Instrumental #3 - PJ Harvey

I promise I'll be back in full form starting tomorrow! This is just to let you know that I am alive and well and that I took a few days of vacation from the blog in this dead period of the year! I'll be back with you tomorrow for a more hefty post! Good night (or whatever part of day is now where you are)!

PS: This is one of my favourite (instrumental) songs ever, so powerful, love it a lot!

Instrumental #3

Roar - Katy Perry

Roar - Katy Perry

Yesterday was spent travelling here and there, so I didn't find a moment to write a post, but here I am now! I am in the mountains, it's quite cold (last night and this morning... my goodness! Is it really August?), the weather is so and so (but at home it's even worse, they say), so I'm not completely disappointed! Moreover I got some time to spend with my family, which was nice!
Musically speaking I don't have any news, but i have plenty of stuff to post coming from my latest playlists. This is a song I got to know better when I was in Croatia: I first thought it was by Alicia Keys, but well... it isn't!

Down from the rafters (live on KEXP) - Hundred Waters

Down by the rafters (live on KEXP) - Hundred Waters

Tomorrow (actually today) I'm leaving for the mountains to spend Ferragosto (15th of August, it is a holiday in Italy, actually the one I hate the most as cities get empty, everything is closed and going away is super expensive and all the vacation-places are awfully crowded) with my grandparents. I'm not gonna have any Internet there (even though I might be able to use an Internet key, we'll see) and I didn't prepare any posts in advance, so we'll see if I'm gonna (a bit forcefully) take the first voluntary gap in the life of the blog (it's mid-August anyway, I think you all have better things to do than waste time reading my posts) or if I'm gonna be able to keep posting!


For now let's enjoy the present! I've been willing to post Hundred Waters since I discovered them by chance thanks to KEXP a few days ago. This is one of my two current favourite songs of them, really love it! Hope you'll enjoy!

Below my feet - Mumford & Sons

Below my feet - Mumford & Sons

Got on the late train again, well... important thing is that I'm here now! Today I have been hearing a (new?) song by Markus Mumford at the radio and my mother commented on it. That made me think about Mumford & Sons (actually I think I was already subconsciously noting that it had been a while since I last listened to them) and, well... they were the soundtrack of a very pleasing afternoon I spent at the pool, with some good sun and some good relax! Don't worry, the clouds did come in the late afternoon and a storm started raging out, but what can we do? This summer's like this, take it or... take it! Below my feet is one of the songs that made me think the most today, and I am now amazed to notice it's on Babel and not on their debut album Sigh no more, I really thought the opposite!

High - James Blunt

High - James Blunt

I was chatting with my dear friends in our Facebook group when one of them posted a song by 5 seconds of summer. I won't waste our time explaining the whole conversation, it is enough to say that it mostly revolves having doubts around the alleged heterosexuality of the band members (a buzz that is generated around practically every boy band, most often with reason)! But that's not what I wanted to talk about today. When I started playing a song posted by one of my friends (don't remember the title, sorry...) the intro sounded a lot like the one of this song, which of course stuck into my mind and, well... why not post it?

Under the weather - KT Tunstall

Under the weather - KT Tunstall

Hey guys, hope all is well by you. Here the crazy summer is going on, rampaging more than ever! Last night I was out with friends in the city center, when I left home the weather was nice with just some dark clouds on one side of the sky and, after two rain incidents in the last 10 days I knew I should have carried an umbrella around with me. I didn't. And, well... while we were out, almost ready to head back home, the worst tropical storm I have ever seen took off. It was raining like crazy (I'll just tell you I got my underpants wet being exposed no more than 10 seconds to direct rain), with (they told me) 607 lightnings per minute (most of them just over our heads). When I was heading home with my car (a 5 minute ride) I was literally surfing on the road, never seen anything like that (42 mm out water, it poured down, in about 2 hours methinks)! When I finally reached my building's garage, the power went out and I had to drive my car in the box in full dark, looked like the setting of a horror movie and I was expecting some weird monster or zombie to come out of the dark any moment! Thanks goodness I had my little cow key-holder making light and mooing!! When I got in the house, my parents were in bed awake and seconds later it started hailing as if people were smashing eggs on our windows. Of course it calmed down a second and then started all over again! I swear I have never ever seen something this messy in my whole life, not even in England! I think that I don't need to give any further explanation on why I chose this song for today...!

