This seems like the perfect song to close the year!
"I will never sing again and you won't work another day,
I will never sing again, with just one wave it goes away
It'll be our swan song..."
Swan song - Lana del Rey
Putting a closure to all the things that I don't wanna carry forward from this 2015 - a large part of Lana's new album being among those (not this song though) - I really feel like I'm singing the swan song! And what else can I say...? A lot of things actually. I think 2015 has been the year I had been waiting for since 2011, maybe sooner, under some point of view. I broke through many things I really needed to break through, I got a great, great year in music (the best of the last few), a new album by Florence + the Machine (last one was indeed in 2011), I started working (and finished already for now), understood one more path I don't wanna walk, possibly directing myself towards one I would like to walk, who knows if I'll get the chance to...! It's been the year I almost moved abroad for an indefinite period of time, but also the year I open the door of South East Asia for the first time. It's the year I started spending again much more time alone, travelling alone both for work (kind of alone) and for pleasure, and I must confess I didn't dislike a single bit of it. Yeah ok, apart from the going back and forth to Veneto and to Bangkok, and everything, but I didn't dislike being alone, I've had many things to do: the blog to take care of, Japanese studies to bring forward, TV series to watch and more...! Ironically 2015 has also been the year I got to know much more new people, most probably a lot of people that I will never see again in my life (many colleagues, all the people that travelled with me thanks to Blablacar and some other new acquaintances), so a lot of pretty superficial connections... is it normal? I think that at this point of my life it is, being out of school and not sticking to a job for too long, it's ok. All in all I think 2015 has been the year when I finally became an adult, and also the year I understood that being an adult mostly sucks, as I already suspected!! I guess Lana came to this same conclusion... "Why you work so hard when you could just be free?"
Anyway I'm ready to take it to the next level in 2016, or maybe I'll just be stuck or even go back... who knows? What I know is that I'm excited (and anxious and a little frightened, but let's focus on the excited part!) to face all the new challenges that will appear on my path and to discover a whole lot of new things and places and people! Happy 2016 to you all, I wish you the best. Cheers!
It usually takes me a little while for me to get ready and make this kind of decisions... the best album of the whole year, it's not so easy to say most of the time! In a year like 2014 the fight has been tight till the end... this year instead the winner was already kind of expected and what can I say... it even exceeded the expectations. I think I haven't been feeling any music as strongly as I did with 'How big, how blue, how beautiful' for at least 3-4 years. So many great songs on it, there's just a couple that I have not been overly excited about, but it happened with previous Florence + the Machine albums too. This doesn't take anything away from the greatness of their music, from the reverence that I rightfully devote to this woman and her fellow musicians. Their music is a perfect example of the incredible effect that music can have on our lives and of the reason why I started writing this blog. I cannot be thankful enough to them for sharing their art and work with us.
Runner-ups (Best album 2015)
But 2015 has been indeed a great year for music not only thanks to F+tM. There has been plenty of other albums that I've felt strongly and which have left a mark on me. Among others, I need to mention Kodaline, Of Monsters and Men, Carmen Consoli and Leona Lewis. Yet two albums in particular have been one step above the others to me, and (be it a coincidence or not), they are by artists that I have recently seen / will see in the next future live in concert. The first one in chronological order is Imagine Dragons' sophomore 'Smoke + mirrors', through which they absolutely confirmed of being one of the greatest new bands around: great music once again and a big following, I foresee a bright future for them and I'm happy about it. The other album, which would've probably won this year's contest if it weren't for Florence, is Foals' 'What went down'. I have been utterly in love with their 2013 'Holy fire' and I think that this new work is almost (if not) on the same level with it! Their songs have been the (only) ones able to make me detach from HBHBHB a few weeks after it came out, so thanks to them for putting a stop to my obsession (and giving me a whole new one)!! I really can't wait to see them live next month!
A few words about a couple of disappointments: Mumford & Sons and Lana del Rey. I have absolutely loved the Mumfords' first two albums, but I can't really process this new stuff they have put out... I just found a couple good songs on their album and that's it. I have completely forgotten about the rest. For Lana the situation is not very different: I have absolutely loved 'Ultraviolence' and I really had high expectations about 'Honeymoon', expectations that were mostly unmet. I know her music always takes a while to get under my skin, but a while has passed and I have only been able to feel some 4-5 songs (to be optimistic) on the whole album. Maybe she should have waited a little longer, anyway let's see if my relationship with it will change next year.
This is all for 2015, I can just say goodbye to this awesome year in music with the hope for many, many more like it in the future!
The year has almost come to an end and I wanna take a further chance to post music by what has been my favourite new discovery of 2015, i.e. Junip. After finally watching the Walter Mitty movie after people had been suggesting I should watch it for quite a while, I have been enchanted by their debut album 'Fields', both the album itself and the CD2, which practically consists of a couple of their previous EPs. I cannot recommend them enough, I can't wait to listen to their newer album released in 2013 and then finally start to approach Jose Gonzales's solo music. This last Junip post of 2015 is 'Without you', a beautiful, beautiful song off the CD1 of 'Fields'; I chose for you an astounding performance live on KEXP, so that I take another chance to thank the guys who work there and give us the opportunity to enjoy such great performances of live music! Go on and listen to it now, before it's too late!!!
