Nobody - Mitski

Countdown to 2019: -5

Nobody - Mitski

2018 is coming to an end, leaving as legacy plenty of great music. Why not share one song per day in these last 5 days of the year? And what better place to do that than A song or two per day? These thoughts were going on in my head and brought me here to resurrect this blog, more than 1 year after the last post. It's been a long time, and I missed it, and I am sure the Facebook friends whose walls I have overloaded with music videos, also miss this blog as an alternative channel of distribution of my music taste! But here I am, back to my longest commitment, at the end of a year that has seen me go through ups and downs, keeping some challenging commitments and letting other go. Life is beautiful has become my mantra, and if you keep repeating something, you will start to believe it. Keep repeating it further and it will become true.
To a 2019 full of beautiful lives! In the meantime, you can just follow MItski's example, open the window to hear sounds of people, even if still nobody wants me, give me one good movie kiss and I'll be alright!

Your best American girl - Mitski

Your best American girl - Mitski

I got to know Mitski about one year ago and, even if it took me a while to like her, I appreciated her 2014 album 'Bury me at makeout creek', in particular a few songs out of it. Her peculiar style doesn't allow (me) for an easy like-at-first-listen (or second, or third), but if you keep your head down and give her a few chances, you will be rewarded! I recently approached her latest work 'Puberty 2' with, of course, a lot of hurdle. What triggered it for me is, once again, a sent-from-heaven KEXP live. Goodness bless KEXP. Go listen to it now and you won't regret it. Ever.

Street dancer - Hiromi Iwasaki

Street dancer - Hiromi Iwasaki

Recently YouTube started recommending Japanese music for me, so today I spent my paper-reading time with a peculiar soundtrack of traditional, experimental rock and jazzy Japanese music. The first song that they recommended to me, though, is this one I'm posting tonight, the one that bought me into going on and listening to their advice! I then found out that this jazzy/folk weird genre that generated in Japan well before I was born, is known as Kayōkyoku. You never cease of learning new, interesting things! I'm really curious to see where this 2017 will take me from here!

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...?

Nandemo nai ya - RADWIMPS

Nandemo nai ya - RADWIMPS

I just came back from a nice night which involved watching "Kimi no na ha", aka "Your name", a recently released anime movie I wanted to watch! The film is quite nice, take some time to watch it if you like the genre, it's well worth it! I also liked the soundtrack music, this song in particular. It's featured both at the beginning and at the end, so you really can't miss it out!
Happy beginning of a new week to you 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!

Down to hell - Secret 7 line

Down to hell - Secret 7 line

My (not so) recent (anymore) journey in Japan has left its mark on me on many levels, and I have just started unfolding these effects. One of them is a musical inheritance I got by walking around some CD megastores, as this is a J-punk band whose latest album I found out on a shelf. I don't even remember what it looked like, but I remember I went on and listened to it (in the store itself probably) and liked it, so I noted the name of the band and looked for some of their music online! I must confess I don't really go crazy for J-punk, I mean I wouldn't listen to it all day every day, but I really do enjoy it every little now and then and this music by 'Secret 7 line' fits my taste quite a bit!

Overtaken - One Piece OST

Overtaken - One Piece OST

I have been following One Piece since it has been broadcasted on the Italian TV, translated and adapted (cartoons are for kids in the Western world, it's not like Japan...), but it hasn't been since a few years later, during the golden streaming era (we miss you, Megavideo) that I have started watching it in Japanese with subtitles. I have been starting over with it, and it's been a great journey! Now, given that I like to watch full sagas together so that I can understand something about the plot, I only take it on every two/three years or so. I just did now, as I need to catch up with the latest two sagas and well... maybe it's not as great as it used to be, but it's still quite enjoyable! It's the best anime around for a reason, isn't it? The soundtrack is a big part of its greatness too (this tune has just become my new cellphone ringtone, just sayin'...)!!

Sea calls me home - Julia Holter

Sea calls me home - Julia Holter

A song or two per day is not dead, nor am I. The last ten days have been hectic, among the fullest and busiest of my life, and I'm sorry I didn't find the time or the energy to sit down and write even a single post for the blog, but so it was and so it should be. Yesterday I got back from Japan and this has probably the fullest travelling experience I've ever done, being with myself and my backpack (not backpacking though!), pushing my limits and trying to get the fullest experience, and I am not disappointed. I cannot even tell you it's been the best 10 days of my life, or this and that are beautiful... the only thing I can feel is that this trip has been so busy that it will take me some time to process it all, if ever. Even the things I've done and seen in Tokyo at the beginning of this journey look so far in the past... I really needed something like that to compensate for the idle months I've been spending at home lately! But after all the sea called me home, wherever it is!

