Matilda - ∆ (Alt-J)

Matilda - ∆

I'm going on with the "posting songs that I just got on my mind I-don't-know-why" blogs, and today there's a big, big one for you. I mean, it's a big, big one for me so it's a big deal sharing it with you here. As I might have told you already, ∆ are a band I found out thanks to my friend B. and they are probably my most relevant and impactful music library addition of the past few years. They also hold a sentimental value, but I won't talk about that here. Matilda is the first song of theirs I fell for and, even maybe it's not in my super top favourites anymore, I can't help being stunned and amazed every time I listen to it. I know you will too.

"This is from Matilda"

#liveweek Fitzpleasure - ∆ (Alt-J)

Fitzpleasure - ∆

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!

Lovely day - ∆ (Alt-J)

Lovely day - ∆

Day 3 of DR holiday! Today I woke up with the awesome sound of my baggage rolling in the room (no, it's not deep!), pulled by my father who found a notice outside our door! Finally I got my stuff! Almost immediately the phrase "Reunited with my bag" came to my mind, and it was as much immediately followed by "and with you, Taro", rephrasing a lyric of Alt-J's song Taro. All of this to explain why I ended up listening to ∆ today and why I'm posting them, more in particular a song out of their latest album which came out a few months ago.
Music apart, today I took a walk 'on the wild side' (literally) with my father, as we walked on the foreshore moving out of the beach of our hotel and inside the wilder Caribbean, just to be struck by a (very Caribbean) quick rain storm, soaked to the skin and blown by the wind. Sometimes the comfort zone ain't that bad, is it?! Notwithstanding the weather (we didn't really see the sun clearly at all today), it's been a lovely day! Hope tomorrow is gonna be even better!

Funny fact: At one point, while listening to Alt-J on the poolside, a Latin music started playing quite loud so that I could hear it, and in my mind a picture (more kind of a video actually) formed with the singer Joe (in the picture above) singing the songs kind of against the Latin music, overcoming it when his singing in my earplugs was stronger than it! I was half asleep on the lounger but the scene was very vivid in my mind!! I found it very entertaining!

#yearinmusic A song or two per day - 2014 in music

Hello folks! 2014 has gone by and I haven't summed it up musically yet, so I decided to do this directly on the blog, to share my best picks of this past year with you all in case you overlooked them or missed them altogether!
So, let's begin!

First there is the most difficult category, that is the best song of 2014, meaning the song that has been most meaningful for me last year. I will build a quadrumvirate, yet even if I don't feel comfortable picking one of them over the others, I dare say that Elastic heart would be the first pick.

Best songs 2014

Hey now is the first song I ever listened of London Grammar (goodness bless KEXP and their live recordings) and it started my path of love with them. London Grammar have been, probably together with Imagine Dragons, my "best new band" of 2014, and that gives you a measure of how much I grew to like them in less than one year. The story of America is very similar, I remember falling in love with it one time it was playing in the office early last year, in the period when I was listening to Imagine Dragons and getting to know them myself. Beautiful combo, which brought it to be my alarm call song for quite a long time!
Elastic heart is the representation of great soundtrack music: I obsessed over Catching Fire's soundtrack (as you might have noticed) and this is my favourite song out of it, together with Shooting arrows at the sky. I picked this one because it made me curious about Sia, and brought me to listen to her latest album, which I loved so much!
Lastly, in chronological order, Every other freckle has become kind of an obsession soon after Alt-J's sophomore album came out, it stood out immediately as my favourite in an album that I utterly loved and still love. The cat of the video has become highly representative for me (just check the cover image of the blog's Google+ page)!!

Moving on to albums, I am once again in a difficult position, as many great CDs have seen the light in 2014: U2, Tori Amos, Hozier, Lykke Li, Hundred waters and more have released awesome albums that found their way deep into my heart. Yet I decided to pick three albums that made it a step deeper than the others.

Best albums 2014

After scoring my favourite song of the year, Sia didn't disappoint me with her album either: it took me a while to appreciate Chandelier, which then went on to have a (deserved) huge success. I didn't fall in love with the other songs immediately either, but after a few listens the album pierces through your heart and won't ever leave. Great, awesome pick. Don't make the mistake to overlook it or to just stick to Chandelier. There are many other great(er) songs in there!
Same line of reasoning goes for Alt-J's This is all yours, a highly expected album by me (and many others) which, I am confident to say, didn't disappoint. I am still not sure whether the level is as high as An awesome wave's, but their debut album is so, so great that even being slightly less awesome than it, would make their sophomore one of the albums absolutely not to miss in 2014!
The last one of the three is the one that didn't score any song in my top ranking, maybe because they are all so good that none of them really stood out (if I were to choose I'd probably pick Florida kilos, one of the deluxe edition bonus tracks)! When West coast first came out I kind of hated it, as I did with practically all Lana songs. In this case, I didn't grow an utmost love for it, as I still think it's one of the weakest songs of the album, but let's say I don't dislike it. West coast aside, the rest of the album is... just wow! Just go give it 5 to 10 listens, it's gonna become your favourite album of 2014, as it did for me!!

Well, here it is! 2014 is gone, but its great music will stay! Now I'm hoping for a great 2015 in music, as I'm waiting for new albums by my favourite artists, mainly Florence + the Machine and PJ Harvey, both of whom have not released any albums since 2011! Don't keep us waiting too long girls!

The Gospel of John Hurt - ∆ (Alt-J)

The Gospel of John Hurt - ∆

Archiving the first (successful) experiment of the 90s music week, let's get back to regular posting! During this convulse past week I must confess I have not been feeling the need to post anything else except what I've been posting, i.e. songs from the awesome 1990s. With one exception. This one.
I think I have already underlined more than a few times how I already love Alt-J's sophomore work, maybe not as much as their debut (there are still 3-4 songs that didn't totally convince me yet), but up to the point that is is a serious candidate for my personal album of the year. John Hurt's gospel has been one of the first tracks that struck me on the album, and well... it's the last big thing I wanna post from this album for now, waiting for its sisters to ring a bell inside me too. And, well... today I'm feeling better, no more temperature symptoms, just a bit of late phases of cold and a pretty annoying cough, feels like my chest is burning like John Hurt's too...!

Leaving Nara - ∆ (Alt-J)

Leaving Nara - ∆ (Alt-J)

In the end we are leaving Nara, with its beautiful temples, shrines and gardens... but don't stop listening to these 3 beautiful songs!!










PS: I have so many great songs ready for posting, I'll keep them coming!