The year is coming to an end, I keep postponing things I have to do, but today I have been doing some of those I have indeed been postponing for quite a long time. Better close it off before the end of the year, right? One of the few things I'm not gonna be able to close off is posting all the nice songs that I have been cumulating in these last few weeks of 2015 and that are claiming a little space on the blog! One by one I hope I'll get to them all, so let's keep it up with Antony & the Johnsons, whose debut album I started listening to more than one month and half ago, but whose songs I still have in my playlists! I've been enjoying their debut quite a lot, and this is one of the last songs I came to appreciate, yet it ended up being one of my favourites! Divine!
I guess if you don't know this song by its title, most likely you have heard it around in TV ads or on the radio... I know I did, and I also know that the more I'm listening to Cher, the more I'm liking her music! I got to the second CD of her "Very best" and after a few plays, I'm already in the groove! Needless to say, this is the song I've already been enjoying the most as I already knew it from before! Get ready to get some more Cher on the way, even though it's probably gonna be next year already! I gotta start preparing my review of this very, very fruitful 2015 in music! Stay tuned!
I think I'm about to explode...! This past two days have been pretty tough on me and my stomach, I haven't stopped eating since yesterday at lunch and I've stuffed down everything I could, especially a more abundant share of desserts and cakes than I should have! I'm ready to take a pause now, it's just a pity that my swimming pool is closed until the end of the holidays, as I could really use some physical activity! Anyway, it's been nice spending time with the family and creating the usual, nice christmasy atmosphere. It's particularly hard for me to stop this year (and will be even more after the holidays end at the beginning of January) because I really have no idea what I'm gonna be doing in the next months. I should be excited for the things I have going on and for the possibility of shaping my future, and I will be, but I am also anxious and worried, as I can't not be. All in all, I'm sure that whatever will come around next will be in one way or another a useful lesson and/or a great time to enjoy. I wanna take the chance to say thank you for everything I've learned this year, the hard times and also the rewarding times; I wanna say thank you to myself for being able to finally grow, become an adult and take a lot of stuff to the next level.
I am kind of at a loss being here and needing to choose a song to post... I have posted a lot of Florence + the Machine lately, so I can't keep on; the problem is that in the last 3 days I've been only listening to them, mainly to their new album. The impact of the concert on my relationship with it has brought me to a level close to obsession, and I understand I need to break free (but I keep indulging...)! Anyway, yesterday I've been busy organizing and enjoying my usual xmas dinner with friends and it's been nice to be together, even for just a few hours. Then today I mainly cleaned up the leftovers of yesterday and prepared a little more sushi for tomorrow, as I already had the ingredients ready. I've not been feeling great in the last few days, and tonight I feel especially weak and ready-for-the-flu. Let's see how I'm gonna wake up tomorrow...! Maybe Santa Claus will spread some magic powder on me and make me feel well again! So as to catch two birds with one stone I am posting an Enya song off my former playlist (I'm lagging behind with posting, I know...), as she always puts on that kind of christmasy atmosphere! Wish you a great xmas eve and holidays and everything!
My goodness... very rarely did I have to wait a few hours before writing a post that I had ready in my heart and (used to have ready) in my head for quite a long time. I noticed that the biggest highlight off 'How big, how blue, how beautiful' that I still hadn't posted here was 'Third eye', and I already knew I would post it in conjunction with the Florence and the Machine concert I've been waiting for SO LONG. But, my dears... I am messed up. I am messed up because of last night and I am just starting to realise it now and I don't know how much time it's gonna take me to get back on my feet. Hopefully it's holidays time and I will have other things to think about, but... my goodness. Last night right after the concert I just said to myself "Wow, once again what a great concert I've been to!". But now... after I drove back to my hometown with my friends, had lunch with them and got home alone, the whole mess in my head started. Apart from the fact that I've been having this song in my head since last night, so that's an even more compelling reason why I am posting it now... I keep on listening to all the songs, one after the other, than the first one again, then another one... How big how blue how beautiful, Queen of peace, Third eye... unbelievable. Let alone when I think about last night's 'Cosmic love', the first time in my life I've seen a whole arena fall silent in the middle of a song, when she paused singing for a few seconds... how intimate, how powerful, how simple, how fantastic. And then I started watching the videos of the concert... goodness gracious, I teared up again while watching HBHBHB, all of us with our blue balloons in hand... I started jumping around the house with the balloon I still have from yesterday, almost crying tears of joy and excitement. And then Long & lost, Mother... I'm gonna stop now because I realise none of you will still be reading at this point. All these words just to say that I am speechless after last night. This is the power of music. I feel alive. I feel my life is worth it.
"You don't have to be a ghost, here amongst the living.
You are flesh and blood,
And you deserve to be loved and you deserve what you are given!"
I couldn't find an album version, so I'm sharing with you the live debut of 'Third eye', a beautiful performance whose video came out a few months before the album was actually released.
