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!!
