#sundayrevival Men in love - Gossip

Men in love - Gossip

In a period when I'm listening to soo much new music (one of the perks of the current life path I'm in, a thing that I just realised today and I am very grateful for), it gets harder and harder to pick good tunes for the sundayrevival! But here we are! I got to know Gossip in the period when the album featuring this song was released (hello 'Heavy cross'!), and then I went on listening to their older stuff and (then) their newer, none of which really appealed to me. I then went on to appreciate 'Standing in the way of control' last year, so I decided to give it a go again to their 2012 album, which I have in my 'Pick and catch' playlist right now. Even if I'm starting to appreciate the rest of their discography a little more, 'Music for men' still remains a few steps above all the rest, and this is one of the reasons why. Paraphrasing one of my old Facebook posts, who wouldn't want to get on a high school bus driven by Beth Ditto?!

The greatest - Sia

The greatest - Sia

It goes without saying that I consider Sia to be one of the greatest talents in the current pop music panorama, and I don't think I am alone out there...! She came out with yet another great tune, just a few months after releasing her latest album, a tune that probably is going to be the first taste of her next full work. With the video for this song she came back to the beginning of her fame exploit in 2014 with Chandelier: we have once again Maddie Ziegler dancing around weird moves in a creepy setting, this time around with other (little and great) guys and with a stronger link to reality, in particular to the Orlando shooting, which the song is linked to. You really don't wanna miss out on this one. Go and check out the greatest!

#sundayrevival Sprawl II (Mountains beyond mountains) - Arcade Fire

Sprawl II (Mountains beyond mountains)
- Arcade Fire

Yesterday I thought I would be posting something by Arcade Fire for this sundayrevival, but don't ask me why, as I really can't remember...! Whatever, I thought I would and I will. Staying on topic with yesterday's events (the first Gay Pride in my home town, followed by today's news that we are going to have a left-wing mayor for the first time since... ever), I remember I thought about Regine dancing with ribbons in the video of this song (maybe that's why I thought about Arcade Fire) and that is a thing I always feel like doing too while listening to this song. Not being able to move graciously (at all), I'd better refrain from that, but who knows whether sooner or later I will give way to my ideas...?

Run on - Moby

Run on - Moby

Today has been a bit of historic day for my hometown, as it hosted the first Gay pride ever. Being born in a pretty conservative town, inhabited by a lot of mostly narrow-minded people and not a great love for diversity (just to use an euphemism), I have had the luck of being born in a cool family and then able to surround myself with "alternative" people like me, whom I could relate to and share vision, values and good time with. It's been nice to see in the last few years that more diversity has been spreading out in the streets too, and today has been kind of the confirmation that there actually are quite a few of weird guys around here too, and of that I can only be happy! Let's not care about the thunderstorm, rain-pour and (almost) hail that I got while running back home...! I hope that these bigots and (false) "defenders of morale and tradition" will soon see that they are on the wrong side of history and that, in the end, they are on average no better (or worse) than any of us.

"Some people go to church just to sit in the fire trying to make a date with a neighbour's wife

Brother let me tell you just as sure as you're born, you better leave that woman alone"

7 minutes - Circlesquare

7 minutes - Circlesquare

Hey guys, sorry for not posting yesterday. I was about to skip today too but then I decided to make an effort...! I got some hideous thing, probably a sunstroke or something like that... the strong wind hasn't been helping either, anyway I've got a fever (I think), a bad headache and some general malaise... not the best way to end this holiday in such a beautiful place as Algarve, but I got the best of it anyway! I've decided to post this song that has been there as a draft in my post list for a month and a half because it really feels like the perfect one to summarise how I'm feeling. I discovered it at the end of a 'Queer as folk' episode a few years ago and loved it immediately, and now it's time to share it with you! It's a little gem, so make sure you don't miss it out (the video is amazing too)!

