What's it gonna be? - Shura

What's it gonna be? - Shura

A bell just rang in my head to remind me of this album and I threw myself into it immediately. Of course, I got immediately transported back to late 2016. Now pondering about how my life is in an opposite stage as it was back then, but at the same time it's the same. Back then I was starting my path in Hong Kong, and now (goodness willing) I am entering the final stage of it, ready to step into something new soon (the first step into vs the last step before getting out of). I was (not that) innocent back then, I already felt like an adult but I the experiences I've gone through in the past 4 years make me look back to that older me as "still a kid" (I am still innocent, as much as Britney). I was at the "beginning" of something then as I am now, with similar dreams and plans, but there is a world of difference in me and in the situations (young adult vs hair-losing adult). I wanted to find something stable back then as I do now, but I knew well that the stability I'd find back then would be temporary, while the one I look for now could be "forever" (unstable stability vs stable stability). The people I had in my life back then are still here as before, even if dynamics change; many others have come in the life rollercoaster, even if dynamics are often similar (same difference vs different sameness). Life happenings are similar now and then, but I feel like I was doing everything with much more passion back then, stronger feelings, more excitement, whereas now I appreciate routine more than ever (not that I didn't before) and I sometimes wonder where did most of the passion go. Maybe this stay-at-home 2020 has taken more life out of life than I realised. Hopefully it will teach me/us to appreciate the little things more, to get excited about nothing, to find passion in the routine (routine passion vs passionate routine). It feels like I was becoming an adult back then, and now I am in the process of becoming an adult again, just a next stage adult (again, young vs hair-losing). Weird feelings. Weird thoughts. Maturity is such a relative concept, when looking at the present vs the past. But songs that make me feel nostalgic always send me back to younger days. And I realise that in the end, even if everything is different, some things haven't changed much: I was not 2 shy to say it back then, I guess I am not now either.

In my feelings - Lana del Rey

Countdown to 2019: -1 (but, well... Happy 2019!)

In my feelings - Lana del Rey

This last song comes in late (but it's still 2018 somewhere), and it's actually from 2017, so it's already 2 years old, but who cares! It took me a while to approach Lana's most recent album, but there were some hidden gems that I really came to appreciate in the past months. This song in particular really resonated with me for some events that happened in this 2018. I have been unapologetic for feeling all my (fu*king) feelings (like Lana), coming out of a relationship with communication problems in which I was the one who expressed all the feelings (maybe even too much), and especially realising I am living in a city surrounded by people who do not show (and claim not even to feel) their emotions, a fact which is starting to make me not feel at home in Hong Kong... Cultural differences are undeniable, and I left Italy as a "not-very-affectionate" person to end up in Hong Kong feeling like an emotional spinning top. I tried to find the middle way, but unsuccessfully so far, and I decided to indeed be feeling all my fuc*king feelings. Good ones, bad ones, I'd rather be alive than feel like a straight line on an ECG, even if being alive means facing problems, absoring negative events and emotions, and being emotionally unstable. I'm feeling all my fu*king feelings, and I'll keep doing so in 2019 too for sure. I wish you all a new year full of feelings (hopefully mostly good ones, but don't underestimate the bad ones, because they offer a much needed reference point for us to feel happy in other times) and of course of great music!

Cheers!

4 degrees - Anohni

4 degrees - Anohni

Today has been a pretty cold day in Hong Kong according to the local weather forecast, but for how chilly and annoying a humid temperature of 12°C can be, I dare say that local people here don't know what real winter means. I can understand now why most of them hate the heat and the sunlight... Anyway, even if the day has actually been chilly, we didn't get down to have only 4 degrees (even if what Anohni refers to in her song is a change in world climate due to global warming). For how much I hate cold, global warming is a problem we should all pay attention to, so let's try to make an effort and be a little more respectful towards our planet and the future generations.

#sundayrevival A thousand miles - Vanessa Carlton

A thousand miles - Vanessa Carlton

A couple weeks ago I went to karaoke with some friends, a pretty fun night, and one of the songs we sang all together was of course a teenage classic of ours, 'A thousand miles'. The song has been coming up often ever since, with some of us singing it off the top of our heads from time to time; this happened today too during our hike to the Lion Rock peak, a steep walk up a tall hill which rewarded us with a mystical view of nothingness (we were surrounded by the white of clouds), and of course we also got soaked. It's been a nice and enjoyable experience anyway! The celebrations for the Chinese New Year are going on, but they are past the climax now, so I'm getting ready to start next semester!

#yearinmusic A song or two per day - Best song and album of 2016

2016 has been a pretty good year for me under many points of view, but A song or two per day has not been one of them, and the two things are probably related: I have been having such a good time that I found it hard to find the time and (mental) energies to sit down and write blog entries constantly, which ended up in me posting very rarely. The music point of view is another one in which 2016 lacked with respect to its predecessors, which is maybe another reason why I didn't post as much. These two reasons are also the ones why I procrastinated the posting of my 2016 music summary, as I am pretty much at a loss in finding a best song and best album released this year...

