Your life, your call - Junip

Your life, your call - Junip

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

Sweet design - Sia

Sweet design - Sia

Nothing particularly interesting going on with my life in these days: a dinner out with my wifey at the Indian restaurant, a movie, a new TV series, travel plans... I'm just mostly passing these days by in boredom. And in all of these, I could find the chance to post the blog at a decent time of day, but... nope! Here I am at past 3 in the morning! Because that's the way I like it.

The original high - Adam Lambert

The original high - Adam Lambert

Hey guys, tonight's been a movie night for me, actually TV series + movie! Between yesterday and today I breezed through the first seasons of MTV's highly anticipated 'The Shannara chronicles'. Being a long-time fan of the Shannara book series by Terry Brooks, I was very much curious about this TV transposition. Being the books very dense and very captivating and being MTV's series targeted mainly to teenagers, what I got was not very different from what I expected: teenage drama, polygamy, special effects and so on. All in all the result is not bad, but I can really say it is on a different level than the books. After finishing that, I moved to the final chapter of 'The Hunger Games', the second part of 'The Mockingjay'. Having read the books a couple years ago, I knew what to expect from the plot and I must say that this second part of the series last book is better than the first, densely packed with action and, for what I remember, quite truthful to the book. The ending is well crafted and left me with a positive impression of the whole movie series. But it's not only videos... don't worry, this is still a music blog and today I'm giving you the title-track of Adam Lambert's latest album, hoping you can enjoy it!

Disparate youth - Santigold

Disparate youth - Santigold

My life is getting a little bit out of control, especially as far as the wake and sleep cycle is concerned, but I'll work it out and find a good balance again (hopefully)! Older people often complain about our generation, saying that we think everything is due to us, that we don't invest time and energies into life issues as they did, that we are lazy and disrespectful, that we just complain and live in the social media realm rather than real life. All of these things are partly true, but also partly false. I believe that young people today are as disparate as they've ever been, because of the increased opportunities and information available, the range of choices available in any meaningful life decision has dramatically increased in the last few decades. That made us more picky, more choosy, more uncertain about what we want to do because there are so many possibilities... but this is our time and I think we are all doing our best. In the end, we are just the product of older generations and of all the past history of the world. We are the disparate youth generation and in the name of the moon, we will punish you!

"We know that we want more, a life worth fighting for"

Son of god - Will Butler

Son of god - Will Butler

Today I open our mailbox and found a leaflet by Jehovah's witnesses, there was written on it something about going together to paradise or else, not that I was much interested in it... at all. Sometimes I think about it and I am amazed by the fact that our society is so advanced under many points of view but still so backward under many others. In my opinion, religion is one of them. My perception is that religions has always been a way for men to explain what they weren't able to understand with supernatural entities. I think that nowadays our understanding of the laws of nature and of the world around us is, if still very much limited, much better than it used to be, say, 2000 years ago. So I find it very peculiar that religion (as organised cult, especially those that were born or evolved from centuries and centuries ago) still is so powerful and religious leaders still hold such a strong influence on so many people. I'm not denying spirituality, rather I think that it is a very, very important part of the human experience. I am just stunned that many people still live their spirituality following teachings so old. But don't worry, the son of god will come down and guide us!!

#sundayrevival Only if for a night - Florence + the Machine

Only if for a night - Florence + the Machine

This week has come to an end so quickly! I didn't even realised it started yet, and here is a new one already! Quite a few things happened actually, but time is flowing by in a weird way lately..! Anyway, today I am sharing with you a very, very important song for me. 'Ceremonials' has been the album that converted me to the Florence + the Machine cause fully and completely, it's been one of the most significant albums of probably the most significant period of my life so far, when I blossomed, suffered and grew up, when I went to live abroad alone for the first time, when I learned (again) how to stand on my own two feet. 'Only if for a night' is the opening song of this album, one of F+tM favourites overall and one of those songs that... just gets carved into you. Whenever it starts, it feels like it's singing the story of a part of me, as if my body was giving voice to its own feelings.
Today has been a Florence + the Machine day, I have been practically listening just to their music and it's been a while since I didn't do that, probably since their concert in Milan last December. And it all started with this song. It was on my head, I don't know why, but as I told you it is just a part of me, so I'm not surprised that it just comes out like this, even without any perceptible trigger. I am sharing this piece of me with you, so please just treat it well (I know you will)!!

