Delilah (demo) - Florence + the Machine

Delilah (demo) - Florence + the Machine

Hello my dear readers, here I am after a couple of exhausting days I had to get through even if I'm not yet recovered by the toughness of my recent trip in Japan. An exhaustion that has been absolutely welcome on my side, as it was paired up with a Florence + the Machine concert in Bologna and thus with a couple of days spent with a friend from university that I haven't got the chance to see often lately as she lives near Bologna. I've been having an absolutely great time, seeing a couple of cities I hadn't got the chance to see before, enjoying yet another great concert by my favourite band and spending time with a friend! So, in order to celebrate the release of 'Delilah' as single in vinyl in occasion of the record store day (happening two days from now) and my latest concert, here is for you the awesome demo of 'Delilah' that is contained on the to-be-released vinyl! Hope you enjoy!!

The blackest day - Lana del Rey

The blackest day - Lana del Rey

Here I am, at the end of another work week, ready to undertake my 4-hour drive home. Then it's gonna be two weeks in Thailand and then... who knows? The situation at work has been, if possible, even more messed up and uncertian this last week, at least as far as my future is concerned. I don't know what will be of me, I will be flexible and ready to accept the path that my destiny has shaped for me. And then we'll see. In the meanwhile I'll keep enjoying some good music, and I'll keep sharing it with you all. Today I'm getting to post the first song out of Lana's new album since it has been released. After a couple of listens this is my favourite, and I think it actually kind of makes sense with my current situtation, even if I'm living it all with a perfect zen attitude, that is the main learning I've done in these past months!

Which witch (demo) - Florence + the Machine

Which witch (demo) -
Florence + the Machine

Today two main things happened: first I finished reading Neon Genesis Evangelion (the manga). I had been reading it in parallel with the watching of the anime... well, it must be some 4 years ago or so, and given that now is the time it is set in, and most importantly given that now the manga has been finished (while when I was reading it there were still a couple of volumes due for release), it seemed like a good time to re-read it and take it to completion. And I'm glad I did that, it's a real work of art, very deep and philosophical, wondering about the meaning of life and the fate of humanity, with a dark and sad tone but very realistic and... I liked how it ended!
The second thing is that I bonded definitely with another song by the 'Queen of peace' (or shall I say 'Witch'? Which of the two?), that is this beautiful demo. I remember reading an article/interview where she was saying that while talking with her producer, she was very proud of this one epic song, which she had taken the vocals more than a hundred times for, etc. and then he said that he wanted to keep it simple on this album, keep her to the bare essential. And so this pearl (its demo actually) ended up (unrightfully imho) being a part of the deluxe edition, a bonus track...! Well... the song is very Florence + the Machine, very Florence Welch actually and I'm sure that all the hardcore fans can't not love it, even if (and even more because it has been left) in its rawer form.
A must listen!

Human - Of Monsters and Men

Human - Of Monsters and Men

Today I maybe hopefully had the first breakthrough with OMAM's new album, 'Beneath the skin' (the title coming from this song's lyrics), and I had it with this song actually. After the end of this (short) working week (2-day working weeks should be the rule, not the exception!) I got back to my B&B and took a walk around, as the sun was up high in the sky and there are a few green areas around here. Eating an ice-cream and then reading manga, while walking I was listening to the album and it feels like it started to get into me after a few listens...! Apart from 'Empire', I hadn't really felt a particularly strong connection with any of the songs, but now it feels like they're starting to pierce through! And usually the album I take a while to like, are the ones that I end up loving the most... let's see what's gonna happen with this one!

Ditmas - Mumford & Sons

Ditmas - Mumford & Sons

Ok, I have been strolling away from my playlists and my posts haven't collected much support lately, so let's get back on track! This is one of the few songs I liked quite soon out of M&S third album, not an unforgettable one (and not very dissimilar to the standard M&S song actually), but still pleasant to listen to. Can't write anymore as the heat is getting on me and my brain isn't working straight, so I'll be back tomorrow (or, more likely, the day after, as tomorrow it's time for another concert!!!)

Mother - Florence + the Machine

Mother - Florence + the Machine

In one way or another, we are all affected by the relationship we have with our mothers, oftentimes even more than we realise. I find myself quoting my own mother more often than not and I recently realised how many ways of saying and opinions I took from her.