Someone to save you - OneRepublic

Someone to save you - OneRepublic

Here we are with the big news of today! I started writing my thesis! What? You don't care? Right, right... sorry that's not what I meant to write! Just joking, the big news coming from yesterday is that I have bought tickets for the OneRepublic gig in November, me and my bestie G. (and, who knows who else) are going to Assago on the 17th of November and I am really really excited! To celebrate this (and also the fact that I finally started writing my thingy for real) I'm posting one of my favourite OneRep's songs, out of their debut album (how's it possible that I haven't posted anything from that one yet?!) Dreaming out loud! Enjoy!

Take on me - A-ha

Take on me - A-ha

One of my Facebook friends posted a video I already saw a few years ago about 3 super-funny guys (Axis of awesome) showing how most successful pop-songs are built on the same 4 chords (watch the official video here). One of the songs they were playing is a 1986 song I just added to my August playlist. I immediately thought about posting it, then I changed my mind because there is another relevant music-related event that took place in my life today, but, given that I practically already wrote the post about A-ha, let's give them some room today and tomorrow (or maybe tonight if I have the time) I'll tell you more about what else is going on. I can give you an anticipation: it regards one of the people featured in my new blog heading!

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!

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).

Are you what you want to be? - Foster the People

Are you what you want to be? - Foster the People

In my best (and rarely realistic) intentions this would've been the second post of yesterday, as it made sense yesterday and I also would have had the time to write it down last night... but I didn't. Anyway the reason for this post lies behind me watching Foster the People on the livestream of Lollapalooza festival two nights ago (ok, it was late afternoon in Chicago but it was past 3 at night at my place!) and, well... I loved the performance! I admit I didn't totally love their second and currently latest album and my relationship with it can be perfectly summed up with the one I have with this song: loved the chorus at once (the same happened with a couple of songs on the album), while the rest of the song (/album) didn't really say anything to me for the first 5-6 listens. Now I got kind of used to it and I find it ok (as I do with few more songs on the album), but just ok not great, plus there are some other parts of the song (and especially some other songs on the album) that still have not caught me at all. So, a false step after the explosive love I had for Torches, their debut album. What saved the whole thing was indeed the watching them live at Lollapalooza: their performance has been great and super energizing, I was dancing like an idiot in front on my pc with my earplugs on in the middle of the night! The song that gained the most live for me has been this one, with the result that I have been singing the chorus in my mind (and not only) the whole day yesterday!

#sundayrevival I'll take the rain - R.E.M.

I'll take the rain - R.E.M.

I feel that I have been neglecting my sundayrevival concept in the last few weeks: between forgotten posts and lack of time to sit down and write something real, not taking into account all the amazing new stuff I am listening to, I didn't do justice to my sunday posts.
The choice of a post for a weird day (full rain to clouds to the sun out now and who knows what's gonna happen!) of this fake, rainy and autumny summer had to be something rain-related! And, well... this works perfectly. My relationship with R.E.M's 2001 album Reveal has been one of the hard and complicated kind (but with a happy end): I have been listening to it before I should have according to the chronological order I have used to approach their discography because my favourite song of theirs (Imitation of life) is on it and at first I found the album a very hard one to digest. Then things (slowly) evolved, song by song I started growing a liking and then fell in love, up to the point of it surely entering the top 5 of R.E.M. albums in my personal ranking! And I'll take the rain is no exception: it is one of the first songs I started liking for what I remember and, well... that's it! and what better song for this frigging weather? I can't do but take the (whole lot of) rain that's pouring down from the sky. Literally. Not to say that I'm not taking the rain that's always dropping down on my head figuratively... what else can I do?
As a magnet my parents gave me as a present says:

"Don't wait for the rain to stop, learn to dance in the rain"

Ultraviolence - Lana del Rey

Guess who is the singer featured in today's post? Wow, you're amazing! Not only that... it's also me being 'a bit' redundant. But, come on... it's a brand new video, it's the title track of what is probably gonna be my favourite album of the year, it's right on cue! The negative side is that I'm running out of Ultraviolence songs, the positive one is that it means I kinda posted almost all of them, at least all of the good ones! Back to the title track: it has been one of the first songs to find its way into me, together with the opening track and its predecessor on the album (Cruel world), which I have posted more than one month ago. Circumstances and loads of other (Lana and not Lana) songs I started to love in the meanwhile have brought me to not posting it until now, which (as I believe) has been a nice touch of destiny, as the official 'Ultra video' has been released yesterday. So, what better moment?