"And the only solution was to stand and fight"

Jealousy - San Cisco

Jealousy - San Cisco

Yesterday I listened to San Cisco's music while taking a bath and my mind focused on their song 'Snow', off their latest album, which I quite like but had practically forgotten about. You might imagine my surprise when this morning I woke up to a world totally covered in white!! Just yesterday I took a picture of peach blossoms, claiming that spring was finally coming and now... this! I just realised that 'Snow' is the last song by San Cisco that I posted on the blog (more than 10 months ago), but I decided to anyway change my plan and choose another song of theirs to put here today, as it wouldn't have made sense to write this post about another song! What I chose is another good one off 'Gracetown', their sophomore and currently latest album, which is ok but in a totally different league than their genius, eponymous debut!! Hope you can enjoy this anyway, have a great weekend!

First love / late spring - Mitski

First love / late spring - Mitski

Double shame on me. After a busy day two days ago, wandering around in Milan, doing some courses that came up at the last time and then going to the cinema with my aunt, I didn't post yesterday... no excuses, but my day has been quite full coming back home from Milan and... well, that's it! Moreover I got up not too late and I already thought I would post something, but then it went off my mind. And today... today has been a rough day too, as I woke up super early to go and fetch my grandparents and take them to the doctor... unfortunately my car didn't wake up with me and it was all for nothing...! So I went to get lunch at my other grandparents' (it was grandma's birthday) and I practically spent my whole free time on Booking.com and so on, arranging trips that I'm undertaking in the next few weeks! Now I just finished watching Eyeshield 21, the anime series I've been following in the past few weeks, and I'm quite happy it got to an end, so that I can watch some real TV series now! Anyway, even if the show got pretty slow and boring lately, it's been the first time I understood so many words spoken by the characters (I watch them in original Japanese language with subtitles), so it looks like my (languishing) Japanese studies are paying off!! In honour of that I'm gonna be posting probably the last song off Mistki's 2014 album (for now), even if it's still early (and not late) spring and my first love is gone with the wind!

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!

Line of fire - Junip

Line of fire - Junip

As I've told you many times lately, I've been listening to a lot of new music in the last few weeks/months, but undoubtedly the best music, which has quickly entered the olympus of my favourite music (if such thing even exists), is Junip's. Some magic has happened, the right music coming at the right time, or maybe it's just great music that I was lucky enough to find out now. I don't know... it didn't happen often that some artist's lyrics really seem to speak your mind, and it mostly happened with Florence + the Machine and maybe Tori Amos to me (but I already told you that methinks), and it happened again with Junip, with a few songs of theirs, especially out of their latest album, released in 2013. This is the opening track of it, a track I've immediately grown fond of and that has already become one of my favourites. Give it a chance, and it will enter your own personal olympus too!!

Fame - Santigold

Fame - Santigold

Today I came to Milan, it's been a short while since last time, not that long anyway. For the first time in ages my life didn't go instantly crazy when Milan came into it, maybe just because this time I didn't text all of my friends who live in town, asking if they wanted to meet!! I hope I'll be able to take it easier, do the few things I have to do and enjoy my time here. Not that I usually don't when I'm running, rather...! Anyway I'm sharing with you another super awesome song by Santigold, one I really, really got to like!! I hope you guys are gonna enjoy it too!! Cheers for this new week!

#sundayrevival Woman - Neneh Cherry

Woman - Neneh Cherry

Hey guys, this sunday I'm sharing with you one of the anthems of 1990s pop/soul music, which has also went on to become an anthem for women throughout the world! I really love this song by Neneh Cherry (whom I just found out is Swedish!) and it always brings me back instantly to the times when I was a little child (I was 6 when it came out) and it's a sweet and nostalgic feeling. I really like to go back and listen to songs that I remember from the old 90s, it is a listening experience that always has this special, magic aura of seeing again the world with a child's eyes for a few moments...! Do you also have any songs from your past that you love to go back and listen to from time to time?

Move your body - Sia

Move your body - Sia

Hello guys! It's Saturday night (well, it's Sunday already technically...) and it's time to move your body! For some of you at least...! I've been mainly been smoking sheesha and then eating sushi all-you-can-eat until.... well less than a couple hours ago. It's been long. It's been tough. I'm still incredibly full and would really, really need to move my body, but whatever...! I'm gonna share with you this beautiful, new song by Sia, which is featured in her latest album. When I first listened to the album in its entirety, this song was the one that immediately struck me and became my favourite, even if some of them had already been pre-released and I had the chance to listen to them quite a lot. I don't know why, but there's something magic in it and I really connected with it instantly. I think it still is my favourite off 'This is acting' after a few weeks of listening, so please treat it well!!