I've been waiting for this moment for about 3 years and it has finally (almost) come! Tomorrow Flo and her band will perform in Milan! I'm still arranging details with my friends, as unfortunately we have two groups of tickets in front of each other at the two opposite sides of the stage, but that's just coincidental! I am quite excited about it all, I've already got in the "totally-Flo" mood yesterday and today I had to take a break because I was consuming my enthusiasm and energies already, a bit too soon! But I'm fully charged up for tomorrow, can't wait to have an amazing night and to sing my lungs out! Speaking of lungs, this is an awesome one off their debut album. Awesome.
I think you guys can get a rough idea of what point of my life I am at by the timing of my posts... since I stopped working about 2 weeks ago, I feel like I immediately starting crossing the midnight barrier incredibly often!! Well, that's it and I can't deny I've been feeling very, very well in this past two weeks, I really needed this break to preserve my well-being and I'm happy I went and got it. So, here I am, back in Milan, had dinner with a couple of dear friends and then took a gelato in my favourite gelateria (notwithstanding the cold outside) and got back home, hung my freshly-washed clothes and watched the last episode of The Leftovers season 2. I meant to post this song and, well... given how it ended, I think it really does make perfect sense.
While I was driving and thriving all around Lanzarote, I found a radio station ('La top cuarenta') that was putting on some non-spanish music, like Top-40 hits and so and it's been quite enjoyable! In the short time I've been driving I got to listen to two Sia songs, the first single off her upcoming album, 'Alive' and my favourite song off her previous album, 'Elastic heart' (which has been, coincidentally, my best song of 2014... we are almost at the end of the year, so stay tuned for this year's winners soon!). I've been greatly enjoying listening to those songs on the radio, as it means she got the success she deserves. This is another very nice tune out of her upcoming album, which should be out in about a month. Hope you enjoy it as much as I enjoyed my time here, which unfortunately has come to an end... I'll write again from the gray and cold Milan tomorrow. Have a great night!
I am watching the second season of 'The leftovers' and I'm loving how I cannot explain right away what the hell is happening and what the characters are thinking and why they are behaving like they do, so multiple levels of interpretation and I think also multiple possible interpretations of things on the same level... a mess. I also took a walk on the seaside under the stars, as I needed to get out and breathe some air and being in contact with nature like this is always mesmerizing and beautiful. All of this brings me to the song that was playing at the end of the episode I just watched, in which I recognised Regina's voice. Searching for it, I realised it is out the first album of hers I listened to ('Far'), and also the one I didn't listen to ever after. Gotta give it a chance in the near future, in the meanwhile let's just remember that we're not laughing to god, but...
After a long and all-in-all satisfying full-day tour of Lanzarote, I got back to the hotel, had dinner and came back to my room. Driving up and down the hills and mountains of the island from south to north and back has been a bit tiring but it was called for. Some of the places I've seen were quite worth it, some others not so much and most of them anywhere lay in between the awesome and the "meeeh", so good to see but not unforgettable. The highlights are anyway always linked to the sea, and the tides are one part of it that struggled me quite a lot: the beach near my hotel at night gets some 20-30 meters longer, maybe more! It's impressive how the ocean retreats and advances, I'm not used to it as the Mediterranean is a closed sea and the tide events are not so significant! Probably Junip are more used to open waters than me!
You might remember how I'm not a big fan of Lana's last work. I still retain my opinion, but this is another one of the few exceptions! I really like this short song, I love the lyrics (don't know if they're hers or if they're a quote from some piece of poetry or else; EDIT: yes, just found out they're from a work of T.S. Eliot called indeed 'Burnt Norton'), so tonite I'm leaving you with this!
"What might have been and what has been point to one end, which is always present. Footfalls echo in the memory down the passage which we did not take, towards the door we never opened, into the rose garden."
Don't ask me why, but I found this song (that I absolutely love) in my head this morning, and thus I went to listen to Sheppard's album, which I hadn't approached for quite a while! The song actually is a great fit for today, as I am enjoying some winter time in a nice, nice place, i.e. Lanzarote (one of the Canary Islands)!! I needed to reward myself with some warmth after this long and hard year and given how cold it is back at home. I got here last night and today I spent the whole day at the playa, a nice one 2 minutes away from the hotel: total relax! The sea water is somewhat cold, but on the beach I felt great, with a warm sun and a pleasant breeze, I couldn't ask for more! I wish you all an enjoyable time as the one I'm having here!
When I started the #liveweek, the first performance that came to my mind was, obviously, my favourite live concert ever (I just wish I could go back in time and be there...), i.e. Tori's concert for RAINN in early 1997, right after the release of her third album 'Boys for Pele' and after one of her abortions. This is the only concert whose videos have given me feelings (let's say chills) comparable to those that one can get at live events. I can only imagine what would've been like to be there for real! Anyway, this is one of the most powerful songs composed by Tori, one I cherish and tend to listen to only during particularly black moments of my life, as it helps me gather all the negativity and channel it away. This live performance in particular is incredible in my opinion, the drama of it increased by the suffering Tori herself is feeling due to her inability to give birth, a strong feeling that she is channeling towards the audience, and that is amplified by the fact that the concert is in support of RAINN, an organization supporting victims of rape. abuse and incest, an organization that Tori is part of because she went through an episode of abuse herself when she was young. I don't think I can describe with words the feelings that this song generated and still generates in me, but I tried! I think you had better just go and listen to it and, while you are at it, listen to the whole concert, I promise it's a great, great use of your time!
