greed! Why not just let sleeping dogs lie?
Its not that I hate the movie, its just that I have already seen it about 5 times.
My mum and Estée seemed to enjoy it though as they were both crying their eyes out at the then end. 
I didn't actually get the point to the 3D part of this video. In fact, I hate 3D movies.
They give me a headache & it's no different than a normal video.
That being said, it hit me as hard as the first time I saw it! IF NOT WORSE!

 I did get to see Estée with 3D glasses on though which is hilarious since they are way too big on her.

That was it for the day. I think my mum enjoyed it, we managed the pack in the perfect trio (in her eyes): culture, emotion and a meat heavy meal in one day. 

Goose & Button Have a Relaxing Day!

Our DEEPEST apologies for not posting in ages! Yeah sorry about that, I'm just not used to having much internet responsibility.

There really is no excuse except sheer laziness! 

Aslan has been working quite a bit lately and I (Estée) am trying to tie up all of the loose ends from Uni!

Today we decided to keep things quite low key which is our favourite thing to do. Seriously, low key is the way forward. If you're idea of a great day off ends starts with shopping and then ends with clubbing then we cannot be friends. On the other hand if you like to browse, drink tea and watch useless TV then we can talk!

We started off the day VERY slowly. 

Woke up at around 10AM & browsed the internet in bed & chatted about nothing for awhile.

Just look at those worn keys, oh yeah.

THEN I forced Aslan to go down to the kitchen & get me my favourite sweet snack of the moment!

(Belgian waffles! They have big chunks of sugar inside MmMmMm!)

There was also a nice old cup of tea, but I managed to spill it all over the bed. WOOPS! I got mad, I dont know even why because it wasn't even that bad. Nothing a little asswipe (as Estée's Mum calls it) couldn't fix.

Eventually, we both knew it was time to wake up & get crackin'.

I had a nice long shower, dried my hair & put a little makeup on!
One thing to mention about a shower though is that it doesn't have a great air flow so its always fun finding the right balance between an unenjoyable short drench or everything is dripping with condensation. 

Our room is VERY messy at the moment.

My makeup table is always in complete disarray & I couldn't take it anymore!

QUICK little tidy & I felt a bit better!

It may still look cluttered, but at least I know where everything is!

Gotta love NEOM candles, too (this one's rose)!

If you want to see some of my rose-scented products, click here!

Quick little shot of my outfit!

Nothing special, but I got the cardigan from Monki (I really like it!) in Amsterdam awhile ago.

Have you ever read our post about Amsterdam? It's actually on my beauty blog, so if you want to see more about that crazy trip CLICK HERE!

Here's Aslan (Goose) looking gorgeous!

He was starving & that's a good thing because we were headed to a delicious Italian restaurant called Pellicano which is in Chealsea. RITZY!

His mum's treat of course! 

Tried to do a full outfit shot, but failed miserably. 

LOOK! You can see our bathroom (aka the condensation station)! 

Here's Aslan peering over at someone on the tube.

I have no idea what he's looking at, but he seems quite unimpressed. Bloody tourists.

I absolutely LOVE his shoes/boots! They're from COS I believe!

We met up with Aslans mum & sister & took a stroll into my new favourite store called Heal's!

I've never heard of this place, but there is some AWESOME stuff in there!

Oh, what it must feel like to have an unlimited cash supply!!

Here I am doing a fox/skunk face. So cute!

Then we headed off to the movies! We saw Once Upon a Time in Anatolia. 

Not my personal favourite, but everyone else seemed to like it.

We walked a little down the road from Heal's and went to the Curzon Cinema which is nice as it makes a change from the ODEON/Cineworld chains, the Chelsea Curzon has a nice screening room that has a sort of nostalgic grandness about it. Reminds me of wide cut suits, skinny ties, smoking inside and women wearing bright red lipstick. 

The movie was directed by a Turkish director named Nuri Bilge Ceylan who has made some great art-house films. The film was pretty good, but it is definitely not something you should watch expecting a neat story or something easily accessible. It is a story about how a murder investigation unfolds over one night; nothing really happens, yet it makes you think about almost everything. 

& that's it! That was our day!

Waited at the tube station for a few minutes & we were on our way back to the comfort of our bedroom!

