Oh woman oh man - London Grammar

Oh woman oh man - London Grammar

I have been silent for a long time, but don't worry, the blog is not dead, not yet at least! My life is apparently getting busier and busier, and while this is most probably a good thing, as it means that I have a lot of things going on and good ways to spend my time, I can't help feeling a little disappointed that I barely ever find the time and energies to post here, especially given the amount of great music that is being released this year!! But here I am, after a very very busy period, I am trying to get a breath for a few days before diving again into work. I need to share with you the latest song shared by London Grammar off their upcoming album 'Truth is a beautiful thing', out in a few weeks, as it's probably my favourite among the four they released so far! I hope you enjoy it too and have a great week!!

You got the love (live remix) - The XX feat. Florence Welch

You got the love (remix live) - The XX feat. Florence Welch

The first encounter I've had with The XX was in 2010 or 2011 when I approached their remix of one of my favourite songs ever, i.e. 'You got the love' by Florence + the Machine, and I was disgusted by that. That kept me far from them for a couple more years, when in 2013 I finally got close to them thanks to some friends' suggestions, and of course I could only regret letting so much time pass by without their music! Still, that 'You got the love' never met my taste, and I couldn't but be amazed about how two of my favourite bands could get together and create something that I found so hateful. The same feeling transferred through to my viewing of their live remix during the recent Night + Day event The XX organised in Brixton. Still, for how much the song didn't please me, their collaboration on the stage was magic, especially how Florence could remix her voice live even better than a DJ could do in a studio...! And that drew me to listen to the song again. And again. And again. And again. And again. And, well... I guess you understood by now what happened afterwards!

"You know it's real! I know, I know, You know it's real! Eh eh eh eh eh eh"

Big picture - London Grammar

Big picture - London Grammar

Almost another week has gone by without me posting, and this time of my life is a really really busy one...! I will just spare a few minutes to share with you another song that London Grammar released (a while ago now) in anticipation of their forthcoming sophomore album. I must say I like 'Big picture' better than the previous "Rooting for you", and the video is also very beautiful! I hope you enjoy it and I also wish all of us a pleasant weekend!

Rooting for you (live) - London Grammar

Rooting for you - London Grammar

2017 started with a musical boom, which took me almost a month to post, but finally here I am! London Grammar are about to release a new album in the coming weeks, and they previewed this song recorded live, which I also had the pleasure to listen to at Clockeflap a couple months ago. I still need to get into it completely, but I like the style, which is very London Grammar still, even more minimal if possible, so I'm very curious to listen to the rest of the new materials that are coming!!!
Now I'm getting ready for the next new year, which is gonna be in just a couple of days: Hong Kong and the whole of South East Asia are getting ready for the lunar new year, and so am I!

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!

Metal & dust - London Grammar

Metal & dust - London Grammar

I was looking for the post I made of this song to share it on Facebook and... I just found out I haven't posted it yet! Oh goodness, how ashamed can one be...?! Anyway, I'm just out of watching my first weekly live of this year's X Factor Italy and I must say that, even if the singers are good, I've not been particularly impressed by nor felt any strong connection with any of them. The band who played last did a cover of this song and, well... of course matching Hannah's voice is quite impossible, but they didn't do a bad job. Notwithstanding that they've been sent home, while many others have done worse imho. All of this just to say that I've been having this song in my head all night and, well... the fact that I hadn't posted it yet is just yet another proof that there are forces we can't see nor understand that govern our lives! Have a good night you all, and don't forget to listen to London Grammar!

London thunder - Foals

London thunder - Foals

It's really unbelievable how I haven't posted this song yet...! I've been in love with it for weeks now, it's probably the song that I've felt the most since the excitement for Florence's new album came out a few months ago. I will underline again how Foals have done, once again, a very good job in my opinion with their new album. I think that (maybe) their 2013 'Holy fire' is a small step up, but I wouldn't dare say that I am disappointed by the new album, rather...! The two opening singles are both great and I consumed them both, and out of the other songs on the album, which I rank between like and love, this is by far the best. Amazing atmosphere, it sounds just great and makes you fly to another dimension. Makes me fly, at least. Sometimes I can't stop listening to it, so approach it but be careful: it's addictive!