"Mother, make me, Make me a big tall tree so I can shed my leaves and let it blow through me.

Mother, make me, Make me a big grey cloud so I can rain on you things I can't say out loud."

Mothers shape us, their influence on our character and our development is in many cases the strongest one for better or for worse, be it with their presence or absence (both physical and psychological).

"Mother, make me, Make me a bird of prey so I can rise above this, let it fall away.

Mother, make me, Make me a song so sweet, heaven trembles, fallen at our feet."

All in all mothers (and their parent-partner, whenever there is one) are the ones who make us big tall trees, big grey clouds, birds of prey and songs so sweet... and our link with them doesn't cease to be easily (even if sometimes we wish it would)! Mothers are the refuge, the pillar, the unwanted attention, the teacher, the educator, the lover, the carriers. They are big, blue and beautiful.

Hunger - Of Monsters and Men

Hunger - Of Monsters and Men

I find OMAM's second album very different from their debut, and I still haven't understood if it's a good thing or not...! I haven't found any hit song yet (like Little talks, for instance), the songs are more intimate, more hard to understand, to familiarize with and to interiorize, which might be a very good pro in the long term, meaning that the music is good and lasting, as it needs many listens for the listener to penetrate all the layers of interpretation (melody, lyrics, etc.) and the whole mixing up of them all. Anyway, today my friend M. came to my hometown to visit, we explored some old (for me) and new places and it's been a very pleasant day. It's just that when we are together, we are a dangerous love-for-Japan combo, and we always end up buying well too many mangas... anyway, that's one of the good things of life and I will just enjoy it. Now let me go, I have mangas to read..!

The wolf - Mumford & Sons

The wolf - Mumford & Sons

Hey my people! I'm sorry again if I have been posting once every two days lately (and here I was thinking about changing the name of the blog into 'A song per day (or two)', it would've been a good idea!), but it's been getting down quite hard on me in the last few weeks, just know that last night I laid on my bed at 18.30 to relax for a while and I got conscious again at 4.30 in the morning, with my clothes still on...! Thanks goodness my parents convinced me to take some time off work to rest and recover from my long-lasting malaise, also to start taking some more medical tests. So I will have the chance to use this week to watch some TV series, to collect my ideas about work, to read some of the (many) manga I recently bought and of course to listen to many new albums that just came out and to older ones I am just discovering! To the former lot belongs the new work by Mumford & Sons, out of which I'm posting one of the songs they posted before releasing the album, the one that gave me back some hope after the false step of Believe!

Queen of peace - Florence + the Machine

Queen of peace - Florence + the Machine

I am back to Italy after one of the toughest weeks, in which I showed more strength of will than it was wise to, my health was not particularly bad but has never been good either, I didn't enjoy Bangkok at all as I hardly got out of my hotel room except for going to work (when I have been fit/crazy enough to), and overall I am very tried and weakened by the life-style I've been (compelled to be) taking lately, with no home and many flights and so on... I think my body was already weak, it has been since the beginning of the year, and this effort I require of it is not helping for sure... One more strain (a bit more pleasant) has been to buy the tickets for Florence's concert in Milan just before xmas, me and some friends have been tracking them and waiting for them to go on sale, but we didn't manage to get parterre tickets, it was actually even hard to get the B ring... well, whatever, we got them in the end, I hope I'll be able to go and enjoy it just as much as I did with her last one in 2012, one of the best nights of my life!! In the meanwhile I share with you another pearl out of the new album, 'How big, how blue, how beautiful'! This is 'Queen of peace', enjoy!

Ottobre - Carmen Consoli

Ottobre - Carmen Consoli

Hey there, guess what?! I'm sick again... This time not even the air of Thailand (ok, I agree, Bangkok's air for sure is not among the best in the world) saved me from my post-plane illness. I hate being sick and I hate that this cure the specialist doctor gave me doesn't seem to be having any tangible effect for now, even if I'm taking in more meds than the average grandpa... Anyway, I have been meaning to post this a few days ago, than got carried over by the events, I will do it now: I apologise again for posting an Italian song, but I am really in love with it and actually I am really in love with Carmen's new album! This song 'Ottobre' (October) is about teenage years and spending time in Carmen's native Sicily in October, the "sweetest month". She sings a few lines that I interpret as describing a lesbian love, as two girls "got back into the scene with red cheeks and a good excuse", but it is just my own interpretation. My idea actually gets stronger with the chorus, when she sings that she would rather have chosen hell rather than the limbo if this was the price of freedom, and that heaven could wait if this was the price of freedom. A very sweet song anyway, hope you can enjoy!
PS: Ok, the Internet just gave me the final confirmation that my hypothesis is right!