Nothing TOO interesting, but a lot of you have been on my case about posting! 

Yeah sorry about that ladies and gents, will try to make more of an active effort from now.

Goose & Button Watch Lady & the Tramp! (Date 2)

I am a lover of Disney movies-who isn't!?

BUT Aslan was absolutely appalled to find out that I'd never seen Lady & the Tramp!

I've also never seen Star Wars, Lord of the Rings etc. but that is NEVER going to happen!

Anyway, we decided that for this weeks date, we just wanted to stay in! 

I'm the LADY!

& Aslan is the TRAMP (obviously)...

I love our little set-up!

Aslan has to hook up his laptop to the giant computer monitor 

(something I can't for the life of me figure out).

We get the fan blowing & get snuggled in.

I LOVE watching movies!

AH! A SEA MONSTER!

Oh wait, that's just me.

Decided to finish off the date, I'd arouse Aslan with a blueberry LUSH face mask.

He wasn't too pleased when I made him go get it from the fridge.

& yes, I'm wearing one of my Gramma's nightgowns.

Bow chicka wow woooowwww! 

;) 

x Estée

Goose & Button Go to the Museum! (Date 1)

Hello!

So Aslan and I are doing this new thing where each week we're going to make it a point to go on a date!

(AWW)

Last year, we were both a tad too homebound & mutually decided we needed to make a change!

The dates are going to be all sorts of things!

(preferably free, but occasionally we'll part with some loose change).

We are also starting another thing. Everything written likes this is done by me (Estée). And everything written in italics is done by me (Aslan), just to save everyone the confusion and the fact that I hate referring to myself in the third person. Anyway, lets get on with the romance shall we:

This week, we went to TATE Britain.

Me trying to be CUTE in the underground. I even curled my hair!

To see my full outfit of the day, take a look here! She looked really nice that day, in fact I felt bad because I made no effort whatsoever, and when I say that i am not being modest (I wore drainpipe brown trousers). 

Nearly there! The tube station in Pimlico is decorated appropriately which is always nice to see. There is not enough variety on the underground.

Dr. Seuss trees. The tree surgeon had a field day, it did make them look like ents though.

Here you have it! TATE Britain!

This was my first time there! 

To be honest, I don't really "get" art in the same way others do.

BUT-when I see something I like, it really speaks to me.

I really love TATE Modern, so I was a bit worried I wouldn't like this one as much! Turns out I do!
It always seems like TATE Britain is always overshadowed by its bigger sibling, but to be honest it is much more pleasant (fewer groups of loud european students!), approachable (different art from different periods means there is something for everyone) and smaller (your feet will be much happier).

Aslan can't seem to resist concave mirrors.

I love taking pictures of people in meseums/art galleries.    

Quite the chandelier. 

For some reason I was really drawn to this. 

It kept flashing on and off in an artistic manner.

Lord knows what it's meant to represent, but it was nice.
I think this actually won the Turner prize a while back, and I can remember a lot of people getting in a hissy fit about the most coveted british modern art prize being awarded for the lights being turned on and off. 

These stairs were quite a nice surprise, usually everything but the art in galleries is clinically white.

Of course, I can't go anywhere without getting hungry!

I casually made my way down to the café & got some designer ready salted crisps.

Whenever Aslan & I go somewhere, he usually gets into some sort of mood where he ends up giving me this face.

APPARENTLY he does it because he's imitating me! 

HOW DARE HE! 

He's just mad because I made him eat the gross, soggy biscuits from the café that cost £5.

That's it!

Date number 1.

Do you like these posts?

If you can think of any ideas for our London dates please let us know! 

The Last Instalment of Our Canadian Photos!

So you may be fed up of seeing all of our photos from Canada, but we have one final instalment! 

We're back in the UK & have been since January 17th, but it's taken Aslan THIS long to get his act together as far as the blog goes!

Don't worry! We've got many plans for the coming weeks!

...

First stop, the St. Jacobs Farmers Market located in St. Jacobs, Ontario! 

Me being raised VERY close to St. Jacobs always saw it as "normal" to see Amish people walking around town.

Technically, the people I'm referring to are actually called Mennonites! Similar, yet different.

This photo was taken at the cattle ring in the market!