Darling are you gonna leave me? - London Grammar

Darling are you gonna leave me? -
London Grammar

Here I am, alone at home on an autumn Saturday night, after a nice Indian dinner with my parents (I'm so full), after a massive fish-based lunch at grandma's (I'm so so full). It somehow feels weird to be back in my hometown and not having any of my friends around, but it's been like this for a while now, I already knew our lives would have been going away, scattered in all directions... it actually lasted longer than I expected, meeting each other here quite regularly, but in the last couple of years it's pretty much gone... that's one of the reasons why I'm a bit frustrated that my own life hasn't spread its wings and flown away yet, as I found myself gravitating around home actually more than I did when I used to live just one hour away in University... I think I really need a boost, a new fresh start, like the one that I thought I had had at the beginning of this year, which (until now) didn't turn up to be so fresh after all... but enough with my semi-depressive thoughts, let's get to some depressive music! No, I'm joking, I meant great music! Not of the happiest kind, yeah, but still... one of these songs you really really can't miss out!

#yearinmusic A song or two per day - 2014 in music

Hello folks! 2014 has gone by and I haven't summed it up musically yet, so I decided to do this directly on the blog, to share my best picks of this past year with you all in case you overlooked them or missed them altogether!
So, let's begin!

First there is the most difficult category, that is the best song of 2014, meaning the song that has been most meaningful for me last year. I will build a quadrumvirate, yet even if I don't feel comfortable picking one of them over the others, I dare say that Elastic heart would be the first pick.

Best songs 2014

Hey now is the first song I ever listened of London Grammar (goodness bless KEXP and their live recordings) and it started my path of love with them. London Grammar have been, probably together with Imagine Dragons, my "best new band" of 2014, and that gives you a measure of how much I grew to like them in less than one year. The story of America is very similar, I remember falling in love with it one time it was playing in the office early last year, in the period when I was listening to Imagine Dragons and getting to know them myself. Beautiful combo, which brought it to be my alarm call song for quite a long time!
Elastic heart is the representation of great soundtrack music: I obsessed over Catching Fire's soundtrack (as you might have noticed) and this is my favourite song out of it, together with Shooting arrows at the sky. I picked this one because it made me curious about Sia, and brought me to listen to her latest album, which I loved so much!
Lastly, in chronological order, Every other freckle has become kind of an obsession soon after Alt-J's sophomore album came out, it stood out immediately as my favourite in an album that I utterly loved and still love. The cat of the video has become highly representative for me (just check the cover image of the blog's Google+ page)!!

Moving on to albums, I am once again in a difficult position, as many great CDs have seen the light in 2014: U2, Tori Amos, Hozier, Lykke Li, Hundred waters and more have released awesome albums that found their way deep into my heart. Yet I decided to pick three albums that made it a step deeper than the others.

Best albums 2014

After scoring my favourite song of the year, Sia didn't disappoint me with her album either: it took me a while to appreciate Chandelier, which then went on to have a (deserved) huge success. I didn't fall in love with the other songs immediately either, but after a few listens the album pierces through your heart and won't ever leave. Great, awesome pick. Don't make the mistake to overlook it or to just stick to Chandelier. There are many other great(er) songs in there!
Same line of reasoning goes for Alt-J's This is all yours, a highly expected album by me (and many others) which, I am confident to say, didn't disappoint. I am still not sure whether the level is as high as An awesome wave's, but their debut album is so, so great that even being slightly less awesome than it, would make their sophomore one of the albums absolutely not to miss in 2014!
The last one of the three is the one that didn't score any song in my top ranking, maybe because they are all so good that none of them really stood out (if I were to choose I'd probably pick Florida kilos, one of the deluxe edition bonus tracks)! When West coast first came out I kind of hated it, as I did with practically all Lana songs. In this case, I didn't grow an utmost love for it, as I still think it's one of the weakest songs of the album, but let's say I don't dislike it. West coast aside, the rest of the album is... just wow! Just go give it 5 to 10 listens, it's gonna become your favourite album of 2014, as it did for me!!