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!!

Take my side - Will Butler

Take my side - Will Butler

Today things have been going slightly better than yesterday, as I filled up my afternoon with some house cleaning, I hope that now I live in a less-dusty world! Besides that, nothing much has happened, which is driving me somehow crazy, and to address this issue I need to do something, i.e. probably going to turn out into me booking another trip and leave soon for some place, possibly warm and with a nice seaside! Today I also finished giving my basic get-to-know 10 listens to a bunch of new albums I have been approaching recently, which have mostly been featured here on the blog in the last couple of weeks or so. Will Butler's has been one of the most rewarding of them undoubtedly, and this song, the opener of his short album, is the one that made me realise I would enjoy it since the first 10 seconds I had put it on!!

Texas reznikoff - Mitski

Texas reznikoff - Mitski

I've been recently getting to know Mitski, don't remember how or when exactly, but I did and I quite liked her. This is the opening track of her 2014 album, which is the one I have approached so far, and it's also the first song of hers I've ever heard, I believe. It's always delicate when you listen to a completely new singer for the first time, it usually takes me quite a while to get into the music and the very first approach is key! In this case it's been quite successful and I entered into her music quite quickly, but then it got a bit harder to go deeper, I think I still haven't completely processed her yet, even after 10 plays of the album. We'll see in the future how my relationship with her develops!! In the meanwhile I hope you'll enjoy this very nice tune! Good night!

GO! - Santigold

GO! - Santigold

I've already told you Santigold's 'Master of my make-believe' is one of my favourites among the albums I've been listening to recently, so you won't be surprised to find one more song out of it (and you will get more in the next few weeks, be sure of that too)! 'GO!' is the disc opener and works quite well in that role, even if I must say that most of the songs have a similar rhythm, so they mix up well even in different positions. All in all this one does its job pretty well. Not like me, I'd dare say: I'm keeping it up with my daily life tasks (housework, exercise, music, blog ...) but I'm feeling pretty lonely and a bit bored. I guess I'll just take a lesson from this time of my life, i.e. I'm not really fit for the house-husband life, whatever my life will turn out to be! Now I only want to GO! and travel around so as to keep the boredom in check!

#sundayrevival Jubilee - Patti Smith

Jubilee - Patti Smith

Not that I care too much about it, but this year is a Jubilee year! They haven't been talking about it that much, not that I heard of anyway, except from when it kicked off. I have actually crossed a "holy door" in the small town that is located on the mountain just above my hometown, as they have recently opened a few historical, restored frescos (they weren't open for visit during the week though). Well, all of that... is nothing I care about. At all. I am actually posting a song by an artist who became famous singing "Jesus dies for somebody's sins, but not mine"!! Anyway this song has been coming to my mind quite often recently, I guess because I heard about the Jubilee year, and so it sounded like a good sundayrevival post!

Fist-fighting a sandstorm - Sia

Fist-fighting a sandstorm - Sia

There happen to be many times in our lives when we just keep trying to do things we already know we can't do, and even if miracles exist, they don't happen often. Letting go of something that isn't working for you is sometimes hard, but when you finally realise that you need to cut it, when that switch clicks in your head, there's just one thing to do: stop trying to make it work and turn the page. Fist-fighting sandstorms... we all did and will do that at one point, so the lesson to learn is that you need to stop doing it as soon as you realise you ARE indeed trying to punch flying sand. Don't be afraid of change, as the feeling of getting rid of something that makes you feel bad is one of the best feelings in the world!

Everybody but me - Lykke Li

Everybody but me - Lykke Li

I've been intensively listening to Junip in these past few days, but I don't feel like posting two songs of theirs in a row...! So I'm gonna go back to the last song I had among my drafts from two playlists ago (it sounds like ages ago, it's been maybe 2 weeks...), and this is Lykke Li (she's Swedish too in the end). This is a bonus song of her 'Youth novels' session, and that is probably my favourite album of hers. I can really relate to the lyrics of 'Everybody but me', as it doesn't happen seldom that I don't feel like doing things that many people do or think like most people. It's not a... necessity of being different, it's probably just that I don't really like to do things just to "belong" to a group, so I turn out to be the weird one more often than not. And then I do things most people don't, but that's another pair of sleeves (as we say in Italy)! Today for instance I bought tape to stick a couple of cork boards to the walls of my room. I've been having them around for years, one of them with all the most relevant tickets of my 4-month exchange in Montréal (and all the travels I made from there) and the other one, which I started filling out today, with concert tickets and public transport tickets (from cities I've been to) from 2013 onwards. I'm really happy I finally did hang those two girls, I've been meaning to for ages but never found the right moment!

