Love and understanding - Cher

Love and understanding - Cher

I have been postponing this post for a while now, as I had more fitting songs to share with you, but finally its time has come! I'd say that my relationship with Cher's music has kicked off great, I am really enjoying her collection and many songs sound familiar, even if I don't remember of ever listening to them... well, whatever. This is another girl that struck me quite soon and I already find myself singing it out loud with satisfaction when it plays! I hope I'm gonna restrain myself a bit tomorrow on the plane... yeah, about that, the news is that I'm going to visit my musically inspiring friend in Bruxelles for the weekend, leaving tomorrow. I hope I'll be able to post regularly over the weekend, regularly meaning every day, but I can't assure that...! Worst case scenario, I'll be back with you on Monday!

The hanging tree - Jennifer Lawrence

Three fingers kissing the mouth and being raised. Four notes whistled. One more mumbled. Mmmmmh. "I’m a princess cut from marble, smoother than a storm..."

The hanging tree - Jennifer Lawrence

Rings a bell? Well, if not... I have been to the cinema tonite to watch Hunger Games n°3, i.e. Mockingjay part 1. I'm still recovering from the experience, listening to Yellow flicker beat on repeat, trying to match Lorde's notes (and failing). But the one thing that struck me the most is this one I'm posting now. I had watched a few friends posting it on Facebook in the past days, but I didn't check it out as I didn't want to ruin the surprise for myself. And well I did. The scene with Katniss singing this song is quite amazing and powerful, probably one of the best in the whole movie (which, let's say it, is not so full of meaningful action and doesn't make much sense watched without the second part, which is going to come next year). I remembered this song from when I read the books sooner this year, but for sure it got a new power on screen. I'll post it here for you, but if you haven't watched the movie yet and are going to, I suggest you don't listen to it now, rather go watch the movie and then listen to it (on repeat).
Because if you enter the room singing Yellow flicker beat in your head, you'll come out of it singing this one. (Well, maybe both)!

Heart skipped a beat - The XX

Heart skipped a beat - The XX

I have been spiraling back into the XX mood in the last couple of days, don't remember exactly how or why, I remember it happened through the song Infinity, which has then kept coming back to me, but also thru others, such as this awesome one. I have a peculiar story of this song, as it is one of the last I started liking from their debut album, which I fell in love with at the beginning of 2013, when I approached them. Intro, Crystalised, Infinity, Stars and so on, one by one they each found a special place inside my heart. But not Heart skipped a beat. I mean, this song already stands out on its own, as it's the only one with a title longer than one or two words in their discography. I don't know why it went unobserved for a while, but then the magic happened: the last stop of the Study Tour, the amazing two weeks I spent in the US doing a field project on the influence of music on the Midwest society, was New Orleans and I vividly remember entering a frozen yogurt place with a few friends that were on the trip with me, one of those places where you can put all kinds of stuff on the yogurt (yummy!), and after I started eating my yogurt this song played on the radio, followed by one of Phoenix, which I started listening to in that same period. It really struck me, and since then Hsab found its own special place in my heart too.

Bad things - Jace Everett

Bad things - Jace Everett

Being in that time of one's life between giving in the thesis and discussing/defending it, I have loads of free time. And by loads, I mean the whole day. Ok, I confess, today I have started getting a few slides ready for the discussion time, but aside that I'm mainly devoting my time to video games, reading, swimming, yoga, spending time with relatives, receiving tickets for "high speed" (thank you Milan municipality, thanks a lot) and, mainly and mostly, watching TV series. I have (with utmost regret) finished watching the first two seasons of Orange is the new black, and I'll be eagerly waiting for the third. After that I started watching a series that has now ended permanently, i.e. True blood. I mean, after two seasons I still haven't understood how they could keep up a show with: a not-pretty starring female character, a not-pretty-to-quite-ugly and gloomy starring male character, the most unnervingly stupidest character ever (the brother of the protagonist) and the usual tales of vampires vs werewolves vs humans vs other supernatural creatures vs whatever. The funny thing is that at times, well, let's say often, I find myself eager to go on watching, as the plot is quite flowing and, I confess again, there are a few hotties and a few interesting characters! Well, as usual one of the things that I love the most about the show is the opening song, so here it is!! Go on and do real bad things with your loved ones!