With this I put an end to this first #liveweek, I'm happy about how it went through, so I might consider doing it again sometime in the future! I'm sorry to leave you on such a sad note, but music is feeling and feelings are not always good in themselves, yet I think it's good to let them emerge and to live them fully, whatever they are. Because it means we are alive.
I couldn't leave Alanis out of this #liveweek of course! Hers has been my first "real" concert as an adult in 2008, and I still cherish the memories linked to that moment, what a great feeling...! The pick of today is one of the songs featured on her record-selling pop-rock debut 'Jagged little pill', which just turned 20 this year and has been re-released with demos and previously unreleased material. This is my mother's favourite album and the only musicassette we've had in the car for years and she's the one who "introduced" me to Alanis "for real", even though she's not a big music fan generally! Mary Jane is an awesome song and this live performance is astounding, you really can't miss it... I feel like going crazy together with the audience! It seems a good cherry on the pie of a nice couple of weeks I just spent in Milan, and tomorrow I'm gonna post the last liveweek entry from a little further away...! Stay tuned and stay curious!
Satisfaction (live @ Brit Awards) - Björk & PJ Harvey
By now we're in the second half of this #liveweek, which has been going quite well up to now! Yet I wanna take it to the next level with these last few posts. This is a song that immediately came to my mind when I thought about the whole idea of a set of blogposts about live performances and I feel I cannot leave it out. So, the recipe is quite simple: take a great and underestimated singer/songwriter from England; take a crazy singer/songwriter from Iceland who is ages ahead her current time; take a glorious rock song by the Rolling Stones; mix it all together and... voilà! I dare you to find a 4-minute music video more powerful than this one in its simplicity!
Today I'm on time for my post, yay! Proud of myself just for once!! Jokes apart, here I am taking advantage of an advertising break in the middle of X-Factor Italy's final (not that the singers are so great this year, I won't mind missing a part of the show) to share with you a great, great performance of one of my favourite songs off my favourite album by my favourite band, i.e. The Cranberries! This song is the favourite of my friend C, who came with me and another friend at my first Cranberries concert in Milan in 2010. Unfortunately the didn't play this song that time, but they did play it when I went to see them again in 2012 (I was alone that time though...)!! Have a good night!
Here I am again, double posting for today to make up for my lack of yesterday! We can do it! Soo, I think it was pretty much inevitable for me to include some KEXP recordings in this #liveweek, as the Seattle-based radio station is a big big inspiration and source of new (and not-so-new) great music for me! I cannot be enough thankful to them for the great work they make, making videos of great live performances by great artists available on YouTube, so the least I can do is advertise them a little bit! What they did with ∆ was a bit different from their usual recordings, which consist of interviews and intimate live performances; nonetheless the result is, as usual, great and I'm particularly in love with this version of Fitzpleasure, so I hope you all can enjoy it together with me!
You got the love (live MLNS) - Florence + the Machine
Sometimes you gotta hate yourself, and there's just nothing you can do about it...! After all the excitement I created (in my head) about the #liveweek, I already forgot to post on the second day... I think I'm hopeless, but I'll make it up to you with a double post today (unless I forget to post again later... sigh)! This morning I had to wake up "very early" (at 10 AM) so as to buy the tickets for Florence's concert in Bologna in April, as I just got the news that she and the band will be back in Italy next spring! It's a bit weird to buy a ticket for somebody's concert when you already have another one in the pipeline, but I don't wanna miss any chances of watching them perform live!! In honour of this purchase, I'm gonna post one of my absolute favourite songs in one of my absolute favourite versions just for you! I hope you enjoy!
The darker days of me and him (live 2004) - PJ Harvey
It's always the same story... whenever I get to be at home for a period of time without any compelling work (or else) events, I end up having even less time for my usual activities: between meals at grandparents', video gaming, courses to carry out downtown and any other business, I neglect the blog, I neglect my Japanese study and everything. But here I am finally! Last week told you I wanted to do something special, which I ended up not doing, so after missing a sunday post, I will start it now (late, as it's already been Tuesday for two hours, but whateeeever)! What I want to do is to post live performances of music I love for one week, so how could this be called, you might ask... well, #liveweek of course!
I might allow myself to post tunes that have already seen the light on the blog, but this time I will share them as live performances. For this opening post though, I chose a song that has not been featured here yet, and it's one of my absolute favourite PJ Harvey tracks. 'The darker days of me and him' tells the story of a girl who has been burned by (unfulfilled) promises and who dreams about "a land where no man was ever born, with no neurosis, no psychosis, no psychoanalysis and no sadness". It's a beautiful, beautiful song and this version is absolutely great, so don't miss out and stay tuned for more great live music!!