After all is said and done - Junip

After all is said and done - Junip

When you have to close something, to put an end to something that's not making you feel good, you just gotta do it. Try to be fair and square, honest but resolute, and hopefully things will go better for all of the parties involved. I've had to say "that's enough" to things quite often in the last dew months and it's never an easy choice, realising (first) and then accepting that something is not making you better off and is not likely to even in the long term, taking the decision and (the hardest part), making it effective. That's the most difficult part when there are other people involved, but you gotta do what you gotta do, be it leaving a job, ending a relationship, saying goodbye to a place or else. Goodbyes and adieus are sad but inevitable, and even when you immediately feel happier and more relaxed, there's always this kind of melancholy that makes you sad for things not going the way you hoped for. That's exactly what this song is to me, the feeling it talks about and evokes.

a

This isn't our parade - Santigold

This isn't our parade - Santigold

Among the best new music I'm listening to in these days, I can't mention Santigold, whose album is maybe on of my recent favourites! I got to know her with the beautiful 'Shooting arrows in the sky' featured in the Hunger Games: Catching Fire soundtrack and I decided after a while to also approach her music more consistently with her 2012 album. I really did not repent about that one bit! There are already many songs I have fallen in love with, this one is maybe the most particular and the one that struck me in a different way, not just with the melody, but also with its peculiar title and lyrics. I think it can be a good post for a gloomy day like today, with a few bad things that have happened, but a bright end, as I had dinner with homemade sushi with a couple of friends, having a real good time! Hope you can appreciate the song too! To new beginnings!

Professional widow - Tori Amos

Professional widow - Tori Amos

It's been a while since I felt this shitty... unfortunately I haven't learned yet how to keep my expectations from rising up to ceiling whenever something good happens to me. This time though I don't think I have a big fault, it's just that realising that a person doesn't care about you nearly as much as you wished and hoped is never a happy thing to find out.
It's been a while since I felt the need to go and listen to 'Boys for Pele' as 'Boys for Pele', as the strongest and deepest and darkest album I know, the one I go to when I need to exacerbate my bad feelings so that I can get them out of myself. "Can't forget the things you never said" sings Tori in 'Blood roses', the most powerful song for me, the one that most vividly represents what this album means to me. Thanks goodness there's Tori to go to in times like this!

"Give me Peace

Love

Peace

Love

Gimme Peace

Love

And a hard

Cock"

The calculation - Regina Spektor

The calculation - Regina Spektor

It's ironic how we keep waiting for people to change and show us that they care even when we've had multiple proofs that they don't, or just are not able to show it in a way that's meaningful to us. How we feel like we're able to lower our expectations, but in the end we are not. Communication is key, but understanding each other without the need to speak out all the time is even more important maybe. Also, having too much time on your hands ain't good, as you tend to think about things a lot, maybe too much. Well, maybe that's not a bad thing, as you're able to understand things sooner. Anyway, enough with my melodramatic thinking, let's go prepare some sushi rice!

Hold my tongue - Sheppard

Hold my tongue - Sheppard

Dealing with people is often everything but easy, and especially when you have to deal with people that play or might play an important role in your life, stuff can get hard. I'm not really a tongue-holding kind of guy, I believe that communication is key and I usually share my (confused) thoughts with the people around me, I tend to tell them when there is a problem or when there's something that makes me feel bad. Sometimes I don't say things (straight-forwardly), because there's also that part of me that likes a quiet life (and the part of me that tries to get revenge quietly, especially by indifference), but this is more the exception than the rule, and in the end stuff ends up coming out at one point. Lately I've been having a lot of time to think about one relationship in particular and the thoughts I've been making are not that good, so maybe this time I really need somebody to hold my tongue before breaking things more than they need!!

Ocean drive - Duke Dumont

Ocean drive - Duke Dumont

I am really feeling the pressure for the blog lately: spending so much time at home, I am listening to a lot of (great) new music, and I don't have enough time to post all the songs I would like to! Now I have just created a new playlist while I still have songs from the now-third-to-last-one to post, I haven't even seriously started posting from my not-anymore-current playlist! I really need to get out and do things! (Do I really?) Anyway, this song, together with the recent remix of 'Ain't nobody' that I recently posted, reminds me of our taxi drive in Abu Dhabi... gosh, I wish I had another travel to somewhere warm planned already, it's so cold here in these days!

