It's time for a new artist to be featured in the blog! Are you excited? I am, quite a bit I would say! I already mentioned him in my latest post, so it's not gonna be a total surprise. He has been under my radar for quite a while, since I found out about him when he has been nominated for last year's Mercury Prize, and now I finally decided to give him a proper chance. His music is quite similar to that of Fleet Foxes, I just noticed, and both of them mostly attracted my attention thanks to the beauty of their album cover arts! While I haven't been able to appreciate the American band's music (even by getting back to them multiple times), this British guy has been able to catch and keep my attention... probably because his fairytale-like musical atmospheres are paired with catchy melodies, making the whole song experience quite a good combo! I hope you guys can enjoy C Duncan too!
After starting listening to Kiasmos and C Duncan, I think that an ambient parenthesis in my musical discovery is about to open, also because reading papers 24/7, I could really use some background music that helps me focus, that entertains me without distracting me too much from my "main task" (and what is that between the two, I sometimes wonder...). I actually happened to stumble upon a 'Pitchfork' article on the best 50 albums in ambient music, which reeeeally looked like it popped up just for me! I then went on to compile a Spotify playlist with what I could find of the top 10 mentioned by them, and I must confess I haven't been extremely enthusiastic about it so far (well, I guess that's the point of ambient music in a way...); anyway, I'll be sharing with you what I AM liking for the time being, and then we'll see...!
In a period when I'm listening to soo much new music (one of the perks of the current life path I'm in, a thing that I just realised today and I am very grateful for), it gets harder and harder to pick good tunes for the sundayrevival! But here we are! I got to know Gossip in the period when the album featuring this song was released (hello 'Heavy cross'!), and then I went on listening to their older stuff and (then) their newer, none of which really appealed to me. I then went on to appreciate 'Standing in the way of control' last year, so I decided to give it a go again to their 2012 album, which I have in my 'Pick and catch' playlist right now. Even if I'm starting to appreciate the rest of their discography a little more, 'Music for men' still remains a few steps above all the rest, and this is one of the reasons why. Paraphrasing one of my old Facebook posts, who wouldn't want to get on a high school bus driven by Beth Ditto?!
I got to know him thanks to the Walter Mitty soundtrack, so it kind of made sense since the beginning that I would end up posting this at one point, didn't it? Well, anyway here it is! He's been probably the most influential musicians on my musical tastes in the last months/year, and I still have to get to the real beef of his solo career. He is also coming to Hong Kong for a festival in November, which I reeeeally hope I'm gonna attend! For the time being, I can just wish you all a great weekend!
I've been going back to old Imogen to refresh some of her debut tunes released on the 1998 iMegaphone (anagram of her name and also anticipation of the Apple rule of naming products?!). I had only listened to this album very superficially in the past, so I decided it deserved some more thorough attention, and I've been compensated already! This song is amazing, and it's not the only one... whatever!!
I don't think I need a further reason to share this song besides the (genius) band name, but well... I'm gonna give a couple: they have been playing live on KEXP, which is most often a guarantee of great music, and, well... their music is indeed great! I have fallen in love with a couple songs off their KEXP performance in particular, and after listening to their debut album, I would even dare say that the live sound is even better! So that's what I'm sharing with you, and if you think that chill-out / electronic music with a Mexican taste isn't for you, well... think again!
Hello people, here is your favourite music blogger (probably not, but whatever...)! I had been meaning to post this for a few days now, wanted to do it last night but then of course I got lost in doing things and it was past 2 AM already and it made sense to go to bed (stupid mistake, actually, as I laid there for like 2 hours without being able to fall asleep...), but here I am now! I've recently started digging into Sia's (musical) past, and I'm already being rewarded with a few precious tunes, one of them being this. It's also one of my favourite songs at the moment, so I guess I really need to share it with you now before she starts releasing new stuff again!!
I guess that beautiful moments just come from either being with the right people, or doing the right things... if you are able to find the intersection of these two sets, well, you've just scored a goal! It doesn't take much to get there, but somehow life manages to always make it quite complicated, and this makes the cherishing of these special moments even more important. Out of the intersection of sets mentioned above, here is a song for you today. I used to love this when I was a teenager... it was on one of those compilation albums that were quite popular in the 90s and early 00s, one of the first CDs I added to my library. It's always a pleasure to take this off the dusty shelf!
I'm in one of my Florence moments, I'm supposed to go to bed but I can't stop listening to her... I've loved so many singers and so many songs but probably none of them as viscerally and deeply. In these moments it seems like all the rest of the musical panorama is just falling short, as if the other songs and singers are unable to touch me inside as she does. I don't know why, but I've got this special connection with her music and I cherish it and that's why music is such a big part of my life and also why I started writing this blog! I couldn't end this day without posting something of hers, and this one, I've been meaning to post it for a few days. She has just recorded a few new songs lately, this one (together with a couple of others) is featured in the soundtrack of the new Final Fantasy videogame.
"Hope there's someone who'll set my heart free, nice to hold when I'm tired" sings Antony in her homonymous 2005 EP, and how could we say her request doesn't make sense? We all are looking for that someone special who will set our heart free, who will take care of us when we die (and hopefully while we are alive, even more so!), who will change our life, who can help us through our darkest times and enjoy the good ones with us. Aren't we? The search is hard for most... the ones among you who have found that person(s), cherish your moments with them! And let's hope we will all get the chance to spend some great time with our special people!