It is so very late, I know... in my defense I bring forward... well I don't know what I can bring forward! Maybe that it's been my first day at home as an officially unemployed young man? Maybe that I've been planning a trip all day long and that I ended up booking another one? Maybe that I've been busy putting up the xmas tree? I don't know if any of these motivations are valid, anyway it's half past 2 and I'm still here... and it took me more time to craft the timelapse video of me preparing the tree than to actually prepare the tree! I'm a hopeless digital native! Anyway, I had this song on my mind while getting the fake pine ready, so I ended up working on it with Lykke's music as soundtrack and I must confess it worked quite well! I just hope that the title of this song won't be applicable to my dear tree!! Goodnight my people!
Double Enya post! With this one-two I am finally putting an end for real to my time in Veneto (for now at least, never say never!) and I am all set to start the travel back home! After bringing in a couple cakes at work to celebrate my last day and saying goodbye to all the colleagues, I am now ready to stop by the main office to leave this very computer, cellphone and all the stuff I had been endowed with, and to head west.
I will just leave you (and Veneto, can't underline it often enough!) with a quote out of this song, which I think tells perfectly my story and my current feelings, as they are often the same when you put an end to a part of your life to go back home!
Last night in Conegliano for me, and with tomorrow I'm closing this Venetian parenthesis that has kept me going for the biggest part of this year. I can't say I won't miss anything about what I had here, especially the people, otherwise I wouldn't have lasted so long, but neither can I deny the relief I'm feeling by heading back home, wherever my home is and will be in the next future (for now I'm going back to my "safe harbour" in my hometown). I have made this choice and it was needed so that I could find my way, and I am also taking this chance to post the first song out of Enya's new album, which I just started listening to but which I am already quite liking, mostly because its sound is very... Enya-like. The old-times Enya. But back to goodbyes... I have spent about 10 months in the Province of Treviso, moving back and forth from here to there and back to my safe harbour and then to Bangkok and more in the meantime. It's been too much, I realise it more and more as days go by. Now I'll be back to my starting springboard, with a little more inertia, ready to take the next jump, goodness knows where. But first, I hope I'll be able to enjoy my time pushing down the springboard!! Goodbye Conegliano, goodbye Veneto, I hope to not see you too soon!
As ANOHNI has just released her first single under her new "stage name", I keep on digging back into her discography with her band 'Antony & the Johnsons' and I keep getting much pleasure out of this, especially now that's winter outside and that her music fits so perfectly with the outside context and the environment. I am just getting ready to say goodbye to Veneto as my experience here is coming to an end (and I hope I won't have to return here to stay anytime soon, no offense!); I already said goodbye to the swimming pool and some other things, and I'm just two days away from being back home for good, and I must confess I am feeling very good about that!
There has been a period a few weeks ago when I've been a little obsessed with this song, but - I don't know why - I didn't find the right chance to post it here. I must confess that the review I had read of Foals' new album as soon as it came out was not excellent, so maybe my expectations were not that high, but all in all I haven't been disappointed at all. Actually I found myself listening to their whole discography quite often lately, and their last album merges quite well within it, with some songs even standing out. This one... it's not one of my favourites off 'What went down' but I've always felt a weird connection with it, that kind of weird connection I happen to feel with songs that are not my favs but that somehow speak to me, usually after very few listens... I wouldn't know how to explain it better, weird connections between me and music!!
I know yesterday I (almost) promised you would get something special today and this week, but I had a pressing urgency to share this song, which has just made my day, so I will keep my special idea for next week, when I'll be home and more able to write down great posts for you (hopefully).
I'm sorry, but the beauty of this song astounded me tonite... I can't stop listening to it, I got it on my mind two songs before it would play on my current playlist and when it finally started, I felt the need to dance at it with somebody, to the point that I took the Olaf (Frozen's snowman) plush that is travelling with me this last time and started dancing with him. This right after I bought two small packs of frozen vegetables "perfect for one person"! I guess that's it, I am embracing my life alone. It has hardly ever felt so good. As in the Walter Mitty movie, which is the one that got me close to Junip's music and which is featuring this song in one of the last scenes, a beautiful one where it's all about enjoying the moment...
Ok, just now I found a great inspiration for today's post and also for something special I will do next week (or maybe the week after, I still have to think about it... stay tuned tomorrow and probably you'll find something special)! One of my (Thai) friends on Fb just posted a live version of this song, when Flo sang at the Oxygen festival in 2010 and it's just amazing. It made me remember the first F+tM concert I've been to: I was at the end of my study abroad semester in Montréal and given that I finished my exams early, I decided to embark on a fantastic journey through the US. First I went to Boston by bus to visit a classmate who was studying there, then I flew to Chicago and finally I got to Milwaukee by train, as this was the closest place to Montréal that Florence and the band were playing while I was there. It's been amazing, an amazing journey on my own, a journey that showed me once again and ultimately that I could travel around on the other side of the world and stand on my own two feet. And also enjoy it awesomely while I did that. I will never forget that night, and even if concerts are best experienced with friends, I vividly remember how this song was the only one they played that gave me shivers, and the only one of the setlist (together with 'Never let me go') that they didn't play in Milan a few months later when I went to see the concert with a big bunch of friends. Something that will happen again in a veeery short time, and I can't wait!