#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!"

Dead ringer for love - Meat loaf feat. Cher

Dead ringer for love - Meat Loaf feat. Cher

Welcome to Valentine's day, the day of lovers! I've never been particularly bothered by this day, as I never had anybody to celebrate it with, and actually the idea doesn't make much sense to me; if you love a person, you love them always (in theory). Anyway, it's a good chance for people who care about each other to take some time aside and spend it with their special person. If you happen to have one who cares about you. Just make sure that they really care, beware of dead ringers for love!

Townie - Mitski

Townie - Mitski

"I'm not gonna be what my daddy wants me to be."
Mitski is another one of my latest discoveries, her music is strangely peculiar and standard at the same time: I have a feeling like her melodies are not particularly original, yet when they are put together, she has a kind of peculiar effect, I don't know how to explain it in words, you have to listen to her songs and try to understand!
"I want a love that falls as fast as a body from the balcony."
It's also weird how many songs I'm finding lately whose lyrics perfectly match with my current thoughts and lifestyle... it happened already with a few artists (namely Florence + the Machine), but lately I've got the feeling that more and more songs have been written related to feelings very much akin to mine right now!
"And I've tried sharing, and I've tried caring [...] and change, change, change is gonna come but when, when, when?"
Now I'm ready to start this lazy Saturday with a lunch with one of my university friends, than I'm gonna go back home and see what to do with my life next week!
"I'm gonna be what my body wants me to be!"

Cheap trills - Sia

Cheap trills - Sia

"It's Friday night and I won't be alone" sings Sia in this awesome new tune. It's been incredibly hard for me not to be alone this Friday night, as I've been trying to arrange a night out with friends for more than a week (and failing). I'm just gonna gonna see a couple of friends for a dinner out here in Milan and that's it. It's really frustrating, and it's been a bad day for me overall, but I don't have any big reason to complain, just the small little things of life that pile up and make you wanna scream at the world sometimes. Let's cheer to a happy Friday night for us all!

"Baby I don't need dollar bills to have fun tonight(I love cheap thrills)"

Anna - Will Butler

Anna - Will Butler

The brother of Arcade Fire's frontman Win Butler (beware, 'cause I confused them myself, besides having almost the same name, they also look alike), Will, who is also a member of the famous Montréal-based band, released a solo album last year and I've recently been listening to it. I must confess that the vibe is quite different from Arcade Fire, a lot less epic and a lot more indie, with a much less elaborated sound, but nonetheless greatly enjoyable, especially a few songs! This is one I had already listened to when Will announced he would be writing one song per day for a week based on the current news. I guess some of these ended up on the album, this one did for sure and it's a well-deserved place for it!

Fuel - Lemolo

Fuel - Lemolo

My, my, time flies (as Enya used to sing)!! It's already well over 2.30 AM and I've still got plenty of stuff to do! After writing this post I need to do my little daily Japanese study, then I've completely ignored the planning of my trip to Japan today, plus I've finished my latest colouring last night so... what did I do today? Ah yeah, I went to get a massage and then to buy groceries with my parents... and then? A little yoga, some anime episodes... gosh the days pass by so fast! Tomorrow I have plenty of things to do too, so I don't know if I'm gonna have time to work on my trip planning... it's amazing how full your life gets when you're not working/studying, it feels like your free time vanishes! I'm really gonna need some fuel tomorrow to do it all!

Dance anthem of the 80s - Regina Spektor

Dance anthem of the 80s - Regina Spektor

I don't like to be overwhelmed by good music, so here I am trying to speed up the posting process! This blog is called 'A song OR TWO per day', for goodness's sake, sometimes I can even do two freaking posts per day, can't I?! So here I am, with another great tune off Regina's 2009 album 'Far', which I have been re-approaching and appreciating lately! Today is a weird day, as I have many things to do but I can't do most of them due to stupid offices and branches being closed in the afternoon (and going to sleep at 4 and waking up at 12.30 isn't helping me in handling things in the morning), but nothing particularly urgent..!

