When it comes to shopping in Barcelona, El Borne seems like the place to spend the most time. A neighborhood of boutiques, cafes, and restaurants fill a few block minutes from the beach.

We came across a few stores boasting lines from international designers including Raf Simons, Opening Ceremony, Comme Des Garçons, and D Squared.

Within El Borne, we came across our favourite shop which was current and could hold it’s own in New York just as well as Barcelona. Hamptons was an impressive shop with a very well bought collection from Acne, Helmut Lang, Rag & Bone and essentials from Malin + Geotz. Within the collections of international brands, there was great buying for the dressier man, woman or child.

Next time you’re in the city, they’re definitely worth a visit.

We’re loving this influx of hip-hop inspired “glo-fi” (or “experimental hip-hop”) music that’s been spearheaded by the likes of J Dilla, Gold Panda, and Daedelus.

The most recent artist working in this pseudo genre that has caught our attention is Star Slinger. Not only has he made some remixes for Handsome favorites Fiveng and Small Black, but he’s released a slew of heavily sampled original tunes that are equally as good, if not better. We wish more of mainstream hip-hop sounded like this.

Below are our favorite songs from his ever expanding catalog.

First up is the gorgeous “May I Walk With You?” that not only brings back common courtesy but also emotionally uplifting blips and bleeps that can make any cloudy morning a little brighter.

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DOWNLOAD: Star Slinger – May I Walk With You?

His song “Mornin’” is probably more suited for the aforementioned scenario but listening to the more melancholy “May I Walk With You?” first will only make this song sound even brighter.

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DOWNLOAD: Star Slinger – Mornin’

“Longtime” incorporates a bit of a chip-tune sound with a smooth classic R&B flavored love ballad.

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DOWNLOAD: Star Slinger – Longtime

Also worth obsessing over are his remixes of Fiveng’s “Jonah” and Small Black’s newest “Photojournalist”.

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DOWNLOAD: Fiveng – Jonah (Star Slinger Remix)

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DOWNLOAD: Small Black – Photojournalist (Star Slinger Remix)

There are so many other great songs that are available on Star Slingers Bandcamp site (including a re-interpretation of Musical Youth’s “Pass the Dutchie”, we recommend picking up everything he’s made.

Always suckers for what is often affectionately referred to as “space-disco”, we’d like to share Edwin Van Cleef‘s remix of the fabulous Frenchmen Housse de Racket. It starts off a little unassuming, but it will sneak up on you like a cool breeze on a humid day.

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DOWNLOAD: Housse de Racket – Champions (Edwin Van Cleef Remix)

Karin Dreijer Andersson is back to Fever Ray, and is releasing this vicious cover of Peter Gabriel’s “Mercy Street” 14 September via Mute.

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DOWNLOAD: Fever Ray – Mercy Street (Peter Gabriel Cover) (Soundcloud link)

Kevin Francis Gray makes beautiful marble & fiberglass sculptures. It’s rare you come across any contemporary marble sculptures, but these these make a strong case for their resurgence.

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Jagjaguwar have chosen 26 October as the official release date for Small Black’s debut full length New Chain.  Simultaniously, the label have released a sample of what is to come from the group: “Photojournalist,” track four off of the album.  With “Photojournalist,” Small Black give us more of their gauzy beach-house synth-pop, while also making sure Josh Kolenik’s vocals hit a little heavier, making the melody highly contagious.

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DOWNLOAD: Small Black – Photojournalist

IDM (or Intelligent Dance Music) often gets a bad rap for being masturbatory and unnecessarily obscure. However, a few special acts can transcend the norm and create true feeling through electronics. Such is the case with Vancouver’s Teen Daze. Check out some of our favorite songs below including a cover of fellow Vancouverite’s Japandroids.

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DOWNLOAD: Teen Daze – Wet Hair (Japandroids Cover)

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DOWNLOAD: Fol Chen – The Holograms (Teen Daze Remix) [via: kaaate]

BONUS: The conceptual gem “Driving Home from the Beach (The Feeling of)” embodies its title perfectly.

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DOWNLOAD: Teen Daze – Driving Home from the Beach (The Feeling of)

It’s always a difficult and polarizing task to attempt to pick a favorite song amongst a plethora of good music. However, if someone were to walk up to me right now and ask me to do such a task, I would immediately mention Clive Tanaka y su orquestra‘s “Neu Chicago”.

It has a little bit of the lo-fi sound characteristic of indie-rock, the driving beat of dance music, steel drums bringing the tropical summer, the essence of chillwave, and the lovey dovey guy-girl vocals of pop music. When this song isn’t playing in the apartment or the car it’s playing in my head. Enjoy.

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DOWNLOAD: Clive Tanaka y su orquestra – Neu Chicago

BONUS: Also very good.

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DOWNLOAD: Clive Tanaka y su orquesta – I Want You (So Bad)

After highlighting Bishop Morocco last week, it’s about time we pay some attention to another homegrown Toronto talent, Young Empires. Their sound is a complicated blend of classic indie rock, tropical/tribal rhythms, and electronic/dance music that sounds like a more modern and relevant Friendly Fires. We’ve been listening to them for weeks now and their songs simply haven’t lost any of their original excitement/sheen.

It’s really very good. Highly recommended.

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DOWNLOAD: Young Empires – Glory of the Night

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DOWNLOAD: Young Empires – White Doves

In our ongoing search for great products for everyday, we came across Murdock London’s Matt Mudd Grooming Clay on an apt suggestion. The UK-based heritage barber shop has a handful of shops around the city including one inside Liberty. Check it out for an experience foreign to our generation – a glass of scotch over some well-paced conversation, a haircut and a wet shave.

Their Grooming Clay is one of the best pomade-like styling aids on the market. It gives a subtle finish and manages to look natural the next day for the man on the go. It’s available among a multitude of their products in the Murdock London Online Shop.

Also, check out their Gentlemen’s Blog.