Basically there is a panel of auctioneers behind a desk, a mennonite in the ring showing off the cow & the people in the audience bid on their top picks!

Aslan had never in his life seen such a sight, so my brother & I thought it was essential that we take him!

Just when he thought the fun was over in the auction ring, we took him "out back."

Basically, behind the ring is kind of like the "holding unit" for the cattle waiting to be put through the ring.

                           

You can see some of the cows here who are either waiting to be shown or have already been bid on.

Quite a weird & unpleasant experience to be honest. 

You have to walk along these rickety wooden boards that overlook the cows.

The smell is overwhelming & I've never heard so much combined mooing in my life!

They also have horses, pigs & sometimes goats etc.

A Canadian classic!

Cheese Curds! Also known as "squeaky cheese" because it squeaks when you chew it (if it's fresh)!

So delicious!

Summer Sausage!

Apparently this is a Canadian thing as well!

Basically just a smoked meat in a sock!

(Not a real sock, but that's what the bags are called).

Fancy a JUMBO kosher pickle?

What-the filthy vat & garbage bag storage don't entice you?

Only $1.00 each, though!

So, if you really don't believe me that Mennonites are everywhere in my town, this is a horse & buggy PARKING spot in the local Wal-Mart.

I am not kidding around!

Standard St. Jacobs Farmer's Market item. Aslan could do with one of these!

This is another local hotspot.

My grandma's go-to for stationary.

Love that they had to identify exactly what a "handful" means.

Goose & Gramma Make Homemade Doughnuts!

(This could have been a post all on its own!)

Took quite a bit of preparation to make these doughnuts happen.

Aslan & Gramma had to take a trip to the grocery store for some quick rising yeast as she was all out!

*AND I didn't receive my invite. I was left at home!

Tasty little things, though!

One of the following days, we woke up quite early to go to Niagra Falls! 

Took me awhile to get myself sorted this particular morning!

We finally get to Niagra Falls and as we park the car we looked up and saw this view. We knew we were not going to get the best of views that day.

The entrance to the local tourist trap. 

It was mainly empty with the occasional splattering of a group of Chinese tourists.

During the winter months many of the activities at the falls are closed down; including this lift which takes up to a platform form which you can get an amazing view.

As we approached the the horseshoe part of the falls the visibility (and the spray) got worse and worse.

Ta da! You could only really see about half of the horseshoe falls. I realise that it sounds/looks like we had a terrible time but it was actually quite fun.

 It kind of reminded us a little of what it was like on our US road trip. 

The fog did block off the views but it also made everything dissolve into beautiful nothingness. 

As soppy as bread and butter pudding.

One of my favourite spots to go.

Thought Aslan might like taking a few photos here!

The family dog!

Boom! Real name: Boomer!

He loves going for walks!

Of course we had to take him along!

REALLY old style Canadian mailboxes!

We LOVED watching this show when we woke up every morning! 

Its a Canadian classic about a clever dog and the adventures he gets up! 

Estée's mum said this was one of her favourite shows when she was growing up and we have to say that it is still great today. 

One episode involved two orderly single people that got together in the end because of the dog. 

It was very sweet.

Overwhelmed by the consumer choice at a dollar store (especially after England's limited range of produce at Poundland). 

This is the range of delicious cured meats at OSOGOOD butchers. 

They have the best baloney and wieners there! 

The girl who served us was really nice and Aslan got lots of free samples; including an odd looking sausage which consisted of pork jerky suspended in pork gelatine (it was delicious according to him). 

She also told us that man who set up the butchers stole the name from a butcher's shop in London that he used to work in before he came to Canada. 

Has anyone heard of an OSOGOOD butchers' in London?

Needless to say we visited Value Village again (and again). 

One of Estée's favourite charity shops got closed down. 

On a brighter note, the Halal butcher's next door is doing a booming trade!

Last but not least, the top knot.

If I'm just having a relaxed day, my hair usually looks like this & Aslan makes sure to document it!

I'm sure this isn't the last you'll be seeing of it!

That's it for our trip!

As I said we have many more posts in progress!

We're doing a new thing where we do one "date" a week!

*hint* this week we went to a museum!

Until next time!

Goose & Button

x