Ultraviolence - Lana del Rey

I love you the first time
I love you the last time
Yo soy la princesa
Comprende mis white lines?

Cause I'm your jazz singer
And you're my cult leader
I love you forever
I love you forever...




PS: I love the quite quote to 'Fucked my way up to the top' in the last refrain ("Lay me down tonight in my linen and curls, Lay me down tonight Riviera girls"), I think I subconsciously noticed it already but I took full conscience of it just now!

Bumblebeee - Kasabian

Bumblebeee - Kasabian

I have started listening to Kasabian's brand new album, 48:13, a few days ago and I must confess I have not been particularly amazed by it. Ok, I do like the opening single Eez-eh (by the way, I think I just got the meaning of the title today!), but I wouldn't go as far as saying I love it soo much. Let alone the rest of the album... after 4-5 plays none of the songs have been able to make a real impression on me. Ok, maybe they are growers, I should give it time, and I will. What I can't do is hide my current disappointment though. The light at the end of the 48:13 tunnel might be at arm's reach, as I have been having slightly more encouraging feelings. What I'm posting today is one of the 2-3 songs that have at least started ringing some kind of bell and, coincidentally, also the second single out of the album!

Promise - Tori Amos

Promise - Tori Amos

Yesterday Tori has released the official video for her new single and now it is available on YouTube (via Vevo) too. The song is a featuring with Tori's daughter Tash, who has been a regular on the American songwriter's last few albums and, well... even if the premise is not the best one, the result is not bad at all. Personally I like the song itself, maybe it's not produced in the best way possible, but it's pleasant to hear and, well, it doesn't make a bad figure on the nice good album that Unrepentant Geraldines is. About the video, well... let's say she could have shot it at home herself too! Tash is 13 but she looks like a 20 years old, yet the real problem are the moves and faces of Tori: she looks unable to smile and her "dance" around her daughter is partly cute (as in her intentions, methinks) but partly creepy/pitiful, especially when it is clear that their movements are not natural. Anyway, closing one eye on the videos, after a few weeks I am still very satisfied with U.G, which is the most important thing!

Old money - Lana del Rey

Old money - Lana del Rey

Hello there, my readers! Today I'm posting another song I got on my mind yesterday, and also another one whose lyrics made me think (and laugh a bit, especially thinking about a Facebook group...). The theme is quite the same as yesterday's, with Lana singing of a person ready to leave everything and run to the beloved one in every moment, a beloved one that doesn't seem to correspond the sentiment though... sad story.
[...]
So, the time has finally come for this song! The introduction here above, I had already written it a few days ago, when I ended up posting Video games. Of course today I'm late with posting again, I promise I'll do my best to improve under this point of view (but being in summer and having no restraints nor timetables, I tend to live my life at night...). This song has been growing in me on the sly until I started finding myself pleased and happy when it started and singing it as it went on, almost even without remembering its title and the lyrics. As mentioned already, the 'loving someone with no ifs and no buts' theme makes its appearance here once again, and maybe this is one good reason why I can relate to it and I ended up liking it... I think it actually went on to become one of my Ultraviolence favs, so I'm sure you're all gonna enjoy it!
PS: Another goal reached yesterday that I forgot to notice! We reached 300 posts with yesterday's and, well, thinking about it, the next hundred target is gonna happen after the first birthday of the blog! Sounds exciting, ain't it?

Left hand free - Alt-J

Left hand free - Alt-J

Here we are again! I'll draw on the inspiration of the past few days for the post of today and, given that I have been listening to Alt-J (but to their debut album, not this one to be true) while driving to the airport to pick up my parents coming back from Sardinia and, well, it started right now too!
Yesterday I forgot to celebrate for the reaching of a thousand +1s on Google Plus, so I'll do that now! Thank you all for following and appreciating my posts, I am very grateful!
Back to music, this is gonna be the first single (or second? I still haven't fully understood the whole Hunger of the pine issue...) out of the upcoming Alt-J album. They say it's the least Alt-J song they have written and that their label wanted them to have a catchy song as a single for the launch of the album. Well, be it so. This is a lecture of how to be catchy and still true to yourself, in my opinion! Hope you enjoy!