#sundayrevival Sono il tuo sogno eretico - Caparezza

Sono il tuo sogno eretico - Caparezza

Almost got to 2000 +1s on the blog, this is the 400th post... loads of milestones reached in these days! To celebrate I will do something I don't do often, i.e. post Italian music. I was about to get into the shower a couple days ago and I was picking the music to listen to, when my eyes fell on a playlist I made about the time when I went to Stockholm with my friends in March 2011. Playing the songs in random order, this is the first one that turned out. It's probably my favourite song by Caparezza, an Italian (kind of) rapper. I will start by saying that I don't like rap, it quite bothers me on average, but Caparezza is not the "standard" kind of rapper, his songs have more melodic elements even in the verses and, well... don't give me headaches! His lyrics are just genius, so brilliant, can't help loving them. He's one of the few Italian singers I listen to gladly, have been to one concert of his too and... well he's just great! I hope you can appreciate this song, it's an awesome one out of his 2011 album and it talks about historical figures (such as Joan of Arc & Giordano Bruno) who went on to be burned at the stake by the church in middle ages because of their beliefs and theories. The great thing about it is that he plays on the assonance of heretic and erotic, as the title of the song in English would be something like "I'm your heretic dream". Just great.

Running up that hill - Kate Bush

Running up that hill - Kate Bush

Lately I have been giving another try to Kate Bush by listening to her best of 'The whole story'. I have been knowing a couple of her most famous songs for a while now, and I also already had listened to the album a few times some time ago at the end of last year. I think her songs are really modern and they paved the way for the music of many other artists I love. This is one of her most famous songs I wasn't really familiar with before I started listening to her with more attention, and it has also never been one of my favourites; yet I found myself singing it in my mind and out loud in the last few days, for sure it's a great one to post and I told myself: why not? Why wait? Let's get down that road and then up that hill for no reason!

Little bit - Lykke Li

Little bit - Lykke Li

Winter has come and in turn it's time for wintery songs!! Well, to tell the truth I've been listening to this one for a while now, but Lykke's whole debut album has kind of a northern beat, so I think it fits well with the new season. As I've said many times, I really really don't enjoy the cold, one of the few good things about it is that there are many songs I enjoy best at this time of year, as they remind me of it. The fact that most of them are very deep and soul is not casual, but it's one of the kinds of music I love the most so... here it is!

If I could turn back time - Cher

If I could turn back time - Cher

This morning I woke up with a Cher vibe and, given that her best of is one of the albums I'm listening to in these days, it's nothing unexpected. The more unexpected thing (well, not really unexpected, more shocking let's say) was that I had to wake up early to go to my appointment with the teeth doctor so that I could have my stitches removed. Well, besides the usual disorganization of the Italian public structure, it was not really a pleasing experience but finally I will be able to open my mouth normally in a few days! When I got home I started playing a bit of Cher, and well... this song rang a bell already the first time I listened to it, meaning that it was probably not the first time I heard it in my life! Anyway, hope you'll enjoy!

To bring you my love - PJ Harvey

To bring you my love - PJ Harvey

Ok, it's time for another great great song. I know this post won't be popular, and I'm sorry, but it is the music I love and the whole point of this blog is for me to share the music I love! I've got to know PJ Harvey thanks to the guys of the Italian Alanis Morissette forum, who also got me close to Tori Amos (goodness bless them for your influence)! I have approached PJ in 2010 and something happened with her that doesn't normally happen when I approach new music: I liked her debut album instantly. She's the one I started to approach with a rigorous chronological order and I think this helped me appreciate her even more, given the great difference that exists between her albums... seeing her evolutionary path really helps you get the best out of her music. Together with her debut, Dry, my most favourite album of her is the one titled after this song. I've been growing a special link with this album, as I always (and I mean always) use it as soundtrack when I'm practicing yoga with Wii Fit: today I started doing yoga again after more than one year, and I also started to listen to this awesome album again. Most people don't like it, I know, and I wouldn't expect anyone to understand how it fits with yoga (I don't understand it myself), but... here it is, and I enjoy it immensely and that's what matters!