Keep your shoes - Scissor Sisters

Keep your shoes - Scissor Sisters

Some days you just gotta do what you gotta do to feel better, even if that means keeping your shoes on (or having people keep their shoes on). And then you feel better. And then you go and walk the hell out of your feet to run all the errands you gotta run, and succeed! And leave your phone at the post office in the process, while you're going to buy an envelope nearby, but a nice lady notices and the post office employee tells you, when you come back 1 minute later, "are you sure you didn't forget anything?!"....! Anyway, what's done is done, everything went well, I didn't keep my shoes on but I did make somebody keep theirs (actually they did it themselves, it's not like I was in a hurry)... and everything's fine!

Ghost town - Adam Lambert

Ghost town - Adam Lambert

I am very much ashamed with myself, I've been having some totally empty days, striving to fill the up somehow and yesterday I didn't even write the blog, nor did I study Japanese... apathy is dangerous, boredom is a vicious drug, that makes you feel bad and takes away from you the energy you could use in doing things, even the little things that would help you give some purpose to your life! This week has gone through like that, but starting next week I will try hard to turn the page and inject back some purpose in my life! In the meanwhile, let's get to Adam's third and currently latest album. The first I listened to 'Ghost town' when it came out, I was amazed by how cool the verse was, and then the chorus started with its disco/electro beat and it really did devalue the song in my opinion... I still believe that, but I kind of got used to it by now. Will post more Adam in the next future, as I am liking 'The original high' quite a bit anyway!!

#sundayrevival Harder you get - Scissor Sisters

"I got some apples, if you want them you can grab them!"

Harder you get - Scissor Sisters

After going to bed very late, waking up and going to my grandparents' for lunch, I am now spending this rainy and cold Sunday known as Valentine's day at home, my mother reading on the couch and me just not knowing what to do, some good (Junip) music playing in the background, wondering whether to go to bed and sleep some, study some Japanese, watch some anime or else. In my mind I need to get something cheerful, a bit naughty and funny to get through the day, and given that I needed to find a good song for this post, I went back to my dear Scissters, who I've been listening to a bit this past week. This song in particular always makes me smile, so it might just be what I need today. Maybe it can help you cheer up too, should you be in need!

"Hell is my heaven, a loaded weapon. Don't point that thing at me unless you plan to shoot!"

Never close our eyes - Adam Lambert

Never close our eyes - Adam Lambert

The B&B I am staying in this week is the underground floor of a not-so-new house in the middle of nowhere between a field and a deserted road, not far from where I work. It's nice because there's no one else around and I have the whole floor for myself, but it also gets scary from time to time, the whole background is slightly creepy. Anyway, here I am after a nice weekend in Florence, I didn't tell you much in this morning's post, but I'm not gonna tell you much now either: the trip was good, I'm happy I've been there, it was worth it even if I have not been stunned by the city, probably my expectations were too high..! One thing I really do love, though, is the tuscan accent... god, I wanted to kiss people in the streets because of the way they talked! So, so awesome, by far my favourite Italian accent/dialect! Now I'll put some Adam Lambert on to cheer up the creepy atmosphere I'm surrounded by! Have a good night (or day, or whatever)!

Everybody wants the same thing - Scissor Sisters

Everybody wants the same thing -
Scissor sisters

Today in the office there has been a lot of sharing of videos and revival of old songs and shows, stuff that happened even before I was born actually. When one of the videos started, the beginning sounded really similar to the beginning of this song to my ears, so I got the song stuck in my head for the whole day. It's not even one of my favourites from the Scissters, Ta-dah is their album I like the least methinks, there are just a few songs I really love on it, but I don't go crazy for the others. There are times when one or the other are just the right one, aren't day? 'Cos in the end, everybody wants the same thing!

True colors - Cyndi Lauper

True colors - Cyndi Lauper

Today it's been a pretty important day in terms of marriage freedom for gay people in America, so I felt that this fact needed celebration! I had planned to post a different song, as I have been listening to the Cranberries in these days and today in the shower I ended up listening to a few songs that (I realized later) I hadn't been listening to for more than 2 years, and I still knew the lyrics by heart!! But don't worry, they would make great sundayrevival posts so I think I will keep them on the side for a while! Today it's all about making a step forward in terms of respecting each others as human beings, valuing our differences and celebrating them instead of being scared by what's different.
I have been a bit uncertain on which song to post, but at the risk of being cliché, I wanna play it safe and choose a perfect anthem for this occasion! Happy US gay marriage day and pride week/month to you all!!