American boy - Estelle

American boy - Estelle

Let's say that lately I have been taking the whole blogging thing a bit lightly because it's summer, we are all (or we will soon be) on holiday, you have better stuff to do than waste time reading my posts and so... well, that's the excuse I'm using to justify the neglecting of my blog in the last days. But I'm here, don't worry! Even if I miss a day here and there, things are going to keep on going on!
Yesterday I had some friends over at my grandma's and we had a great time with the swimming pool, grilled meat and everything! Of course my day has been quite full and I forgot to post... and then we come to today (that is actually yesterday already), when I had to go to the hospital to book a wisdom teeth surgery (and it took me all morning), then going here and there I got distracted again and I'm here just now... but I'm here with a good post methinks!
Driving towards the building of the hospital I have taken the way I used to take to go to (high) school with my car during my last year of it. I had my summer playlist playing in the car and then this song turned up! It really brought back a lot of memories, as I used to listen to it in the summer just before the beginning of the last year of high school... and yesterday I was talking with my friends about past times, how things used to be, how much they have changed and, well... probably it's just being a kind of nostalgic period for me, especially now that I am slowly (but not that much, really) realising that the school chapter(s) of my life has(/ve) ended... good thing is that I'll keep my great memories!

Video games - Lana del Rey

Video games - Lana del Rey

Funny story... I was about to post another Lana song, one that I thought about yesterday and then, after writing the first half of the post about it, I mentioned a purchase I made today and, well... I realised that Video games made much much more sense with the story of this post, so here it is! Down here is the second half of the supposed-to-be-another-song's post, other song which will be featured here soon, don't worry!
Well, to make the day and the post a bit happier I'll share with you the news that I bought a new baby! Yeah, you find them in supermarkets now! Jokes apart, I made my final purchase decision after a few weeks of thinking and, well, I brought home a PSP. Quite anachronistic, isn't it? Well, with loads of games selling at 10€ I couldn't resist... and now that I'm playing Tekken on mobile devices too, no one can stop me!

Miss you - Foster the People

Miss you - Foster the People

Here I am, back from Dubrovnik! I'm not joking when I say I have 5 songs ready for posting, today I got a lot of inspiration, both new and slightly older stuff! This is one of the slightly older ones: I was listening to a June playlist on the plane back this morning and when this song started, I woke up by the kinda coma/sleep I was in and paid a little attention to the lyrics... well, they made a whole lot of sense to me and to a (past?) issue I had, so I think it makes sense to feature it here today.

I really miss you I miss you, I said

Smile at the chance just to see you again

I really miss you miss you, I said

So Look at me now

Before I walk away

You just might miss me or miss me one day

Take me to church - Hozier

Take me to church - Hozier

Guess who forgot to post yesterday? Yes, that's me (again)! Well... I'm not even really justified by the fact that I'm away from home, as yesterday was a really lazy day, we didn't do any excursion or visit. At one point I wanted to go to the beach in the early afternoon but the sky got full of clouds and a few drops fell, thus totally discouraging me and putting me to sleep...
Today has been much better, we have been to Trsteno to visit the arboretum where some other Game of Thrones scenes were shot. The place is very nice by itself and we were also able to identify a few spots where they shot some scenes! The whole experience was beautified with a very nice bath in the sea just below the arboretum. It's a pity that the Croatian coast is so rocky, as I like sand much better, but it was nice anyway.
Tomorrow is already time to go back home, but not before a brief introduction of today's song: I just learned about the existence of Hozier and this song, like 10 minutes ago. Elisa (a popular Italian singer) suggested it on her Facebook page, I watched the video and... well, it's here already! Like the song, love the video, really worth a view (or two)! His first, eponymous album will be released in September.