Best song 2016: Line of fire - Junip

Best song: Line of fire - Junip

Given that 2016 has mostly been the outcome of life decisions made in the past years, with a lot of change that took place thanks to triggering moments that had happened in the years before, I am actually quite ok with choosing a song that was actually released 3 years before as my 2016 Best song pick. Junip and José Gonzalez have been hugely meaningful for me in the last couple of years, probably the most influential new music discovery I made lately and 'Line of fire' in particular has been a soundtrack of many big moments of 2016, mostly the ones related to me moving to Hong Kong. "What would you say if you had to leave today? Leave everything behind even though for once, you're shining."

Best album 2016: Shura - Nothing's real

Best album: Shura - Nothing's real

2016 has been quite a disappointment for me mostly because some of my favourite artists released albums that were not nearly up to my expectations or to the level of what they have been releasing before. The biggest one of these disappointments has been PJ Harvey's 'The hope six demolition project': PJ made us wait 5 years for new music, and all the expectations built in this time crushed against an album I personally find weak and pretty much pointless, the only low of her career together with 'White chalk'. On a similar note I can place the new releases by OneRepublic, KT Tunstall and, to a lesser extent, Sia. Their albums have not been all bad and feature some quite awesome songs, but overall lack a consistency that would allow me to classify them as great albums. I have been tempted to pick Sia's 'This is acting' as my favourite album released in 2016, as notwithstanding its not being nearly as good as '1000 forms of fear', it's a quite good album, but in the end I decided to go for something that I discovered towards the end of the year, here in Hong Kong: I found out about Shura thanks to Clockenflap, the music festival I attended in Hong Kong this past November, and I fell in love with her debut album quite quickly. It will not go on to enter my music olympus, but it's a good representation of my life in this past year: new, enjoyable and linked to Hong Kong!

After a hectic, full and great 2016, which has been mostly about consolidation under the music point of view, I hope 2017 will take me back to previously unseen heights with some new, great music! And I also hope I'll be able to post a bit more consistently on the blog (even if I have a hard time believing myself)...!

Happy 2017!

Death disco - Sekai no Owari

Death disco - Sekai no Owari

Clockenflap has come to an end, I am still recovering from it (especially from the rain I took on Saturday, which has left me with an ongoing sore throat), but it's been well worth it! It's been a increasing feast of enjoyment and the cherry on the pie have been Sekai no Owari, whose performance has been amazing!! I didn't expect them to be so good, I didn't expect so many people to sing all the songs by heart (even the ones in Japanese) and well... the whole thing has turned out to be unforgettable!! I can't wait to get to know their music better and hopefully to see them live again soon! They are due for an international debut in the end, aren't they...?

Flickers - London Grammar

Flickers - London Grammar

Toughest day, wasn't it today? Super tough, loads of rain pouring down form the sky with more or less strength but with absolutely no break whatsoever! Welcome to Hong Kong, the Britain of Asia! Pairs of wet socks at the end of the day: 4. Pairs of wet shoes at the end of the day: 2. New pairs of socks: 3. New pairs of shoes: 1. Soaked bones: 206. Was it worth it? Well... yes. Jose Gonzalez in the afternoon has been great!! London Grammar at night has been good but not as much, mostly "thanks to" drunk & high British teenagers everywhere and the multitude of umbrellas between my eyes and the set. All in all, tough day. Worth it? Yes. Would do it again? Well... the last of the festival is tomorrow!

What will - José González

What will - Jose Gonzalez

Clockenflap has finally begun after a pretty busy week for me, so I wish I had a couple more days to recover in preparation of it, but you know... life goes its own way! Last night I enjoyed Sigur ros, even if I practically didn't know their music. The concert has been powerful and enjoyable, so it's been worth it. Today is the main dish for me, the main reason why I bought the ticket: Jose Gonzalez and London Grammar are awaited on the stage, and I can't wait any longer! I'm about to get out and enjoy, will tell you how it goes later, hoping it won't rain (too much)!!

What happened to us? - Shura

What happened to us? - Shura

I'm already happy about buying my ticket for Clockeflap even if the festival hasn't started yet, as I have already got to know new, awesome music thanks to it! Shura is of course a big part of this and I really love this song, especially how it fits perfectly my life in this moment!!

You were somebody to me once

But now you're a fiction

Someone that I made up

Turns out it was too much for us

And if we met in five years, would we notice?

Funny how we remember things

How we hold on to the good

But throw out the bad stuff

What happened to us?

I was never ready for your love

No, I'm no child but I don't feel grown up

I was never ready, it was never meant to be

So tell me how come I still feel so messed up

2shy - Shura

2shy - Shura

Clockenflap is approaching and in order to best enjoy my first ever music festival experience, I started listening to some of the artists that will perform besides the ones that I know and that drove me to buy the ticket. One of the new discoveries I made in this way is Shura, a UK-based new artist whose music didn't take long to enter my inner music soul. More people I can't wait to listen to and just 10 more days to wait!! So excited and not shy about it at all!