First love / late spring - Mitski

First love / late spring - Mitski

Double shame on me. After a busy day two days ago, wandering around in Milan, doing some courses that came up at the last time and then going to the cinema with my aunt, I didn't post yesterday... no excuses, but my day has been quite full coming back home from Milan and... well, that's it! Moreover I got up not too late and I already thought I would post something, but then it went off my mind. And today... today has been a rough day too, as I woke up super early to go and fetch my grandparents and take them to the doctor... unfortunately my car didn't wake up with me and it was all for nothing...! So I went to get lunch at my other grandparents' (it was grandma's birthday) and I practically spent my whole free time on Booking.com and so on, arranging trips that I'm undertaking in the next few weeks! Now I just finished watching Eyeshield 21, the anime series I've been following in the past few weeks, and I'm quite happy it got to an end, so that I can watch some real TV series now! Anyway, even if the show got pretty slow and boring lately, it's been the first time I understood so many words spoken by the characters (I watch them in original Japanese language with subtitles), so it looks like my (languishing) Japanese studies are paying off!! In honour of that I'm gonna be posting probably the last song off Mistki's 2014 album (for now), even if it's still early (and not late) spring and my first love is gone with the wind!

Texas reznikoff - Mitski

Texas reznikoff - Mitski

I've been recently getting to know Mitski, don't remember how or when exactly, but I did and I quite liked her. This is the opening track of her 2014 album, which is the one I have approached so far, and it's also the first song of hers I've ever heard, I believe. It's always delicate when you listen to a completely new singer for the first time, it usually takes me quite a while to get into the music and the very first approach is key! In this case it's been quite successful and I entered into her music quite quickly, but then it got a bit harder to go deeper, I think I still haven't completely processed her yet, even after 10 plays of the album. We'll see in the future how my relationship with her develops!! In the meanwhile I hope you'll enjoy this very nice tune! Good night!

Cha-la head-cha-la - Dragon Ball opening theme (Hironobu Kageyama)

Cha-la head-cha-la - Dragon Ball theme

I'm gonna post something weird, something I don't usually post on this blog, but given that it is part of my music library, I don't see a reason why it shouldn't be here! Are you familiar with anime? Maybe you are but you don't know they're called like that: they are Japanese cartoons, usually transpositions of manga (Japanese comics). Here in Italy lots of them are "sold" as cartoons for kids, while oftentimes in Japan they are young-adult material. One of the most popular anime when I was a kid (and still now probably) was Dragon Ball and this is the opening song of Dragon Ball Z, the most popular (and best) series of the franchise. You can also hear it sometimes as soundtrack during the episodes, it is very hardcore and I'm gonna definitely enter the world of dorks with that... actually I've been living there my whole life!!

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!

Nara - ∆ (Alt-J)

Here we are... here we have arrived in Nara finally!

Nara - ∆ (Alt-J)

Yesterday has been I think the single marginally most productive day in terms of thesis writing: I wrote about 10 pages bringing the (draft) qualitative analysis part to end. It is now pending proof-reading, feedback and approval by my second tutor. Today (and partly yesterday too) I have been working to polish the rest, so that he can understand better how that part fits in the whole work. In parallel I have been working on the quantitative part today, as I "happily" found out that the regression model I should use is the only one nobody has ever taught us in university... I thus had to study it by myself, thanks goodness I found a tutorial on YouTube by a lovely lady who helped me clear my mind at all! Now, tomorrow I will have to send the quali part, so I guess I'll stop playing around with the quanti model and go on polishing the rest, so that it can be ready by tomorrow afternoon. That's it all. That's all my life is about now. Well, almost all.
I don't have to forget that there is (almost) always great music playing in the background, helping me focus my thoughts and enhancing my productivity! Lately this music has mainly consisted of ∆, which I've been listening to a lot. Makes sense, given that their new album is great. Yet I still can't get as much pleasure out of listening to it than I do listening to their debut. But my dear friend who introduced me to them told me "Give it time...!". And I am doing it. And this is the result. We have arrived in Nara.

Arrival in Nara - ∆ (Alt-J)

...we are coming to Nara...