Dancing in the moonlight - Toploader

Dancing in the moonlight - Toploader

Dear folks, today has been a quite hard day (for my feet)! We first had a Game-of-Thrones themed tour of Dubrovnik Old City with a nice guy who showed us where they shot all the scenes in the city and around the walls. It's been nice but very tiring, especially the climbing-the-walls part! Then, not having enough, we directed our steps (rather, our rudder) towards the island of Lokrum, where they shot some other scenes. Exploring the whole thing has been hard but satisfying! In the end we came back to the city, got a drink and had a few issues in deciding where to have dinner: we ended up in an Irish pub and this is where I got inspiration for this post, once again in the location of our dinner. I feel the need to post this song as it was stopped halfway through to let a guy with guitar start playing live.

Take me to the river - Annie Lennox

Take me to the river - Annie Lennox

Hello guys and girls! Our Dubrovnik holiday has finally completely set off and we started enjoying the local beauties and perks: yesterday we had a walk in the area close to our apartment towards the sea and I took a short bath in the sea, while today we had a small cruise to three small islands close to the city, the best of which is called Lopud. We enjoyed our time in one of the few sandy beaches of Croatia there and I bathed again. One issue of the whole trip is being the weather: after a sunny and exceedingly hot day yesterday, today we got quite crappy weather, which was ok in terms of survival but not best in terms of beauty... After a mixed start of the trip, rain started to pour down in small (and then bigger) drops, up to the point when we stopped enjoying the whole exploring thing. The worst part of it all is that according to the forecast we're gonna have 3 more crappy days from tomorrow to the end of our journey here, so no good news... let's hope that things are gonna turn for the best! We're not letting our spirits down anyway, we just came back from a very nice pizzeria where we ate very well and, while there, we got this song on the radio, which makes it a great occasion for me to post it here too! It's one of my favourites out her covers album Medusa, I'm sure you'll enjoy!

Ritual - Ellie Goulding

Ritual - Ellie Goulding

Hello people, late for my post again, I'm sorry! I'm in Dubrovnik, another trip is going on! It's all looking quite nice for now, will tell you more about it as soon as I got the time to! I'll leave you with Ellie and wish you a good night for now!

Florida kilos - Lana del Rey

Florida kilos - Lana del Rey

I wanted to post this yesterday already, but I didn't want all of these Lana posts too close to one another. This is the opening track of my new playlist I was mentioning in yesterday's post and I confess I've been getting quite addicted to this song, especially in the last couple of days. Today the invasion of the clouds has begun... actually it's not clouds, it's more what we call "cappa" here, this kind of high white haze that covers the sky, filters sunlight and increases humidity like crazy, creating a sorta greenhouse-effect. Well, thanks goodness I'm gonna leave tomorrow (even though the weather forecast for Croatia is not completely rosy), hopefully before the storm forecasted for here will rage out! It really is like being in Florida: heat, humidity, sun and tornados!

Other side of crazy - Anastacia

Other side of crazy - Anastacia

I have compiled my second July playlist and it ended up being almost as huge as the previous one, but there are a few new entries thanks goodness! One of these new entries is Anastacia, whose latest album (Resurrection) I started exploring just in the last few days. This is the one song that I'm favouring for the time being, a catchy and up-tempo kind of ballad that suits well the super hot weather that has been spreading in here in the last few days (and I'm so happy about it)! Happy friday night!

Hunger of the pine - Alt-J

Hunger of the pine - Alt-J

The wait for their new album is getting shorter and shorter, and finally some materials is being released already! This first song was released a few weeks ago and yesterday also the video has been upped on YouTube. In the video a boy is running like crazy to escape a rain of arrows coming on to him and in the end... well, I don't wanna ruin it for you, but I must admit I still can't grasp the whole sense of it. I'll just say that it really reminds a lot of the Hunger Games trilogy environment and, interpreting it that way, there is a quite explicit reference to it in the title of the song too...! Some people were commenting on YouTube suggesting that they're trying to land on the OST of the coming movie, which might not be too wild a guess! We'll see, we'll see... in the meanwhile if you have an explanation of the video, please let me know!

Brooklyn baby - Lana del Rey

Brooklyn Baby - Lana del Rey

Hello there! I am really enjoying my summer now! In the last 24 hours I have enjoyed the sunshine a lot! Since I came back from Amsterdam, I have placed myself on the lounger and have been sunbathing like crazy! My bathing-suit mark from Valencia had almost disappeared due to this shitty summer, so I need to get a little bit of colour! And it finally looks like I'm gonna be able to, at least for a few days before I leave for Croatia! And with sunbathing comes music of course: I was listening to Patti Smith yesterday when my parents asked for something more enjoyable and known to them, so I suggested Lana del Rey and they agreed and here we are! (That's a lie, I have been waiting to post this one for days, it's just that other songs came first!!)