I lived - OneRepublic

I lived - OneRepublic

Sooo here I am! Nice gig last nice, but the critiques first: I know, I expected a setlist filled with songs out of Native (it's called Native tour), but this doesn't change the fact that I have been a bit disappointed with the setlist itself, as I didn't grow very fond of it, even more than one year after its release. There are a very few songs that I really like and are up to the (very, very high) standard they set with their first two albums, and I enjoyed them (a lot) during the concert. One of them is this I lived, their latest single and one of the most liked songs by the audience. Most of the other songs they played out of Native left me with a ... meeeh feeling. I mean, ok, nice, but insipid, tasteless, they didn't leave a mark on me. Apart from that, Ryan is a great great singer, the guys play greatly, so nothing to say on their qualities and on the set. Just... choose better songs next time!

Milan audience 17.11.2014

Take to the sky (Russia) - Tori Amos

Take to the sky (Russia) - Tori Amos

Well, it's concert day today! And, guess what? I'm not posting about OneRepublic...! I sure will have more chances to share with you a couple of my favourite songs of them, but today I'll give you something different. I just got pervaded with a need to listen to this song, have no idea why or how. Well, it's Tori, I won't even wonder, her songs are so powerful that you don't need logical reasons to feel connected to them, you just do. I just do, at least.
This is one of my favourite Tori songs, one of the first she has ever written I believe, it was on the original setlist of Little earthquakes but was then removed (together with Flying dutchman) after the record label asked her to work on a few more songs for her debut album. I mean, how could any sane-of-heart-and-mind person want this song out of an album? It is one of the mysteries of the music history, thanks goodness we got the chance to enjoy it anyway, as it ended up being a b-side for Winter and then was featured again on A piano: the collection! I've had the luck to listen to it live during my first Tori concert in 2010, and then she did it again this past June. I can never get enough of this song, it really does take me to the sky. It will take you too, I'm sure!

If I lose myself - OneRepublic

If I lose myself - OneRepublic

Well, I think you have seen this coming: tomorrow is concert's day, the last time for this 2014! Of course it's OneRepublic time and I have been listening to them while driving to Milan. Notwithstanding the fact that I didn't really fall in love with their latest album Native, at least not as much as with its two predecessors, the one song I have on my mind now is one of the first released out of it. I wanted to pick an older song and make a sundayrevival post out of it, but I just decided to build on the momentum and to give Native another chance! After releasing Feel it all (which I really liked) a lot in advance with respect to the album, they released this song as the first single, right before the release of the album. At first I have not been particularly keen on it, and still it's not nearly among my favourites of them, but... it's the one I'm singing in my head now!

Whataya want from me - Adam Lambert

Whataya want from me - Adam Lambert

After assimilating Adam's first album entirely, it's time to move on to new music, but not before a couple more posts. It is quite a weird moment for me musically: the pain in my mouth doesn't make me willing to waste time in front of the computer, so I've not really been listening to many tunes this past week, plus I have been mainly focusing on my existing playlists and on old (for my taste) albums, not going to explore new stuff. As a consequence I am pretty much stuck, and things are not expected to move soon: between my slightly increasing pain and the coming OneRepublic concert, it's not likely that the music I have on my queue will appear here soon, but bear with me through this difficult moment and we'll shine with new light soon! In the meantime enjoy Adam and this saturday night of yours, which most likely is gonna turn out better than mine!

Ghost - Antony & the Johnsons

Ghost - Antony & the Johnsons

Today it goes like this... we've been having a lot of consecutive days of rain here in northern Italy and lots of overflowing has happened, also here next to where I live. It's not an easy time for the relationship between Italy and the weather, especially concerning water pouring down from the sky without pause. Today finally we got a break (it's gonna start again soon though), a glimpse of sun among the grey clouds reached the land, but most of the leaves on the trees have fallen and the light is the classic autumn light, which always puts me in a kind of depressed mood, especially with darkness coming so soon... Adding this to my not being super well (thanks, missing teeth), I don't have many reasons for rejoicing these days. This brought me to wanting to listen to Antony & the Johnsons, who work quite well for that time of year! Given that I have posted already the song I wanted to post, I'll leave you with this beautiful Ghost!

