#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!

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)!!

Step out - José Gonzalez

Step out - José Gonzalez

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!

Down the hillside - José González

Down the hillside - José Gonzalez

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.

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!

Your life, your call - Junip

Your life, your call - Junip

Lately I have been having a lot of time (like, a lot) to think about my life, where it is going, how I am trying to shape my future, how to fill my present... of course I'm receiving a lot of pressure from society (i.e. my parents, my family, my friends and so on), as we are all, but at this time of my life in particular, being back at home after my first job experience went... not so well... I don't know, it's weird. I'm very, very happy that I got a plan sorted out and that, if everything's gonna go well, I'm gonna start a new path in September, so I can't even say or be told that I'm uselessly wasting my time. I'm just wai(s)ting my time! And I know it and I have thought about it and I have kind of made peace with myself, saying that I will do travels I've been wanting to do for quite a long time, and trying to use this time to do things that I won't have time to do in the next future or that I didn't do in the past. Yet these things are not so numerous or time-consuming, and I end up having loads of time that goes into TV series, movies, wasting time on the internet and so on. Plus, the less you do, the least productive you get; this is very true for me. I'm trying to keep it up and doing my best filling this time, but it hurts whenever people say that I'm wasting these months, acting like a "parasite" (my mother's words), because it's partly true, but it's also true that it doesn't make sense trying to invest my time into things that I know I won't pursue, as I already have my plans... All of this just to say, never forget that it's YOUR LIFE, it's YOUR CALL! Needless to say, this song has been stuck in my head for weeks!

Don't let it pass - Junip

Don't let it pass - Junip

I know yesterday I (almost) promised you would get something special today and this week, but I had a pressing urgency to share this song, which has just made my day, so I will keep my special idea for next week, when I'll be home and more able to write down great posts for you (hopefully).
I'm sorry, but the beauty of this song astounded me tonite... I can't stop listening to it, I got it on my mind two songs before it would play on my current playlist and when it finally started, I felt the need to dance at it with somebody, to the point that I took the Olaf (Frozen's snowman) plush that is travelling with me this last time and started dancing with him. This right after I bought two small packs of frozen vegetables "perfect for one person"! I guess that's it, I am embracing my life alone. It has hardly ever felt so good. As in the Walter Mitty movie, which is the one that got me close to Junip's music and which is featuring this song in one of the last scenes, a beautiful one where it's all about enjoying the moment...

"Nothing is compromised, nothing is lost. 

When everything's realised, nothing is crossed.

But don't let it pass..."

Official - Junip

Official - Junip

It's official now... I finished watching Game of Thrones season 5, I have to disagree with people who have been unsatisfied with this season, I must confess I liked less the previous one, as this year interesting pairings have been made and interesting developments have taken place. It's also been nice, after being in Dubrovnik last summer, to recognize some of the places where they shot the scenes! Ok, I understand all the people (see girls) whose hearts are torn apart because of the end of the last episode, but well... weren't we expecting it all the way? Yeah, ok, there was that little hope in (y)our hearts that things might go right, but if you like things that go right... choose another TV series to watch! Or listen to some great music, like this awesome tune by Junip.