Ain't nobody (loves me better) - Felix Jaehn feat. Jasmine Thompson

Ain't nobody -
Felix Jaehn feat. Jasmine Thompson

Oh my goodness guys, my computer went back on last night (thanks goodness itself) and so I officially have a new playlist. And still more than one week worth of posting to make from my former playlist. How can time pass by so fast?! I guess that staying at home for most of the day lately has given me a lot of free time for listening to music and I have indeed been approaching many new artists and albums lately (many of which are not even considered among my already-planned posting yet!), and I'm quite excited about it, as it's been quite a long time since I approached so much (good) new music all at once! For tonite I'm gonna leave you with a song that you've been hearing around for sure; when I think about it, I personally go back to a taxi ride in Abu Dhabi when we got this one and another song that I added to my library in that circumstance. It really feels great to travel and it feels even better to go back to the memories created while going around the world!
PS: Don't forget to check out the beautiful original version of this song by Chaka Khan!!

Fiction - Joni Mitchell

Fiction - Joni Mitchell

Day 2 of my Macbook not working, last night I did a back-up of the disk and this morning I tried to restart it, without any success. Now I'm trying again and it's gonna be the last thing I do before bringing it to an assistance point tomorrow. Life without my main computer is tough and the day feels hard to fill. I already feel the lack of my iTunes, especially to choose songs for the blog, lack of my anime and series, of a smoothly-working internet and everything... I really hope I'll be able to get it work somehow, but I guess you don't care much about it! Off my current playlist (given that the new one I had just created is lost in my not-booting-anymore computer) is an old tune by Joni, my first favourite off the album of hers I'm currently listening to (Dog eat dog).

#sundayrevival I'm no angel - Dido

I'm no angel - Dido

In the last couple of days life has hit back on me, I already knew that 2016 had started too well and that karma was about to hit back, and so it did. Thanks goodness I booked my tickets to Japan, which helped me feel way better, as pretty much everything else is going so and so. First of all I have a few (minor but annoying) health problems, including the usual winter cold that makes you feel like a van has run over you, some pretty painful mouth lesions that make eating a nightmare, while one of them also hits me at rest and I've been living with the non-stop pain for a couple of days now... Moreover today my dear computer decided it doesn't want to boot anymore! Yeah, exactly. Right now. After I've been praising it for days and after I ordered on Amazon a bigger RAM and a new battery. Oh yeah, that's the freaking right time! I've been struggling for the whole day and I still haven't been able to solve the problem, guess I'm gonna have to take it to some Apple centre. To write the blog I dug out my old Sony Vaio from my wardrobe and I'm trying to live with it, hoping that at least this one is going to keep it up for a little more!
Getting to the music, it's (been) Sunday so it's time for a sundayrevival! I had another Dido song on my mind, but I realised I had posted it already, so I chose this one instead. 'I'm no angel' has never been one of my favourites on this album that I've been listening to since I was a child, but lately it has outgrown many other songs on the album and, well... I must revise my judgement and say that it has indeed entered the pool of my favourite Dido songs! I'm sure you're gonna take a liking for it too, if you give it time! I hope your week  (and mine too) is gonna start better than the way I am ending this one. Cheers!

Flying away - Sheppard

Flying away - Sheppard

Today I did something I've been wanting to do for years, and that is booking the flight tickets for my first trip to Japan! Trying not to jinx it and keeping my fingers crossed, if everything's going and I'm actually gonna go, it really sounds like 2016 is the year when I'm doing a lot of things I've been waiting to do for years, the time of my life when I finally get some important things done! Goodness knows if it's also gonna be the year I figure out what I wanna do with my life...! I'm overly excited about Japan now, even if it's still gonna take a while before I get there, and even if some of my other adventures are not going so great, I'm still keeping a positive attitude! Can't wait to be flying away!

Sweet nothing - Calvin Harris feat. Florence Welch

Sweet nothing - Calvin Harris feat. Florence Welch

There are times in your life when stuff is going great. There are times in your life when stuff is going not so well. Notwithstanding how stuff in your life is going, Florence Welch will always have a song describing perfectly your feelings. At least, Florence Welch always has a song describing perfectly MY feelings. I don't know how she does it, but her music is able to put into clear words all the mess that sometimes is inside of my head. That's the biggest reason why I love her methinks. Does it happen to you too? Do you have a singer who always seems to know how you're feeling?

"There is a hollow in me now"

Bird set free (live on Ellen) - Sia

Bird set free (live on Ellen) - Sia

I just watched Sia play 'Bird set free' on Ellen DeGeneres's show, a song off her new album 'This is acting' that she pre-released a few weeks ago. Out of the three songs she pre-released this was probably the one that struck me the least, but I've liked it from the beginning anyway. After watching this live performance my love for it has immediately deepened. I have already given a few plays to 'This is acting' too and, even if it is not as incredible as its predecessor (for now), it's a very pleasurable listen and an album that cannot be overlooked, or rather "overlistened-to"!!