Fire under my feet - Leona Lewis

Fire under my feet - Leona Lewis

Soon enough Leona is gonna be out with a new album, and I missed out her new single release while I was spending my (first) two weeks in Thailand last month. Luckily I quickly caught up and here it is, a very nice part of my current playlist! I like the turn that Leona's music has taken, with this kind of dance r&b, on the shadow of 'Forgive me', and I'm sure she's gonna have the usual (nice) ballads too on the album. Can't wait for it to be out, in the meanwhile let's enjoy a great track for the summer that has finally come!!

As far as I could get - Florence + the Machine

As far as I could get - Florence + the Machine

My obsession with HBHBHB (of course) isn't over yet, rather I think it's just at the beginning! I've been pretty much taken away by 'Delilah' and the title track's demo in the past couple of weeks, but I didn't forget about this other great tune that was released as a bonus track (or a 'Ship to wreck' b-side, I still haven't understood), which was very much appreciated by me when it was released, even if it soon fell under the shadow of such masterpieces as the above-mentioned 'Delilah' and others. Nonetheless listening to it a few more time, I found myself liking it more and more, so there's no way it is not deserving of a post on the blog! I have also been updating my playlists on Spotify, you can find the June one here (with the other songs posted this month, unfortunately I couldn't find this one...): why don't you give it a chance (or two) [per day]?!

Empire - Of Monsters and Men

Empire - Of Monsters and Men

Today for the first time I travelled to work from home directly, without coming to Veneto on Sunday, and it's been a great choice: besides enjoying my Sunday much better, I quite enjoyed the trip too (though it was quite hot) and I also was, for some reason, hyper-active, very productive and very awake (and very wet)! After work I reached my B&B, which lays at the top of a hill: to reach it I had to climb a crazily steep road, but the location is quite fascinating! The worst thing is that I realised I left both of my Mac chargers home, meaning it's gonna be three (long) weeks without them! Stupid! Thanks goodness I have the work-pc that I can (supposedly) use at home!! After all of these adventures in such a long day, I'll leave you with one of the songs that are featured in my latest playlist, and I'm sure you're gonna love it as much as I do! It's the first song I'm posting out of OMAM's new album, which is going to be released very soon!!! (Or is out already?! No, it's tomorrow! Well, great timing, kudos to me!!)

How big, how blue, how beautiful (demo) - Florence + the Machine

"Between a crucifix and a Hollywood sign we decided to get hurt..."

How big, how blue, how beautiful (demo) -
Florence + the Machine

As you might have noticed (or maybe not), I have been quite obsessed with Florence + the Machine in the past week (well, let's say for the in the last 5 years...!), meaning that I have practically only been listening to their new album HBHBHB, more in particular to two songs on it in repeat. One of them is Delilah, which I have already posted and which is likely going on to become my favourite song of the year. The other one is this beautiful (and big and blue) thing I'm posting, that is the demo version of the title track. Don't mistake me, I have been mumbling "how big, how blue, how beautiful..." since the first promo video came out in February, and I love the original/album version. Yet this demo has something in it that I can't describe but that helped me connect with it at a more immediately reachable (but not superficial) level. I don't know, maybe by being a demo it has that kind of raw and undefined strength that catches you at the beginning and (maybe) is not able to keep you caught for long. Well... I'm gonna enjoy it while it lasts! Anyway I have just one thing I wanna say about this album: How Big, How Blue, How BEAUTIFUL.

PS: The first lyric of this song is just genius, it kills me every time!