I'm sharing with you a demo / early version of this song, which is the first one I listened to and which I like a lot more than the one that ended up on the album. I hope you guys enjoyed this memory of mine, I wish you all a great new week, it will be special for me because it's gonna be my last week of work here in Veneto, and then I'll be officially unemployed (for now)! Don't forget to stay tuned! Cheers!
I must confess that I've been somewhat disappointed by 'Honeymoon'... it has always taken me quite a while to appreciate Lana's music, but some time has passed now, and her newest album still sounds like the b-side / bonus track / CD2 of that masterpiece that 'Ultraviolence' is. The songs are generally ok, nothing is particularly bad, but nothing is particularly good either ('The blackest day' and maybe a couple more excluded)! What gets me even more frustrated is that I'm not even disliking the music, it just is leaving me pretty much indifferent, which is probably the worst. Anyway, something good (a little, but it's better than nothing) is coming out of it for me, maybe my problem is just that I'm so art deco!!
Sorry for the discontinuous posting in these days, but my body is having the best of me and this weird kind of slight fever plus headache plus cough plus goodness-knows-why is making it hard for me to stay away from the bed as soon as I get home from work. After today it's gonna be just one more week and then my experience in Veneto will come to an end, and for how sorry I am saying goodbye to everybody, I really can't to be back home and rest. For a while. And then who knows? Maybe after 3 days at home I will already embark in a new adventure! Because notwithstanding it all, I know I've got the power!
Back I am to my dear blog in this hard and difficult time for me! But let's get to the good things first: Imagine Dragons were awesome in Milan two nights ago! Really nice gig, I enjoyed it with my friends! 'I'm so sorry' was the absolute highlight, but I kinda expected it, as I already used to scream it at the top of my voice while listening to it in the car... doing it while Dan Reynolds was singing it live has been even better I must confess! It's just a pity that they did a medley of some songs I would have loved to hear in full (this being one of them), but still... better than nothing! My friends enjoyed the gig too, so all good! And I also had a full couple of days in Milan, a full, packed schedule from Sunday night to last night, concert included. And it's been super nice, as I've had a good chance to spend some time with friends that I hadn't seen much in the last months, but I think that I asked myself a little bit too much: I probably hadn't recovered from my flu completely and I think that now it's getting worse again, also because of the frreezing cold that I took while walking through the streets of my University city. I've also been having an annoying headache in the last couple of days, which is quite unusual for me... Today I got back to Veneto (for the last time, oh yeah!), but I fear that I'll be sick again... I already had been missing from work for a whole week adding up sick leave and days off, it kinda looks like I'm trying to avoid coming here now that I have to go and I really don't like giving that impression, as I think it's quite unprofessional... unfortunately when sickness comes, there's not much I can do to fight it... 10 more days anyway, and then hopefully I'll be able to rest for a while and stop bleeding out!
Here we are!!! The big day has come, once again! Maybe I don't get as excited about concerts as I used to get, but still... it's been a while! And first times are always exciting, especially when you go listen to bands that you utterly loved in the last couple of years!
I'm also excited because we're re-creating the concert team of my first concert in Milan, that is Cranberries in early 2010 with my friends C. and E! Seems like a kind of circle is closing... I used the be the excited boy who just started university and was leaving his "big city" life alone and independently for the first time, but who hadn't bloomed yet and now I am practically a man (it sounds weird, yeah) who graduated, has been abroad alone multiple times, has already had his first job, his first resignation... practically a full grown-up! And that fact is, I still get so excited every time I come back to Milan... maybe because it's like I'm going back to my roots every time! Happy concert to us and to all of you who are watching or have watched Imagine Dragons live lately!!
For today's sundayrevival I went back to see what I was listening 5 years ago, i.e. what songs were on my November 2010 playlist. I see some PJ Harvey, Tori Amos, Bjork, OneRepublic, Skunk Anansie... I already had a pretty nice taste in music! But what I decided to pick is KT Tunstall: her 2010 album 'Tiger suit' is my favourite of hers, probably one of the most underestimated (not that she got massive radio playing since her first couple of albums, at least in Italy). It's a pity, because it's full of gems, and this is one of them. The weird name in song title is the name of a small town (I believe) in Greenland that KT visited during an inspirational trip. Amazing music anyway.
As I told you last night, it's a tie! Tie between 'The bends' and 'The downward spiral'. I guess that non-straight, non-square shapes even out each other! Anyway this is probably going to be the last NIN post for a while, until I get to their (and Radiohead's) third album(s). NIN are still leading the race, thanks to their early victory, but the fight is close! This is the answer to 'The bends' (song), so you let me know which album is better in your opinion! And enjoy your Saturday night!
I am going on, slowly but I'm going on with my acculturation process of NIN and Radiohead! After getting through their sophomores, I'd say that this time it's a tie. NIN won the debut match, while it proved harder and harder for me to approach their subsequent music, which I finally have been able to somehow appreciate, while Radiohead have improved a bit from 'Pablo honey'... all in all it's a tie. I'm quite curious to listen to their respective third albums, even if I pretty much lost the push I had at the beginning, with other music that is sparking much more interest in me... anyway I won't go as far as saying there's nothing good for me there, rather... this is a quite good one!