Maneater - Nelly Furtado

Maneater - Nelly Furtado

I am at Amsterdam Schipol, ready to travel back home, another nice trip has come to an end and I probably won't even have the time to relax (graduations, friends to meet, ...) before leaving again (in 5 days)! This summer is super weird, going from absolute nothingness and boredom to craziness and back again and again! Oh, I'm not complaining, but I kinda miss the old summers, when I got isolated from the whole world, staying at my grandma's with my cousins, playing games in the countryside, bathing, being young and free and careless! The summers like the one when this song was released, actually 2006 was one of the last ones of these... Anyway all this post just because I finally, finally found this album, Loose, at an affordable price here in Amsterdam and I bought it, together with a few others!! Can't stop buying CDs, can I? And people keep looking at me in a weird way when they learn I still buy CDs...!

Salsa Tequila - Anders Nilsen

Salsa Tequila - Anders Nilsen

Things you learn in Amsterdam spending time with the locals (and the fact that the locals include your Italian expat friend and her very local boyfriend makes it ok): we were on the car going towards Zaanse Schans, the 'above-mentioned' (see yesterday's post) windmills little town, while this song started. I learned that this guy from Norway, a comedian methinks, made a bet with some friends and wrote this song, claiming it would've become a summer hit. Well, it kinda did, at least here (I'm waiting for the time it's gonna come to Italy, maybe I can help pave its way there)! The funny thing about it is that the lyrics are random Spanish words and names put together, as he doesn't speak any Spanish. The funniest thing (to me) is that it sounds more or less like most summer hits in terms of making sense and depth of meaning. So, what's the problem? Let's salsa tequila corazon!

Figure 8 - Ellie Goulding

Figure 8 - Ellie Goulding

Hello there! It's Amsterdam day 3 and I am finally writing LIVE! The trip is going quite fine, good company, nice city, bearable-to-nice weather (for now, that's still better than at home). All in all I must say I am quite enjoying it all. Amsterdam is more or less as I expected it, except for the fact that it is a bit different from everything I could expect. The whole city center gives me the impression of being a mosaic of other cities I have seen already, but all the pieces fit well. There is a pervading smell of cannabis all over the place that gets you not high but, let's say, relaxed even just with passive smoking! Yesterday we took a very nice trip to Zaanse Schans, a small town with windmills, and today a bike trip just outside Amsterdam and the countryside was just as beautiful! The song I'm posting is one that I was mumbling in my mouth yesterday and the day before while walking through the city!

Ask yourself - Foster the People

Ask yourself - Foster the People

Amsterdam time, part 2. Second day here, I'm actually writing this in front of my gate at the airport, and I have no idea how it's gonna be, so I'm just coming up with random but plausible stuff: the city is not bad but a bit grey, the atmosphere though is quite nice and the channels, besides the flies, give it a kind of character. The weather is gray too and rainy, but not that bad rain that lasts all day, just a few drops at a time... And here it is, I have to go so I'm gonna cut it here, I'll let you know how accurate my predictions will be!

Amsterdam (live at Lollapalooza Brazil) - Imagine Dragons

Amsterdam (live) - Imagine Dragons

Aaand here we are again! Amsterdaaaam! I should have been arrived by now (I'm writing this in advance) after a (finally) 'decent-houred' flight in the middle of the day! I hope the travel has been smooth and the weather is nice (well, that might be a bit unlikely), we'll see... I have been thinking about how to post something related to the city, but the only two songs that come to my mind have been here already... yet I really want to post this one by Imagine Dragons and I can't find a decent remix or a decent live version... what to do? The only decent version I found is this live at Lollapalooza Brazil recorded last April! Happy Amsterdam!

EDIT: I have not arrived, actually I'm at the airport in front of my gate waiting to climb on the plane, but this makes sense still!