SOS - Sekai no owari

SOS - Sekai no Owari

November is at the doors, and that means less than 1 month to Clockenflap! I really can't wait for the biggest arts and music festival of Hong Kong, I really need to take my mind off my stressful life... I am in the process of figuring out my personal schedule, and I'm listening to some new bands that I'll get to see at the festival, if things go as planned! Sekai no owari are one of them: I didn't know about them before, but it looks like they are one of the biggest Japanese acts around, and they are likely to try and get to the international market soon enough! Given that I could really use an SOS right now, this song of theirs comes at the right time!

Bent - Kiasmos

Bent - Kiasmos

Another week has almost flown by, another busy one but I'm quite happy about it, I brought to completion what I was supposed to and kind of enjoyed the process too. The only problem is the sleep quality I've been getting lately, worst of all last night (thanks Coca Cola for not reminding me I shouldn't drink you at night...), but I'm kinda getting used to it. More good news, I bought the tickets for the music festival that is gonna happen in Hong Kong in late November, whose complete music program has just been released, with a late addition of one of my favourite bands of the last few years, which I can't really wait to see live for the first time! So excited!! (No, they're not Kiasmos, but I still love this one quite a lot)!

Thank you - Dido

Thank you - Dido

Today has been a very Dido day: as we all hoped last night, thyphoon Haima passed quite close to here and so the weather observatory issued the typhoon signal and all day activities have been cancelled! No lectures, no conferences, so I've had quite a bit of time to... well, work on papers and assignments of course! Busy life, but with the colder season slowly coming in (is it actually?), the rain and the quiteness of working in front of my computer, Dido on the soundtrack... it's not been a bad day in the end! I've produced some output and hope I didn't deplet my energies so that I can keep on being productive! Not time to enjoy the weekend yet, but maybe Sunday I'll be able to put my papers aside for a while! I hope you'll be having a more entertaining weekend than me anyway!

#sundayrevival A whiter shade of pale - Annie Lennox

A whiter shade of pale - Annie Lennox

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!

Storm - José González

Storm - José González

I have proclaimed my love for Junip's music quite a few times on this blog, and now I have moved to the solo work of the soul of the band, Mr. José González. I feel that this song is very Junip-like and of course I couldn't not like since the first listen. Plus, the storm is a concept that has been quite present in my life lately, which is the reason why I'm sharing this song with you now! Things here in Hong Kong are starting to fall into place step by step, but the adjustment process is not over yet (if there ever existed something like adjustment)! I am starting to create my daily routine and to identify my reference spots though, which is an incredibly important part of the settlement process for me, so things are definitely going in the right direction! Tomorrow and the day after I will have two lunch gatherings here in uni, and then the lectures will begin, so I guess that the intro-time is coming to an end. I hope I'm ready to start this new challenging adventure, sure enough I'm more ready than I was 2 weeks ago!

Lotta love - Neil Young

Lotta love - Neil Young

Hi guys, sorry for the long absence but this past couple of weeks have been among the most intense of my life! Settling in here in Hong Kong has been tougher than I expected and I think 3 (long) blog posts wouldn't be enough to tell you all about it, so I'll just sum it up for you and try to get back to a more regular posting in the near future (Internet connection availability permitting). First of all, it's been great that my aunt came here with me during my first few days, it's been good to have some help and support, as things haven't been as smooth as the other times I've been abroad. Loads of things to do, documents to process and vicious circles of documents needed to do this and that, but I am slowly getting it ok. The house I had found before coming here is not the best, the living conditions are not something I can put up with for more than a temporary amount of time, so we had to look for an alternative (and more expensive) solution, which I - thanks goodness - found. We then had to go and buy the furniture for it and I will have to look for a flatmate, but first of all I still have to settle in, so for the next few days I'm still staying in the room I had previously found. Hong Kong itself hasn't been nice with us in the first few days: a lot of gray, a lot of rain, a lot of oppressive environments... then little by little we have found sweeter spots and the weather has also improved, showing us a nicer side of the city! The university seems nice: the campus is super cool, people give me the impression of being nice and helpful, even if it's not gonna be a piece of cake to get everything done, starting with the logistical point of view and going on with the academic one. Simply put, it's gonna take a lotta love (or we won't get too far)! I'll be back with more updates soon, I hope you have enjoyed your summer holidays and are ready to get back on track! I think I am!

1234 - Feist

1234 - Feist

Hello my dear readers, I am finally ready to announce to you all my next step in life! After almost 10 months of enjoying life and what I called my own "early-retirement", I am back on track (kinda). I came to Hong Kong today and this fall semester I will begin my PhD studies in a University here in the city! I am quite excited about the whole thing and very happy that I have the chance to follow this path, which I hope will open up new, interesting opportunities for my future! I am of course a little sad to realise that many people I care about will be farther away from me and I have compiled a playlist for them to remember me and, most of all, for me to feel a little bit nostalgic! This song is one of the few (or maybe the only one) on it that hasn't seen the light on this blog yet, so here it is for you all! To new beginnings!!