Ghost - Antony & the Johnsons

Ghost - Antony & the Johnsons

Today it goes like this... we've been having a lot of consecutive days of rain here in northern Italy and lots of overflowing has happened, also here next to where I live. It's not an easy time for the relationship between Italy and the weather, especially concerning water pouring down from the sky without pause. Today finally we got a break (it's gonna start again soon though), a glimpse of sun among the grey clouds reached the land, but most of the leaves on the trees have fallen and the light is the classic autumn light, which always puts me in a kind of depressed mood, especially with darkness coming so soon... Adding this to my not being super well (thanks, missing teeth), I don't have many reasons for rejoicing these days. This brought me to wanting to listen to Antony & the Johnsons, who work quite well for that time of year! Given that I have posted already the song I wanted to post, I'll leave you with this beautiful Ghost!

Yr mangled heart - Gossip

Yr mangled heart - Gossip

I must thank Facebook for adding a feature that lets you check your pages directly on your home (nice thingy btw, thanks!), otherwise I would've probably forgot to post again. I'm very very busy with the last steps (hopefully) of the creation of my database(s) for my thesis, I say hopefully as I'm so into it that I can't stop and keep on adding data! Anyway now I'm almost done and this goal is quite ultimate, as I also really need to start working on my analysis of these data. I don't have much time to spend here, my database is waiting for me (yes, I know it's past 2.30 at night and tomorrow I need to go swimming before lunch, but I can't stop!). Today a vain trip around Milan as my interviewee ditched me, hope I'm gonna be able to reschedule! Great dinner with friends. Stop. Bye!
PS: Enjoy, great song!

Standing in the way of control - Gossip

Standing in the way of control -
Gossip

I'll start this post like I did with many others: this is not the song I planned to post today. Even more, I was sure I had already posted this one. But I just realised I didn't. Well, no problem, I'll make it up now. The worse thing is that I haven't posted any Gossip at all yet! Well... no problem again, making it up already. I'll just tell you a little bit of my relationship with them: as many of you out there I got to know them in the Heavy cross period and I grew a liking for them, I am in love with Music for Men, the album Heavy cross is on, but I never got to like a lot their previous albums. This song was the only exception and I got exposed to it again sooner this year in the office when I was working, so it got back into my head and, given the new level of maturity of my musical tastes, I decided to give another shot at least to the Standing in the way of control album. I'm doing it now and I'm not repenting at all. Yet I still haven't found anything that moves me (literally) as much as this one. And movement is particularly good while writing the thesis, as I'm seating all day long, so some convulse dancing time is always appreciated. I'm sure you would benefit some too!

Words (between the lines of age) - Neil Young

Words (between the lines of age) - Neil Young

I'll start off this post by stating that this is not the song I meant to post for today, it has not been until like 2 minutes ago. It's not something new anyway. I was planning to start posting the first highlights out of the new shift of stuff I'm listening to, but well... I decided not to. Funny thing, one of Neil Young's albums is part of this new shift, ok it's the last thing I've started listening to and I haven't familiarized with any songs yet, anyway... I was watching a series of short movies and the last one I've seen (Lucky Blue) was about a kind of romance growing between two teenagers in the context of a touring karaoke act. In a very romantic open air environment, with the stage filled with light bulbs and couples dancing together, one of the two guys start singing that song that goes "Words don't come easy to me...", I love you but this is the only way I'm able to tell you and so on like this. I'm not posting that one, yet it made me think of another "Words" song, which is the exact reason why I'm posting this now!