Secrets - OneRepublic

Secrets - OneRepublic

Day 3 of balloon face, things are not going better for the time being, rather... but I hope that starting tomorrow the swallowing will start to withdraw and the aching will diminish. Today I spent the whole afternoon sleeping again after taking the painkiller, seems like it does have a strong narcotic effect on me... and I confess I don't mind sleeping my way through it! Anyway, I really hope that I'm gonna get better soon, as my last concert of the year is getting closer and closer, it's just a few days until OneRepublic come to Milan and I wanna be ready and healthy, especially after queueing with a fever for the other concert I went to last month...! In the meantime, I'll just give all my secrets away...!

You're never fully dressed without a smile - Sia

You're never fully dressed without a
smile - Sia

Just to be consistent with the theme of mouth, teeth and stuff, here is another song that I've been listening to lately! For the soundtrack of the coming movie based on the musical Annie, Sia recorded her version of this song, which I quite enjoyed, even if I didn't know it before. Smiling properly is something that I can't really manage now, given my teeth-removal balloon-face condition, but let's say that you don't need your mouth to smile, you can also do it with other parts of your body! Or with emoticons! :)

White teeth teens - Lorde

White teeth teens - Lorde

Tough day today! Got to the hospital early in the morning (too early for my sleeping time, I got something like 3 hours of sleep) to have my wisdom teeth removed. All of them. Yay! Luckily enough I've been the first one in of the three people that were there, so soon into the operating room, and soon out, around lunchtime. It's not been very comfortable since that, with ice on my cheeks (especially on the left one, that damn bastard below that caused all this fuss), no eating, no sleeping... well the worst part of it all has been all the blood flooding from the stitched up cuts, now I feel like a real vampire and I'm not sure I'm glad about it! Finally I got home in the afternoon, took a nice sleep until now and also the blood is starting to stop flooding. Guess that the next thing I need to "worry about" is the balloon face that I'm gonna get in the next few days, but... there's nothing I can do! The weirdest thing is that they warned me I could have had a few problems with lips sensitivity as one of the teeth was close to the nerve; yet what I got since I came out of the operating room is a tingling in my left pinkie... hope it's gonna turn out well!
For Lorde White teeth teens are out, for my white teen teeth are out. We each have our own!

Try not to breathe - R.E.M.

Try not to breathe - R.E.M.

I have been going to the swimming pool today, big strength of will put in play to get out of the bed, get the stuff ready and get going, under the rain... yeah ok, I drove to the pool, so it was not so hard, but it's just the idea... anyway, while driving the short (but busy) road, I got the chance to listen to a few (great) songs. The last one I listened to today is this one, which started when I was already back in my garage (which, by the way, has been in full dark for a few days now, it looks like the set of a horror movie)! I have been deeply in love with this song since I started listening to 'Automatic for the people' (R.E.M.'s best album imho) back in 2011, and I chose it as one of the (for now) two songs that I wish will be played at my funeral, as the lyrics are very meaningful to me. Sad thought? Well, maybe... but it's nice to have a few songs that you feel represent you so much that you would like people to listen to them and remember you, isn't it?

#sundayrevival Believe - Cher

Believe - Cher

Well... this is gonna be one of the most enjoyed sundayrevivals I think, especially by those pop and dance lovers out there who never despise a nice good song from the 90s! I have been developing my relationship with Cher especially thanks to my thesis: my knowledge of her songs moved from just this one and Strong enough (which are so similar I tend to swap them) to something more, as I am now approaching (one of) her best of collection(s). I mentioned my thesis because one of the things I'm most proud about it is that I have inserted a screenshot of the price category division of one of hers concerts in the US. And of course at the top of the image there is her, wearing a police-hat. I mean, how cool is it to have a sorta S&M Cher in your master thesis?!