Being in Hong Kong I have immediately had the chance to immerse myself in the local customs, so what else could I say to you all if not "Happy mid-autumn festival"?! Tonight I took a walk through Victoria park and witnessed the beautiful show of the lanterns. Being around all day and tired, I didn't stay for the "main show" of dragon dance and more, but I am confident I'll get the chance to see that some other time! And what better to celebrate than taking your clothes off, as Zayn suggests? Given the hot weather here I guess it's a pleasure for many to come home and undress, so as to enjoy some freedom! ... What are you saying? That's not what he implied? ... well, whatever...!!
Don't know why, tonight I felt the need to watch/listen to some live performance of Tori Amos (if you ever need a reason for that feeling), and thanking her incredible productivity, a quick and easy YouTube search brought me to find what I was looking for. It's been incredibly soothing and I will forever be grateful to the forces of the universe that have brought me to discover her... well, more than 7 years ago. Feels like forever. Anyway, I've found this beautiful live performance she did for NPR in 2012 and have been absolutely delighted by it, seeing how she came back to near-to perfect shape in that time frame after long years of decadence. I've particularly enjoyed 'Taxi ride' from that live, it's a version I probably like even better than the album one, so I'm gonna share it with you now, you can look at (and especially listen to) the difference if you care about it enough!
After seeing a couple of her CDs at the hmv store I've been to last Sunday, today I found on Facebook an interesting article about a book released by the Italian photographer who shot the picture for some of her albums. All of this brought me to listen to the (few) songs of hers I have in my library, and so why not post one of my favourites here? I think she's a genius and she's one of those whose discography I really should explore further (when will 40-hour days come?!). For the time being let's stay focused on Emily Bronte's book... ah, we ain't talking about that?
"Up there there's a ball of fire, some call it the spirit, some call it the sun..." These are the first words that I can recall after waking up this morning. No idea where they came from and what it was that I was thinking which brought me there, but something did! A Patti Smith classic and a favourite of mine since I went through her discography, sounds like a great tune for this Sunday! Lunch is done and I'm heading downtown for some shopping and strolling around, hoping that the rays of sun and flashes of blue sky I've seen sooner will stick around a bit longer!! I really wouldn't mind enjoying the ball of fire up there, whatever you may call it!
My first real week of lectures has come to an end and it's been... well, not really what I expected nor what I came all the way here for. I guess I'll just have to grow my way around not being a regular student anymore and just being able to get rid of these quite useless burdens with the minimum effort possible so as to focus as much energy as possible on the real reason why I am here. Anyway that's kind of part of the whole process of learning and evolving, which I'm supposed to go through methinks. Still haven't decided how I'm gonna fill up my weekend, but given that I've come to the end of the Flash's and Arrow's past seasons, I'm gonna try and focus on useful things like cleaning up and/or exploring the city (weather permitting). Now let's just enjoy some José González to end this Friday night on a high note.
It goes without saying that I consider Sia to be one of the greatest talents in the current pop music panorama, and I don't think I am alone out there...! She came out with yet another great tune, just a few months after releasing her latest album, a tune that probably is going to be the first taste of her next full work. With the video for this song she came back to the beginning of her fame exploit in 2014 with Chandelier: we have once again Maddie Ziegler dancing around weird moves in a creepy setting, this time around with other (little and great) guys and with a stronger link to reality, in particular to the Orlando shooting, which the song is linked to. You really don't wanna miss out on this one. Go and check out the greatest!
Fistful of love - Antony & the Johnsons (feat. Lou Reed)
Antony's music is always weird, often inaccessible or anyway hard to access for the first few plays (to me at least), but then some songs bloom like beautiful flowers and spread a devastatingly good perfume around themselves. Like this one. The atmosphere always remains partly gloomy but in some way also hopeful. Beautiful anyway. I hope that my time in Hong Kong is about to flower too: I finally got my house furnished to a basic level so that I have finally been able to cook my first meal here! I hope things are going in the right direction! Listening to this music I can't help thinking that even in the darkest times, things are somehow going to adjust themselves. Not that I'm living a "darkest time" now, just to be precise!
My goodness, I thought I had posted a couple days ago instead... it was just last month! Time is flying by so fast in these days!! I have finally moved to my new apartment, which is (potentially) quite nice, though there are still a few things that need to be put in order (by the landlord)...! In the last couple of days (or even more than a couple, I can't even tell now) I have been strolling around the city to get stuff for the house, and I'm quite good as of now, just missing a few things in the kitchen (cutlery and dishes mostly) to be finally ready for a serious food shopping and to put an end to eating out (which has going on for... almost a month now)!! Can't wait to do that, but then tomorrow is Monday and lectures are starting for real, so it's gonna be even harder to find the time to do everything! I'm doing my best but I'm feeling a bit worn out now, I would need some rest, while it's gonna get even harder in the near future I guess! Again, I'll keep it up and give it my best! Forgive me if I'm not taking good care of the blog as of now, I hope I'll be able to create my routine soon and to find time for it with more regularity. In the meanwhile enjoy this great cover by Annie Lennox which describes perfectly the colour of the Hong Kong sky 90% of the time I've been here!
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