Delilah - Florence + the Machine

Delilah - Florence + the Machine

It's been so nice being back to Milan that I didn't even have got time to post yesterday!! Moreover, I didn't even have time to download Florence's new album, WHICH FINALLY CAME OUT, on my ipod!! So what's the point of pre-ordering on Amazon and getting AutoRip and stuff?! Well, I did it now and I'm finally super ready to start listening, but not before sharing with you this last unbelievably great piece of music she shared with us a few days before the release and which I'm greatly in love with already (and falling for it more and more the more I listen to it, as with all the best Florence songs). I can't wait to share with you all the greatness of HBHBHB ('How big, how blue, how beautiful'), but one step at a time!!

"Too fast for freedom, sometimes it all falls down

these chains never leave me, I keep dragging them around"

Snow - San Cisco

Snow - San Cisco

Wow, so many new great tunes to post, I've been falling behind for a while now and seeing that I haven't posted many songs like this one yet really gives me the fire under my feet!! I created a new playlist I'm totally in love with (featuring other great songs from San Cisco's new album, amongst others), I pre-ordered Florence's coming album (together with a couple other CDs) on Amazon, can't wait for the AutoRip, I already told you about the Imagine Dragons' concert I might be going to... well, there are many news and I have to keep up! And I will! Happy weekend!

"The snow, the snow, the snow has melted now.

Everyday I'm lost in a new town.

I know, I know, I know its so unfair,

I'm never there but I still care."

Thief - Imagine Dragons

Thief - Imagine Dragons

It's been a while since I posted twice, so just to be (sometimes) faithful to the very name of this blog, here I am!! I'm taking advantage of having more times on my hands today, after sleeping for a good 36 hours under the weather I'm almost back to "normal" (not that my normal is particularly healthy or by any definition normal anyway, I don't like the adjective!) and ready to start again! A good discovery today helped me get back on track: thanks to one of you guys I did a little research on Imagine Dragons' tour schedule and I found out they're gonna be playing Bangkok at the end of August! So, if things turn out fine and the (not-so-cheap) tickets don't sell out quick... well, there might be a chance of getting a name out of my to-see list!

"When the stars look down on me

What do they see?"

La signora del quinto piano - Carmen Consoli

La signora del quinto piano - Carmen Consoli

You know I don't often post Italian (or any non-English, for that matter) music, but sometimes I really feel the need to, especially when I think it's really valuable. Carmen is one of my favourite Italian singer/songwriters and actually one of the few I listen to. She has also toured abroad and is somehow known abroad too, especially in the East Coast. Anyway, she recently released her latest album, her first in 5 years, and even if I didn't have that high an expectation about it, I must confess it really is a great work! In many songs she went back to the sound of her previous works, the lyrics are (as usual) very deep and meaningful, whipping but not too nerdy. This song in particular has struck me, and I just found out today that she is going to re-record it with Elisa, Gianna Nannini and other famous Italian singers in favour of a campaign against violence on women. The song lyrics are very peculiar and deliver an important message in a funny way, as only her can: the lady living on the 5th floor (i.e. la signora del quinto piano) is living with a piton in her home to defend herself from her ex-husband that keeps showing up in front of the building with a hammer. After she went to the police to report the fact, they told her there's no reason to be scared. In the next verse we find out the piton as escaped after eating the Chihuahua dog of the doorwoman and 3 weeks after the escape they find out that the lady has been buried alive in the bathroom wall, but the police-men still repeat that there's no reason to be scared...!

Human again - Kodaline

Human again - Kodaline

No sundayrevival post this week, as I have so many newer songs to post and I'm lagging behind and already listening to new music, and I meant to post twice yesterday and then I forgot... uff!! Such a full life and a short time, when you have to travel places back and forth, so much time wasted, that I could use much better otherwise... anyway, today I've been having this song in my head since the morning, and given that I haven't shared it with you, it seems like the perfect time to do so! Have a great new week!

The one - Kodaline

The one - Kodaline

Hello my dear readers, actually... let me start again. Sa-wad-dee-krap my dear readers! I am sorry for not posting every day lately, but my days are quite full and when I get through I'm pretty tired. Yet I'm starting to mingle with the Thai culture, food and people and basic greetings and stuff, so a little step by step progress is taking place! Now I have two full days of weekend in front of me and I'm ready to go take the first steps of exploring Bangkok! I'll keep you updated, in the meanwhile enjoy another great song out of Kodaline's new album!!