Dance dance dance - Lykke Li

Dance dance dance - Lykke Li

I have been talking about Lykke Li with A, one of my dearest followers, and since I have recently been listening to her debut album, the last one of hers I still missed, it makes sense to write a post about her, doesn't it?! I must confess this is the album of hers I liked the least, but given how much I liked the other two, that doesn't mean I didn't like it! Well... there are a few tunes I've been having a hard time with and I still haven't figured them out completely, but some others... are good! I think I'll be posting another couple in the next future probably, so stay tuned for more!

Staring at the sun - Anastacia

Will I ever post this? I've been wondering that for a long time until... now (well, a few minutes ago) I found out that the video for this song HAD been actually released! I've been waiting for it for the longest time!! I can't believe that us fans didn't get no notification of the release of the video, which in fact has very few views on YouTube too... Ok, I must admit it, the video itself ain't great, but at least it would've been nice to know it was out there... anyway, after months (and I'm not joking, it's really been since that time last summer when I told you that I had many songs ready for posting) of having this one as draft, it is finally ready to go out! Well, it won't mind waiting a few hours more, as I have just published the last post about Sheppard, so this will see the light a short while after the time of writing, hope you enjoy the song, it's quite great, video... well, it's meh, but let's say it can be liked.

Well, a little more time has past, as I also posted the Adam Lambert song this (yesterday, actually) afternoon. But FINALLY the time has come for Anastacia!! Let's go!!

Sleepwalker - Adam Lambert

Sleepwalker - Adam Lambert

For the series: "Songs that I had on my mind when I woke up this morning", here is another post! Not what I meant to post this afternoon (this time it's even more true as I already had another post ready, one which I've been putting on hold for months and now keeps on waiting, but its time is gonna come soon...!). No, now it's Adam Lambert's time again. Come on people, it's friday afternoon! TGIF! Weekend is coming! And this from somebody who hasn't been getting out of home all week!!! And who is not about to do anything crazy tonite, but I'm sure YOU are going to!! The time is yours, the weekend is yours, don't be a sleepwalker like me, go out and rock the world!!

This electric feeling - Sheppard

This electric feeling - Sheppard

It's been a tough choice... one step back first though. Once again I'm referring back to yesterday's post, and this is the other song I wanted to post. Better, the band I wanted to post. As I have been reaaally struggling to pick one (more) song of them to post! First of all I have to say that this is really positive, as after Geronimo I was scared that they were a 1-hit band, while they're not. Their album is quite good, very enjoyable and the other songs are strong too. That's why I've been having difficulties in choosing which one to post today! I'm not saying I won't post the other girls who were competing for today's spot, but well... you never know! This electric feeling that I got listening to this one took over me anyway and here it is! Enjoy!

You've got time - Regina Spektor

You've got time - Regina Spektor

I have mentioned it to you yesterday, I have stuff for you, gooood stuff! While eating my lunch today (late lunch I dare say, it was past 3 PM) I finished watching the first season of Orange is the new black! Things are getting messy and I can't wait to carry on with the second season, as the show is quite catchy. It took a while to start, maybe the whole season, but I'm quite sure I like it quite a lot now! One of the things I've been loving the most is, of course, the opening song by Regina Spektor, which I already knew as some friends suggested I should listen to it while they were watching the series a while ago, so I did and I liked it. Needless to say, I'm liking it even more now that I have associated it with the show!

Cedarwood road - U2

Cedarwood road - U2

This morning I woke up with this song on my mind... don't know why, I don't even remember if I even listened to it today! I was thinking about what to post now and I was just about to make up my mind about another band, which I'll probably post tomorrow... I also have another song to post, related to a TV series I'm watching, but I want to wait until I get to the end of the first season, which is probably gonna happen tomorrow or the day after... so I'm quite ready for the next couple of days! Focusing on today, this is a further confirmation of how much I liked U2's latest album, and it is also connected to me listening to War while taking a bath this afternoon... it's always amazing how that album reminds me immediately of the time I spent in Montréal...