I was looking for the post I made of this song to share it on Facebook and... I just found out I haven't posted it yet! Oh goodness, how ashamed can one be...?! Anyway, I'm just out of watching my first weekly live of this year's X Factor Italy and I must say that, even if the singers are good, I've not been particularly impressed by nor felt any strong connection with any of them. The band who played last did a cover of this song and, well... of course matching Hannah's voice is quite impossible, but they didn't do a bad job. Notwithstanding that they've been sent home, while many others have done worse imho. All of this just to say that I've been having this song in my head all night and, well... the fact that I hadn't posted it yet is just yet another proof that there are forces we can't see nor understand that govern our lives! Have a good night you all, and don't forget to listen to London Grammar!
Hello my followers, here I am somehow back on my feet! Have been sick in the last couple of days, been off work and came back home, as I took a few days off starting tomorrow...! I hate this time of year and I hate feeling bad and sick as I did yesterday, today I'm a bit better thanks goodness, even if I still got a bad cough, maybe a little temperature and all the ending symptoms of the flu (hopefully). I gotta be back on my feet by Monday, as I have an important even to attend, but I will let you know more about that soon! For now let's enjoy some great music, once again by one of my best discoveries of the awesome year in music this 2015 has been!!
PS: Genius video, don't miss out (and please explain me your interpretation of it)!
This is probably gonna be the last Lunik post for a while, as I exhausted my get-to-know listening of their 2012 album 'What is next'. The atmosphere of some of the songs on it is quite 'wintery', in contrast with the 'spring-like' tone of most of my favourite of theirs, the collection 'Lonely letters'. I dare say that this sad and calm mood is quite matching with my own... I am back with cold and coming flu, as usual in winter, and I am not happy at all about it... I just wanna feel good, it sucks that me and the poor people like me are feeling like shit for about half year every time... please senf us to the tropics! Please!!
I've been keeping Antony's discography on my computer for quite a long time after approaching his 2010 album 'Swanlights' a few years ago... lately I got to think back about their song 'Thank you for your love', during my last trip to Thailand, and so I put their debut album in my queue and got to listen to it. I think I'm gonna greatly enjoy it because, apart from sounding quite awesome, it matches perfectly the winter mood that is surrounding me now, pre-xmas but already dark, gloomy and cold. This song, I'm already in love with it and couldn't wait to share it with you all any longer!!
Lazy and eventless Sunday for me here: boring F1 race, usual lunch at grandma's with family, really... nothing particularly meaningful to note for today on my part. Nothing particularly bad, nothing particularly good. Seems like my life is on hold, waiting for me to come back home and reset everything. I'm already bored even before getting back here, so I guess I'm gonna need to find something to do in the meanwhile! This nonsense... I kind of find it in the lyrics of this song. Nonsense that hold a meaning somehow. A willingness to listen to this album just struck me, and I believe it did because I needed to post this song. Winter is coming, and so are sad and depressing times. Please, let xmas be here soon!
The awful news coming from Paris last night were not the reason I didn't post, actually I got the news from my grandfather while dining out with family and friends celebrating a birthday, after the usual long drive back home. The good news for me is that I am officially (going to be) unemployed (in a few weeks), and I really am happy about it, I need a break, I need to reassess everything, take a step back and have a fresh start for the new year. Goodness knows I tried to make this whole thing work, but I couldn't, and when you realise that, you know you just need to cut the rope. Back to Paris, I don't want to fall into clichés, even if I think I will whichever thing I say... I'll do my best. Among the many posts and pictures and stuff, the best thing I've read today is an article by a girl of Somali origin who was, to sum it up, claiming that the best thing we can do is to do our best and live normally, don't hate each other, don't answer to violence with violence and intolerance, to destroy the figurative and actual barriers among ourselves and to fight the violence with unity and peace. I agree, and I think that as EUROPE, we need to get closer and closer together, if we want to effectively be able to defend ourselves against this hatred and also to play a role in the geo-politics of the next (say) 50 years. My last, provocative comment refers to a picture I've seen on Facebook and immediately shared; quoting it, "don't pray for Paris, fight against hateful religious ideology." That's why I chose this song, as it mentions god (in a non-standard way) and as it relies on the meaning of doing our best, which is what we all need to do now!
So, I wanted to make a double post tonite, but I don't have the strength to write something decent and post it and share, so I'm just gonna take this note and complete the post tomorrow. Just know that I tried, and I started this with the best intentions! But I love this song and I had a moment with it today, so I prefer to devote a little bit more time to it and share it well tomorrow. And in the meantime I've already kind of written the post, so to hell with that, I'm just gonna post it now.
I've been listening to a playlist I compiled thinking about an "aperitivo on a terrace facing the sea" kind of context, with relaxing and chilling songs, which most often end up being songs I feel the most and that communicate very strongly to me. So I got this one playing in my car while driving back from work tonite and being at a point of my life when I decided to turn the page, the lyrics I quoted up here kind of really spoke to me! And I've always been in love with this song, with how you can pick one version for charging-up moments and the other one for calm and reflexive moments (Lost! vs Lost?), and they both work awesomely.