Tessellate (live on KEXP) - Alt-J

Tessellate (live on KEXP) - Alt-J

Here we are, ready to leave again and I didn't even realise it! Tomorrow I'm leaving for another trip, a last-minute one but I'm confident it's gonna be a pretty nice one! I'm gonna go visit an undergrad friend in Amsterdam, the only city in my "to-view in Europe" list that I'm still missing (actually there are a couple of new entries, but let's not get too picky...!) and that I'm gonna see very soon! It's quite of an achievement for me, I've been waiting for it for years! And I can't wait to meet my friend too, we haven't been seeing each other for almost two years now, it's gonna be good! The problem is that I'm realising just now I have to leave soon, so today I'll have to prepare something for the next few days. But I have to actually find something for today too... and I'm picking something I really enjoyed yesterday while I was tidying up my room, a live performance from KEXP embellished by the live introduction (Ripe & Ruin).

Fucked my way up to the top - Lana del Rey

Fucked my way up to the top - Lana del Rey

Today is one of these days... yes, I gathered all my strengths and my courage and I started tidying up the big wardrobe in my room! And well... mission completed! I have thrown away many empty paper boxes, notebooks, other useless stuff and in the process I stopped a while to quickly read through my school diaries of the first years of high school. It's been a bit of a nostalgic moment, especially when I got to the first days of the first year... it's been such a long time ago, I was practically a kid (and I would've kept on being one for a long time since... I think still now I am not completely over that!) and looking back, everything looked naive and peculiar. Many of the things I wrote, drew, sticked, noted, I still remember them as vividly as when they were impressed on paper foreve... for a long long time! And reading back, thinking back of who I used to be and who I still (partly) am and of how much I have... not changed, but matured, evolved... it really strikes me! In the last few weeks I have been thinking that university started 5 years ago, it seems like it was yesterday! And going even more back, to the beginning of high school... that's like 10 years ago! Wow! It's a tough thought, but it also give me pleasure in seeing how far I've come since there, I really feel like I 'fucked' my way up to the top and well, here where I am now, it's just the beginning!

Teardrop - Massive Attack

Teardrop - Massive Attack

I have been thinking about this song yesterday, don't know why exactly (actually I do, it's probably due to the number of drops that have fallen from the sky), but today is a better day for posting it: more and more drops (should) have fallen from the sky today. I was supposed to go to Milan to talk with a prof and run a few errands, woke up at 9.30 and... bam! All the news saying Milan is flooded and so on... I decided not to go, but well, then I checked traffic and some cameras and everything looked ok. Yes, I did go in the end, talked with the prof (with some difficulties), said goodbye to some friends over the summer (some tears dropped, figuratively), I got a few drops while driving there, but in the end it was all ok!

Today I feel sure - Pilot Speed

Today I feel sure - Pilot Speed

Today I am done with getting acquainted with Pilot Speed's albums, ending my 'scholastic' 10 listens to Wooden Bones. Today I am keeping on with the stronger and stronger obsession with my new playlist, which they are a (good) part of. Today I am already working on the Figure 2 of my July playlist, which is going to feature them again. Today I have been going to the city center to take advantage of the sales, with mixed success (I found the t-shirt I was looking for with a 2€ discount... didn't find the right size of the bathing suit). Today it started pouring rain minutes after I came back home. Today I decided I'm not gonna go to Milan until tomorrow. Today I decided to post a song that is in neither of the two July playlists I have been compiling. Today I feel sure.

(Today I am compelled to link to Groovershark again as YouTube isn't helping me at all... Today I feel sure)

#sundayrevival 50 watt - Hooverphonic

It's sunday and, guess what? It's #sundayrevival time too! I am currently watching the Silverstone F1 GP but the race has been suspended just after the first lap due to a crash and it still has to restart, so I am taking advantage of the time I have to write the post for today! I wanted to have a meaningful sundayrevival and I have been scrolling down my library to find a song that was about to hit the 100 plays goal and, well... I found this! I have been utterly in love with Hooverphonic for a long time, in particular lots of deep love are directed towards their 2007 album 'The President of the LSD Golf Club', the one that made me go beyond Mad about you and that helped me fall in love with the band, just before the historic lead singer Geike left the band. The commercial performance of this album, especially in Italy and especially if compared to the resonance of Mad about you, has been, I'd say, disappointing at best. Yet I think the album is very good, maybe even better than its predecessors in terms of overall quality of the songs and of homogeneity. This is still one of the stand-outs for me and it makes perfect sense to share it with you! Have a great sunday!