Sure fire winners - Adam Lambert

Sure fire winners - Adam Lambert

Getting to something more recent (in terms of my playlist, but also in terms of release time) for today's post! I have got to know Adam Lambert... well, I don't exactly remember how! What I do remember is that I have been listening to the compilation of the covers he recorded while participating in American Idol and I really liked them, so I decided to listen to his debut album too and well... quite a lot of time has past, but I am enjoying it pretty much I must say, more than I expected maybe! It's a very enjoyable pop, not as dancey or trashy as I expected, so kudos to Adam, who is now touring with Queen, quite remarkable, not an easy task to take Freddie's place! This Sure fire winners is one of the songs I fell for first and is the opener of my current playlist, I'm sure you will all enjoy it very much!

Paranoid and sunburnt medley (Rise up - 100 ways to be a good girl - Little baby swastikkka) - Skunk Anansie

Paranoid and sunburnt medley -
Skunk Anansie

Going on with the few songs worth posting from my recent playlists, tonight I want to feature Skin's band on the blog, as I have been recently listening to their debut album recently and well... I didn't really fall in love with it, but with time I came to like a few songs on it. It is really hard for me to pick one representative, as there is no one song that stood out among the ones featured on the album, so I decided... why not pick up a few of them? Let's experiment a bit with non-standard posting!


Rise up - this one is probably my favourite song on the album in terms of melody and music, so it deserves a mention here.

100 ways to be a good girl is the choice in terms of lyrics ("I know 100 ways to be a good girl, still I'm alone, I'm alone, I'm alone").

Little baby swastikkka lays a bit in between, it struck me because of the strength of the message it carries, and it is also musically catchy at one point.

#sundayrevival Everybody's changing - Keane

Everybody's changing - Keane

After a few weeks of super strong commitment to the thesis, the time is right for letting go a little bit: everything seems to be good in my paper and more than a week before the deadline I only have to write a couple of conclusion pages and check that everything works smoothly! It feels like going back to normality a bit, usual Sunday with the family at grandma's... it's so weird, especially in these months of limbo, being not a student anymore but nothing else yet either, so many changes expected to happen in the next future under the professional point of view... and not only, changes are probably gonna happen in other fields too. I am a bit shocked when I come to think that my whole life will most likely change in the next year, roots ripped off the ground and well... I'm been subconsciously getting ready for that for quite a bit now, but thinking straight about it still makes me feel a bit of.... anguish. It's what I want anyway, a fresh start is something I could use and I'm ready, I will be ready...! In the end change is the only constant of life and you can never take things for granted too much, lucky me that I am usually able to fit into new situations quite quickly! Thinking about it, an album called "Hopes & Fears" works perfectly for today, and so does this (great great) song on it!

Ocean girl - Neil Young

Ocean girl - Neil Young

After Lorde yesterday, it's time for me to get back and post a few other good songs from my recent playlists that went a little bit unnoticed but are nonetheless worthy of posting. Today I'm devoting a little space of one of the bigs of last century's (and also current) music history, i.e. Mr. Neil Young. I'm slowly going through his discography and I must confess that the last albums I've been listening to did not excite me as much as some of the very first did, but I'm confident I will find more great stuff soon! Yet it would be unfair to say that none of the last things I've been checking out didn't leave any mark: this is one of these songs that are not "loud" but that one tends to go back and listen with pleasure every time, so here it stands as a representative for Neil Young's mid-70s repertoire!

Yellow flicker beat - Lorde

Yellow flicker beat - Lorde

I guess you can say I feel good again by the fact that my posting has trespassed yet again, this time not only the limit of the 24h solar day, but also of the month! Screw that, posting at this time is the best, even if it gets less interaction, it's more genuine, it's me at my most active! Well, maybe not really...! Now I'm feeling quite sleepy... but I know what to post, I've been knowing for a while and, well... it's one of these awesome times in life when all pieces of the puzzle fall into their place! I think I've been telling myself at least 3 or 4 times: "Hey, come on! You didn't even post Yellow flicker beat yet! It's well about time..." and well, today is just about time. Perfection stemmed from the fact that I have just finished (re)-watching Catching fire with my friend E, so what better moment? (Keep into account that I have created the fourth playlist since this song came to me, so it waited quite a while!)

"This is the red, orange, yellow flicker beat sparking up my heart"

EDIT: Updated with official music video (which is awesoooome)!