Well now, after a bad, disturbed and not so long sleep two nights ago and a very much enjoyed but short 5-sleep last night, I reaaally need to see a bed. Be well, y'all!
My days at work, after a couple days of excitement following my decision, have come back to what they used to be before: pure bordeom. The difference is that right now I stopped caring about it at all, I know I'm gonna go and that's it. I'm still happy when somebody asks me something or gives me something to do, or if anyway I can be helpful to the team, but for the rest of the time (which I think accounts for 6-7 hours per working day on average, so you can get an idea) I just mind my own business. I didn't get to the point of watching TV series in the office, but I think you got the idea. I'm still surprised about how people seem to deem my work and my contribution valuable and want to keep me here as long as they can, while I just want to go and mind at my own business at home (ok, without getting paid for it, but still...). When you're 25 years old and you just started working, you can't find yourself in such a situation I think. Adding to it all the hardships and the fact that even when I do get something to do, the job is not exciting nor appealing to me. Well, my mind is made up... I am going to buy (second-hand) tickets for ID's concert in Milan!
"My mind is made up, nothing could change that
I'm coming home to you every night, every night, every night"
It's really unbelievable how I haven't posted this song yet...! I've been in love with it for weeks now, it's probably the song that I've felt the most since the excitement for Florence's new album came out a few months ago. I will underline again how Foals have done, once again, a very good job in my opinion with their new album. I think that (maybe) their 2013 'Holy fire' is a small step up, but I wouldn't dare say that I am disappointed by the new album, rather...! The two opening singles are both great and I consumed them both, and out of the other songs on the album, which I rank between like and love, this is by far the best. Amazing atmosphere, it sounds just great and makes you fly to another dimension. Makes me fly, at least. Sometimes I can't stop listening to it, so approach it but be careful: it's addictive!
Sometimes you have to take firm decisions. I think that if you guys have been reading some of my posts lately,, you might have had the feeling I have not been extremely happy about how my life has been going on. Well, today I think that the decisive turn has been taken. In the last few weeks I gave signs of distress, then finally today I spoke with both my bosses and, after they made me yet another (interesting) proposal, I have been firm in my decision to walk away. As a person always living projected in the future, it has been hard for me to take such a decision, as the job and the opportunities were good. Yet, as you can imagine, I didn't wake up with the wrong foot today and take this decision, I have been feeling unsatisfied for... months. And lately the situation has become unbearable for me: lack of motivation, a job I didn't particularly like, opportunities that were always in front of me but never came to meet me for real, added to the toughness of having no home for the last 10 months, travelling back and forth from here to there and back... I couldn't make it anymore. I couldn't take it anymore. And I am happy I took this decision, as it means I am learning to care more about the present. It might turn out to be a crappy decision in the long term, but I will never know; it's what I needed to do in order to feel better now and so I did. And the fact that I haven't been feeling happier than this afternoon for a long time tells me that I did do what was good for me. The dog days are over, the dog days are done. I can hear the horses come and I'm running!
"Leave all your love and your longing behind.
You can't carry it with you if you want to survive"
It took me a while to get in sync with NIN's sophomore album, but in the end I've been able to get something good out of it! This is a good example of what I'm talking about. I'm sure the rockers among you out there will not be disappointed, and maybe some of the non-rockers!
Today I ordered a bunch of albums on Amazon, so I'm waiting for my CD library to grow very soon! And I got some great bargains too, can't wait to share with you some of the good things I bought!
I promised a special post today to celebrate the 700th entry on the blog, and here it is! A sundayrevival that is not a real sundayrevival (as I got to listen to this song for the first time a little over 2 years ago), but it feels like one, as soon after I approached R.E.M.'s 'E-bow the letter' album, I've been feeling like I've known this song forever. As if it was an inheritance from my childhood, even if I don't remember ever listening to it before. I wanted to post it a couple of days ago, as I went on to listen to some of my personal 2013 best after a pure XX moment, but then I decided to post 'Intro' and kept this other gem for today! I don't need to introduce R.E.M. nor Patti Smith to any of you, I just note that I remember reading something about how Michael Stipe was excited about this song, as it's the first collaboration his band made with Patti, who he mentioned as the reason he started making music. I guess that's enough introduction, just get to the music asap!
Shame on me for not posting any Junip song for such a long time! I recently started listening to another one of their albums (well, more precisely the second part of their debut album, actually the first part as previously I listened to the bonus tracks contained in the second CD)! All of this, just to say sorry for keeping them far from the blog for so long! I am loving the CD1 of 'Fields' already after a few listens too, so I'm very happy I approached their music! This is another song out of my (not so) current playlist (anymore), probably one of the last I'm gonna share, as I already have a new playlist ready! Expect more great music to come: I have to celebrate the 7.000 +1s reached (a while ago) by the blog on Google+, plus tomorrow I'm going to celebrate the 700th post of the blog with a special entry! Stay tuned!