Heart of steel - Lykke Li

Heart of steel - Lykke Li

Hello dear readers and followers! Finally a sunny day again, it has been so so different from yesterday, like from November to June in 8 hours! That's good, and yeah, I can't complain for this heat now, it's not "julyish" yet but it is very enjoyable (unfortunately it won't last most probably...). Another disappointing day in the World Cup for now, bad matches and bad teams that keep going on and on, but that's it... More good sport news coming from F1, with JB scoring P3 in his home GP with his pink helmet to remember his father, it was a pretty nice image, let's see now how the race will go tomorrow!
About music, I can't keep posting songs I have already posted, but I'm in a bit of an obsessive mood in these days and so I'm just picking from the "currently second best" category, which is still a great picking, don't mistake me!

4th of July - Amy MacDonald

4th of July - Amy MacDonald

Ok, this post doesn't come unexpected (at all) I'd dare say, given that today is, well, the 4th of July! Happy Independence Day to all the US people out there! I have been planning this for quite a bit, let's say I already knew I would post this on a 07.04 post, as I have already done on Facebook last year and so on! Amy and this CD in particular have been my soundtrack two years ago, when I was just coming back from my exchange in Canada to enjoy Milan's nice anticipated summer in May (I might have told you that story already), and, well, this year I was planning to do the same after coming back to England. Actually, two years ago I still had exams to take and a thesis to write in little more than one month, while now I practically have nothing to do (a thesis due in December and that's it). The fact is that, ironically enough, I haven't been able to enjoy this time as much. Ok, I am (way) less stressed out, but so much less that I am bored to hell: everybody is having exams or internships going on and the weather sucks to the point that it seems like it's November... so here I am, nothing to do, no hanging out with friends, no sunbathing... well, happy (weird) 4th of July to you!

Only you - Ellie Goulding

Only you - Ellie Goulding

Time for another obsession! I've been singing this song in my head (and not only) for days now... aaand no, posted that already! I kinda had the feeling, dammit! Well, no problem at all! I'll revert to a sister of the song I wanted to post (again) [that is My blood], another one that's been walking around in my head too in the last few days. It is the opening track of my new playlist, it's one of the songs I'm listening to with the utmost pleasure on a (big) album I am listening to with... well, utmost pleasure!

Fire escape - Foster the People

Fire escape - Foster the People

More stuff from the big July playlist: I started approaching the second (and currently latest) album of Foster the People a little time ago, I just listened to it like twice, but a couple of songs already made a good enough impression on me to deserve the right to be in this playlist. This is one of them, the closing track of the album (bonus tracks apart) and a quite good closure in my opinion, touching in its quietness and it's fitting perfectly in the central area of the playlist, together with other songs of the same kind.

If you wanna - The Vaccines

If you wanna - The Vaccines

Hello people! Finally (and sadly) I am not being a tourist in Milan anymore, as my friend has left to go back to England and I exploited my chances to relax a bit, take a nap in the afternoon (I would've loved a bit of shopping but I really didn't have the strength to...) and now, after the first world cup match of the day, I'm relaxing a bit while waiting for the next one! It's been hard to find a fitting song for today, as my musical attention lately has been focused on very few singers/bands and I have already posted songs of them recently, but then I remembered about this: I still can't figure out how this song got stuck in my head, whether it was part of the office playlist I was listening to during my internship or what... fact is, I found myself singing it in my head a few days ago and of course I put it into my big playlist for July! I guess you can expect lots more stuff coming out of it, as it's quite.... huuuge!

The circle married the line - Feist

The circle married the line - Feist

I'm sorry but these last few days have been a bit hectic, with my friend coming to Milan and us "milanese" carrying her around, it's been super fun and super exhausting, like being a tourist in your own city (that is a thing I love to do)! No time for me to post today, I just got back home with a bit time (I should be sleeping actually) right now, so I'm gonna share with you this pearl real quick, as it's on the only album I have (partly) listened to on my computer today, and say good night to all of you, after an amazingly sunny day (finally) in Milan!! Nighty nite!
PS: I know this post counts for the last day of June, but well... happy July to all of you!