Any which way - Scissor Sisters

Any which way - Scissor Sisters

I hope you guys like the new heading of the blog, I updated it a few days ago...! It took me some time to work it out, but I got rid of the introduction (sounded a bit cheesy) and I had to rearrange the length of the background image to make it as wide as the whole blog, so the idea was to add pictures of music people and albums I am in love with! I confess I am not 100% satisfied with how it turned out, but after all the work I think it's quite ok, it's gonna stay like this for a while! To stay in topic with what's up there, I wanna post a few things by people who are up there and who didn't have much room on the blog lately. The first one is the guy on the extreme right, guess you know who he is and which band he belongs to! And if you don't... well, you have to make it up!

Keep the car running - Arcade Fire

Keep the car running - Arcade Fire

I'm back home after a very intense last few hours! Lots of kilometers (or miles, if you'd rather) stacked up with my pretty little one (my beloved car), good company and an amazing destination. In the end all of my fears were (almost completely) unfounded: the weather has been quite good for the whole duration of the concert, actually the dark sky heavy with clouds and sliced through by lightning has been an amazing and scenographic frame for the concert! The irony lays in the fact that we got flooded by raindrops as big as apples in the 3 minutes when we were running back to the car after we left the venue...! In the end we got super wet anyway, but it happened at the best time possible.
About the concert, well, it's been a great experience and it was worth the trip to (near) Verona: beautiful venue (though with a not-as-good sound), beautiful setlist (with a couple of not-so-strong songs maybe) and a band in good shape (even though I felt less adrenaline rushes than I expected to). All in all a good to great concert, I'm happy I've been there and that's what matters! The highlight for me has been a super performance by We exist, their latest single, mainly thanks to a very powerful introduction by Win (something like "This song is about a gay guy not being accepted by his father, I'm sure you all have been in this situation in one way or another, but don't worry, you are perfect the way you are now!") and... well, I could've asked a little bit more from Neon Bible but we got a few and another one of the songs I enjoyed the most is the one I chose for this post, so keep your car running!

We exist - Arcade Fire

We exist - Arcade Fire

Hello guys! Today finally (hopefully) hopefully (finally) I will be going to the karaoke, after more than 3 years that I've been willing to! I won't celebrate until I'm there, as it happened a few times already that I had plans and then they blew up for one reason or another. So I won't linger on that topic, I'll tell you more tomorrow about it. What I wanna linger on today is Arcade Fire's new video (with Andrew Garfield) for the song We exist on their latest album, a video that just came out today. I'm not super eager in following new video releases generally, so I don't have that many to compare it with, but I must say that this is my personal 2014 favourite to date. I love the concept of the video, even if the story is not 100% clear to me yet (which is actually another positive factor, meaning the video has got multiple levels of interpretation), and I think it's a perfect fit for the song. The message is not particularly complicated, rather it feels to me just like two words that discriminated people, belonging to any kind of minority, oftentimes want to scream to the world. Let's stop judging people by how they are, let's give everybody equal opportunities (to study, to work, to rights, to be happy!) and let's stop being afraid of what's different. Because we are all different, and that's why we should all be given equal opportunities.

Down on their knees

Begging us please

Praying that we don't exist

But we exist

Invisible - U2

U2 - Invisible

A few days ago U2 took part to the umpteenth social campaign, this time for AIDS prevention. U2 made available this song for free download on iTunes in collaboration with Bank of America, which donated 1$ for every download to Red, an organization co-founded by Bono to fight AIDS. I can't say how happy I am that people such as Bono and many others make such a good use of their fame to try and help others. I think that, besides U2's (many) music-related merits, this attachment to social causes and campaigning makes Bono & friends worthy of mention.
Coming to the song, it is quite good too and it also makes sense for the occasion: the lines "I’m more than you know, I’m more than you see here, More than you let me be", "You don’t see me but you will I am not invisible" and "There is no them, There’s only us" can be interpreted as a loud condemnation of discrimination of any kind. It just comes natural (to me) to apply them to gay people, the ones whose discrimination is most often linked to AIDS. And all of this happening during the olympic games in Sochi, with all the fuss that is taking place in Russia. Is it just a coincidence? I'd like to believe that it isn't. As it's never too early to dream of a world with no unjust, bad and unjustified discrimination and violence. And the sooner we dream of it, the sooner the dream will become reality.