Well, here it is! 2014 is gone, but its great music will stay! Now I'm hoping for a great 2015 in music, as I'm waiting for new albums by my favourite artists, mainly Florence + the Machine and PJ Harvey, both of whom have not released any albums since 2011! Don't keep us waiting too long girls!

If you wait - London Grammar

If you wait - London Grammar

And to find just one other seems to be the goal of everyone

From the search to the hurt I believed I could take you on

We would drink, we would dance and you would watch me whenever you want

And can you give me everything everything everything

Cos I can’t give you anything

And if you wait, if you wait

I will trust in time that we will meet again

Today one of my dearest friends graduated and I'm so happy for her!

Unrelated to that, I have started a random play of London Grammar's debut album, and while this song was playing I was casually paying attention to the lyrics I quote up here, which struck me quite a lot, I feel them very close to my personal experience. I never paid them enough attention, nonetheless I have been utterly in love with the song and, being it the title-track of the album, I think it's a good post representing what has for sure been one of my top 3 albums in this 2014!

Wasting my young years - London Grammar

Wasting my young years -
London Grammar

It's quite weird that the days when I forget to post are the ones I spend without leaving my home... anyway, aside from being a bad blogger, I already should have posted this two days ago (the sliding away of it is due to my not posting twice the day before yesterday), I set to post this yesterday but of course I forgot, so here it is now! This is another post generated by Lollapalooza 2014 live streaming: yes, I have watched London Grammar too and, well, I enjoyed it a lot! Did I have any doubts about it? Not really...! The funny thing is that this song was already in my drafts since probably two weeks ago, as it came to my mind during my day of wild inspiration. Realising I hadn't posted it yet, I immediately put it in queue. It kept on coming to my mind after that and, even if it was not the one I most enjoyed on Lolla, I did really like it (and I have already posted Sights, go watch the live performance of it anyway, it's awesooome).

Pompeii - Bastille

Pompeii - Bastille

09/07/2014

And so here we are again, a new week is starting, even if I have been writing this last week! If everything's going fine I should be on my way back from the trip at the sea I've been doing this past few days with some friends and hopefully everything's been going great! Tomorrow I'm gonna start posting live again, I promise, but for today I have (had) to write in advance still. I am actually writing this post together with the Get lucky one, as these two songs has been going together for me since last year: I fell in love with both of them more or less at the same time, they were in the same playlist and they have been the two hits of last summer for me and for the whole world in general I think! And given that summer has come again and I am celebrating it at the sea (it's gonna be ironic if in the next few days, that means when this is published, it's gonna be rainy and windy and chilly!), it makes sense to revive back some of past year's successes!

Sights - London Grammar

Sights - London Grammar

08/07/2014

Hello guys, if everything is going alright I should be at the sea at the time this is getting posted! Now I'm writing it at the beginning of the week for the coming weekend, when I'm planning to go to the sea for a couple of days with a couple of friends! I've been just checking the weather forecast right now and there should be something like 34-37°C with full sun! Can't wait! I really hope it's gonna be like this!
Back to music: I'm writing this on the eve of the Tori Amos concert, which I'm hoping it's gonna be great! Yet I'm posting this other song, as I've been waking up with it on my mind and, let's face it, it's a great one! This is one of my favourite out of London Grammar's debut album If you wait. I have just been watching the video for the first time and I liked it a lot too, it conveys a powerful message for what I can read in it: the scene moving from London Grammar playing a gig to Hannah (the singer) portraying an ordinary girl singing in the audience in my opinion means that we should all try to follow our dreams and face and fight our fears, we can all be living our dreams as
"What you’re feeling, It’s what I’m feeling too. What you’re made of, It’s what I’m made of too."
I know you're gonna love it too if you give it a chance, so enjoy (and happy sea trips to you all)!