The only - Lykke Li

The only - Lykke Li

As I placed my last CDs order on Amazon recently, I realised that I had on AutoRip (Amazon's service that gives you access to MP3 files of the albums you have bought and are going to be delivered to you) a few extra songs, bonus materials and b-sides that were missing in my library, so I immediately downloaded them. It was mainly music coming from Lykke Li's first two albums, and the songs are actually quite good!! I already added a couple of them to my current playlist (which I'm actually enjoying a lot!) and so I thought that you might want to give them a try to!

Not enough love in the world - Cher

Not enough love in the world - Cher

Linking back to last weekend's posts, here is another song I can totally relate to in these days. I'm really sick of people preventing other people from spreading their love, loving each other and making the world a better place. How can they do so? Especially when they mostly follow christian teachings, which, for what I know, were all about love and tolerance and respect. Anyways, what we can do is to stop being afraid of what is different, what we might not understand and try to understand it instead of taking it out of our lives, or even sticking our noses into other people lives and telling them how they should behave and that their rights cannot be safeguarded by the state. This whole really makes me sick and I really think that there's not enough love in the world!

Low halo (live on KEXP) - Lemolo

Low halo (live on KEXP) - Lemolo

Once again I have to thank KEXP for getting me to know new artists: this time it's Lemolo's turn, they have immediately fascinated me with this beautiful song that they played live at the beginning of their recent visit to the Seattle-based radio. I guess you're gonna be seeing more of them here on the blog soon. I am writing now after a very long and very full but satisfying day: after waking up early, writing a couple of e-mails, talking on the phone with another university I have applied to, seeing a friend of mine get her Italian citizenship (she's from Albania but has lived here since she was like 2 years old), then a medical test, talking with somebody, back home for a shower, train to Milan, a dear friend's birthday and here I am! Hope I'm gonna take it easier tomorrow, but I already have some shopping, an aperitivo and a dinner planned... Milan stresses me out but I can't say I don't love how it fills up my life!

#sundayrevival Blue - R.E.M. feat. Patti Smith

Blue - R.E.M. feat. Patti Smith

I've made a relatively big change in my appearance (upper body) that is related to blue: I've been thinking of doing this for years and now the time has come, I feel great about it, more myself than I've ever felt methinks. My mother told me that I should've done it before Florence + the Machine's concert (given that their latest album is called 'How big, how blue, how beautiful'), and it occured to me that she's quite right! I still have another chance for the next concert in April, but in the meantime I prepared a playlist called 'Blue' that features some of my favourite songs that are centered around what is one of my favourite colours. This is an absolute masterpiece included in it, probably R.E.M.'s final song (the last one of their last studio album) and legacy, a beautiful collaboration with Patti Smith that fits perfectly this sundayrevival post!

It's good to be in love - Frou Frou

It's good to be in love - Frou Frou

Today is another shameful day for my country: another edition of the "Family day" took place, this being an event where people manifest their unwillingness for other people to love each other and have their love recognized by the law. They also want to prevent other people from raising children just because they didn't procreate them. I don't want to explain here all my thoughts and my reasons why these ideas make me feel sick, I'll just tell you they do.
Today is also a very bright day for me! I have received news from one of the universities I have applied to that they selected me for a PhD program starting in September! I've been really really hoping for this to go right and it seems like it did! I'll keep you updated and give you more news about this in the future...!
Anyways all I want to do is to leave you with the following message:

It's good to be in love. With whoever and whatever you want. Love is never wrong when it makes people and things happy, and it usually does. Preventing other people from loving each other and caring for each other doesn't protect nor defend anyone, it's just a selfish excuse that people use to not try and understand how other people feel. Spread the love. Whatever kind of love. Because it's good to be in love.

Two steps, twice - Foals (live @ Reading 2010)

Two steps, twice - Foals (live @ Reading 2010)

Ok, getting back to the real world from Foals' concert last night has been relatively easy because my stupid iPod wouldn't work today in the car and we couldn't play their songs again on the drive back home, so we had to listen to other music... yet I realised I still hadn't posted this song and, once again, I feel compelled to do so. I've been watching live performances of it on YouTube as, great as the album version is, I think the energy level is completely different when they perform it live. They've been using it as a show-closer for as long as I can remember, and how can I blame them?! Ending a rock concert with this crazy stuff leaves you both in medias res and also as accomplished as can be. I don't think it's a feeling I can describe with words... just take a look at this, then go listen to Foals, learn the song, go to a concert of theirs if you have the chance and you'll know just what the f I'm writing about!!! Cheers!

