Stop whispering - Radiohead

Stop whispering - Radiohead

As I was mentioning yesterday, I have started listening to the discography of Nine inch nails and Radiohead, and even if I prefer the former band for now, I have found a couple songs I like already on Pablo honey too! My first impression of the album was that it is a bit flat and colourless, especially if compared with the more engaging NIN debut. I don't know if I have to be ashamed about that, I probably do, but I had never even heard 'Creep' before and I was expecting a little more from it, given all the fuss about that song that has been going around in the years. Anyway, I think I'm slowly but steadily building a connection with the band, and this has been the first step of it, so I hope you can enjoy the song too!

Oceania - Bjork

Gosh, this day has been so weirdly intense that I forgot to post at all (until now)! Just in time! Ok, so it's been my first day off since I started working here in England and I must say it's been a pretty wise choice, a monday just after a weekend trip and just before my birthday, awesome choice! I still can't believe I'm getting older tomorrow...! Anyway, back to music. In the lat couple of days I have been listening a lot to songs that I have already posted here, so that puts me a little bit in a hard spot for picking a song, and it is the first time this happens even if I am well-inspired. Too bad I get into songs more than once. Of course I'm joking.

Oceania - Bjork

Well, I think that another big milestone has been past today with me barely noticing it. I have (kinda) finished listening to Bjork's discography (excluding her latest album, that anyway was released after I started). She has been the one who made me change my way of approaching new music (you might remember something about it in an R.E.M.-related post) and not in a positive way, as at one point I got stuck with her and for a long time I haven't been able to proceed. I have never processed her album Vespertine, which made me stop listening to her whatsoever. I have recently approached Volta and my impression was a little bit more positive, even though I'm not fully convinced I really like it either. Considering the fact the I had bought the album between these two (Medulla) even before starting with her and that I have listened to it sporadically (with more pleasure than the other two anyway), I feel safer picking from it, as a kind of beginning and end of a chain. This is one of the songs I can safely say I like on Medulla, it's still very experimental but, to me at least, enjoyable!

Leaving New York - R.E.M.

Another milestone has been crossed in my long, long, never ending but super enjoyed music journey. Yesterday I finally finished listening to the whole discography of R.E.M. after more than 2 years since I started. It has been quite an interesting journey, one that sometimes has excited me a lot and some other times has bored me a little. I have anyway unforgettable memories that are tied to R.E.M. songs, the first one coming to my mind being my wandering in Boston a little less than a couple of years ago during a trip I took while doing my exchange in Montréal. Some other memories are more recent and some songs are rooted so deep in my (music) tastes that they have become an essential part of my (musical, but not only) baggage. Another factor that made the journey interesting is how it has been a super relevant part of a change in my way of approaching music: until 2010 I have practically been listening to one new "big" artist per year, while in 2011, when I was taking the same approach with Bjork and got kind of stuck, I started broadening my horizon and R.E.M., together maybe with U2 and, a little later, Patti Smith have been my main focus of the next couple of years. As I said already, I enjoyed every part of this journey, some parts more, some other less, but knowing that it has ended 

makes me a bit sad, especially because R.E.M. have disbanded themselves as a band just while I was 

Leaving New York - R.E.M.

through their discography, so this end feels kind of final. I really hope that they will be together again soon, at least for some live gigs, and to get the chance to see them perform live!

Anyway, all of this to celebrate my completion of their discography. Let me just spend a couple of words for the song though. Around the sun has been the last album I've been listening to, not one of my favourites I must say, but this song has always meant a lot to me, since actually when it came out. It has been one of the very first R.E.M. songs I fell in love with and, probably, the first one in my library. Its description of the sadness of saying goodbye to something that you love perfectly fits the occasion; moreover I have the feeling it is the one that pushed me to start this journey when I was listening to it just before leaving New York in April 2011. It all fits perfectly, doesn't it? Well, goodbye R.E.M., hope to get the chance to see you live soon!