Music is the victim - Scissor Sisters

Music is the victim - Scissor Sisters

Hey ya! Finally here I am, ready to write a serious and decent post after a couple of convulse days! But first a few words about my London easter weekend: I must say the outcome has been mixed. Everything started well, it looked like my relationship with London was getting better, the premises were there and then... things stopped improving. It felt like I reached the limit of my liking, all the things I've seen and done were nice and ok but, to put it like this, the sparkle didn't light up. Well, at least now I feel safe in giving a more thorough evaluation of London after spending a few days there. Of course living there would be a totally different experience, but let's say it would also be a (very, very) expensive one! So here I am, back to Exeter in a limbo-like situation. Today was the last day me and the guys going away with me in about a week spent with our boss, as she's taking a trip abroad and this looks like the beginning of the end. Things are weird, I have been waiting for the time to head back home for a while and now I have a really hard time cutting (or at least loosening) the ties with the people that I've shared this time of my life with, and a little bit with Exeter too, for as strongly as I have tried to oppose my feeling at home here, I have probably dug some roots in this ground. And this is a good thing I guess, as it means I enjoyed my time here, so I am a bit sad that now my internship is coming to an end. Yet I don't have much time to feel nostalgic: I wanna enjoy my last moments here until the very end and spring is finally finding its way here too, with a warm sun and beautiful blossoming trees. From here my need to listen to cheerful music (i.e. Scissor Sisters), and this song in particular as the mentioning of San Francisco reminds me (a lot) of the nostalgic feeling that fills me up when I'm about to leave a place I love.

I left my heart in San Francisco...

Running battle - Kasabian

Chelsea, London (UK)

Today I've been wandering through London and I must say I'm slowly (even not too much so) fixing my relationship with it! I met my parents (and friends) again after a while, which was nice, and I really got the chance to get a hold of the main London spots, so that I have the time to explore thoroughly a bit more areas in the time I've got left! Tomorrow we'll be heading to the Leeds castle out of town and in the evening I'll hopefully be able to arrange dinner with some friends from work, so I guess I won't have much free time on the computer! Moreover I've been singing/mumbling this song for a great part of the afternoon/evening walk, so what better fit?
(Hoping that the lyrics of the song won't be happening to me anytime soon!)

All lyin across the ground

Try not to make no sound

When two men goin break ya down, I said

Two men goin break ya down, I breathe

Stay awake - London Grammar

Stay awake - London Grammar

As I already anticipated a few hours ago, the weekend in front of me is gonna be very intense and I won't access my computer anytime before sunday night, so I think I'd best post now for today and make peace with it. I'll just give you the song I'm listening to in this exact moment, which makes a lot of sense for the time it is (friday night) but not for me (as I have to wake up at 6.40 a.m., that is in too few hours!). Stay awake with(out) me and enjoy your night and weekend!

Nightcall - London Grammar

As you may have noticed, I pushed London Grammar quite a bit lately. Well, I think I didn't push them enough actually. I think they're preeetty good and if you don't know them yet, give them a try (or two). This is one the last single extracted from their debut album. Enjoy!

Strong - London Grammar

I've been recently creating a new playlist, the first one since I've come to Exeter. Even though it is filled up with lots of songs by each of the few bands/singers I'm listening to right now, it (unexpectedly) turned out to be quite cool. The song here is quite an exception, as there are not sisters of her in this playlist, but I'm sure they will be featured soon. In the meantime I'll just share with you this awesome little spell that will envelop your heart!

Hey now (live on KEXP) - London Grammar

London Grammar are my most recent discovery: I have heard them being mentioned here and there lately but I wasn't able to find their album. Yet, I found a performance of them on KEXP (goodness bless them and their radio) and I was, together with the radio host, stunned with my jaw wide open after the first song, Hey now, which I'm featuring here now. Be careful with your jaws when you listen!