Lonely hunter - Foals

Lonely hunter - Foals

The time has come, I am excited, tonight I'm going to see Foals play live in Milan, same lineup as last time (with my friend A.)!! I'm really happy about it, can't wait! I am excited about it, I've been singing this song in my head (and also aloud) for days and I think it's appropriate for me to post it now.

[concert]

What an experience once again, so awesome! Will tell you more about it tomorrow, now I'll go to sleep!!

Hang it up - The Ting Tings

Hang it up - The Ting Tings

Today I came back to Milan once again because of a couple of things I have to do here tomorrow, mainly Foals' concert to go to. I (quite randomly) met a friend from Uni who happened to pass by Milan in these couple of days and some of her friends for an aperitivo, a nice night out. Walking back home I really felt like I was living my university days again, the streets so familiar, the same feelings... it seems like yesterday but actually it's been quite a while and I've walked quite a lot of road... even if I feel it's been leading me exactly back to where I was then, just a different person, somehow more mature and more conscious of not knowing what I wanna do with my life at all!
In the meanwhile I found The Ting Tings' sophomore album at a very great price while walking around what used to be my favourite multimedia store and that's it, one more album off my to-buy list and I'm back to 2012 already!!

"Break it, make it, you can make the break

Back and forth saying just make it great

Intake, no fake, don't wanna let go

Make all the changes that you need to make

Stand back, give it up, ain't life a bitch

No war making, you just do that

Guess, guess that's the fame you maintain

Time for you to rearrange"

The music's no good without you - Cher

The music's no good without you - Cher

Today's been a busy day (for my current unemployed standards): besides other things, spent a big part of my afternoon chatting with a University classmate who needed to interview me and ask me a few questions about music for her final thesis. I'm always happy to talk about music business models, my own approach to music, digital vs physical music and the like; I am also happy to chat with my friends, so all in all it's been a very pleasant afternoon! The theme of listening to music as a primary vs background activity emerged and it struck me a little as I already touched it with another person a few days ago. I tend to do both, but sometimes it's true that music as a shared experience is way more intense than music experienced alone (and sometimes the opposite is true). What do you think about that?

Give it all - Foals

Give it all - Foals

My next concert is getting closer and closer and it's Foals time again! I remember how a few weeks after I started the blog (it was a couple of years ago I think) I started posting a string of Foals posts around the time of the concert. I can't promise this won't happen again, rather... brace yourselves as you might see them quite a lot on here in the next few days! I started immersing myself in their music a few days ago and now I feel like I can't get out of it, not that I'm complaining about it at all! No big news about the rest of my life, the big events are yet to come!

#sundayrevival Sand in my shoes - Dido

Sand in my shoes - Dido

Right after relieving my soreness with some eye drops, here I am, once again in front of the computer ready to perform my last couple of tasks of this long, long day. A long long day that started with our "usual" Abu Dhabi routine: walking to the beach, relaxing, eating out at night... then we packed our luggage and after sleeping some 1.5 hours we got up and left for the airport, our flight leaving at 6.25 local time (3.25 in Italy). After a Doha stopover, I slept another 1.5 hours on the plane and got here, enjoyed at best the little part of my day that was left, tried to rest a little bit more, had dinner and after looking for a few things (why do I always leave stuff around?) that I mostly found, I am posting this. I am posting one of the favourite songs of my teenage years, off what has probably been the album that has had the biggest impact on my teenage years in music, this being Dido's 'Life for rent', the first album I ever bought (as a xmas gift for my father, even if I ended up listening to it waaaaay more than he ever did). I cannot think of a better moment to post this lovely song than now: I literally still have sand in my shoes, I am back to wintery Italy after a glimpse of summer, I am dead tired and I am here in need to understand what to do with my life, a thought I could easily avoid on holiday.

"Two weeks away it feels like the world should've changed but I'm home now and things still look the same. I think I'll leave it till tomorrow to unpack, try to forget for one more night that I'm back in my flat on the road where the cars never stop going through the night, to real life where I can't watch sunset. I don't have time. I don't have time."

PS: I already unpacked, first thing when at home! Aha!