#sundayrevival City with no children - Arcade Fire

City with no children - Arcade Fire

Hello guys, I hope your week had been fine. Mine, as anticipated, has been pretty hectic among new workshops that required a shitload of work in and especially out of class, Valentine's dinners, the usual uni life, hunting for Gen.2 Pokémon in Pokémon Go, dumplings dinner with friends, cleaning and more...! It's been a super full week, but somehow I manage to (more or less) reconcile all my activities and efforts requests! Now I am expecting a Sunday afternoon in front of the computer, reading and writing and coding (what a change...!), but first of all I wanted to share this with you, as I'm feeling in a really Arcade Firey mood today! Hope you enjoy and have a great Sunday!

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

Sprawl II (Mountains beyond mountains)
- Arcade Fire

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

Atlas - Coldplay

Atlas - Coldplay

A short drive back and forth to Varese downtown brought me to listen to just a few songs in my car tonight, but as I had to pick a playlist, after a random turn of the knob it stopped on the 'Catching fire OST' and there I was! I've never... well that's not true, there has been a short period in which I've been in love with this song, but I grew tired of it quite quickly. Nonetheless, not listening to it for quite some it, it was a real pleasure to hear it played in my car and I have been singing along with passion, even after my car stopped (and in turn so did the music)! So I guess you might want to give it a try too!! Carry your wooooooorld, carry your wooooooorld...!

Porno - Arcade Fire

Porno - Arcade Fire

I had already started writing my post for another song, then I saw on my Fb wall that AF's Reflktor-soundtracked movie is about to be released in theatres and that they released a video out of it for Porno, and given that I hadn't posted the song yet and that Reflektor was one of my (if not the) favourite albums released in 2013, it seems like the timing for posting it is perfect!! Even more so thinking about the fact that I have been mentioning Montréal quite often lately and that a weird willingness to go back there in Canada after quite a few years already is getting stronger these days...! Who knows...?! Travelling is so easy these days! It just takes a song to start the journey already...

Bad - U2

Bad - U2

Bad. Like the excursion we made today to Isla Saona, a most loved trip by people according to reviews on the internet, a most useless waste of time and money, if you want my side of the story. The water in the sea was dirty with seaweeds and not at all better than that in front of our hotel, same applies to the beach. The only good part was when I swam a little farther from the beach, but then people didn't want us to get too far. So ok, practically it's like "stay here in the dirty water".
Bad. Not like swimming in nice Caribbean water and having close encounters with starfish, first mediated by the guys and then in the "wild" sea!
Bad. Like wasting hours of transport to get to a place that was no better than the one we left and that offered no particular thing that was worth the trip.
Bad. Like the continuous effect that loud Latin music has on me. Can't stand it anymore is an euphemism.
Bad. Not like listening to music on the seaside, relaxing and always finding the right song for the moment.
Bad. Not at all like this song. One of my U2 favs!

Fire meet gasoline - Sia

Fire meet gasoline - Sia

Hello people! After many many hours of travelling, I am finally almost on the other side of the world! Ok, maybe not THAT far away, but it feels like it! I finally reached Dominican Republic to have a 1-week holiday with my father, and I'm already thrilled, even if my baggage has remained in Paris (for now). We already had a nice buffet dinner and enjoyed a Broadway Musicals show since we came to the hotel a couple hours ago, but the song I'm posting is related to my long plane trip from Paris to Punta Cana, 9 hours and half of cramped seats and pushy people! Luckily enough, the entertainment on board was quite nice, there were the usual movies (I watched a couple, let's say one and a half as I was almost sleeping at one point), but also games and of course music! Nice music! I created a playlist with songs from some of my favourite albums of last year, by London Grammar, Imagine Dragons, Lykke Li and of course Sia! Even if while this song was playing I was asleep (I actually slept for almost the whole duration of the music play), it still stuck in my mind and given that I hadn't posted it already, here it is!
Once again, as usual when I'm away from home I might delay and/or miss some posts, so I'm sorry in advance, I'll do my best to keep the flow regular and constant (while also enjoying my Caribbean trip at the fullest)!!! Burn with me tonight!

It's never over (hey Orpheus) - Arcade Fire

It's never over (hey Orpheus) - Arcade Fire

As I have mentioned many times, my friends are a constant inspiration for me in terms of music (and many other things), and lately I have been exchanging suggestions with my friend B. in particular. This is an album that I bought online 3 copies of, one for me and two for two friends of mine, her and E, as we all loved Arcade Fire. The album is quite tough, but after a few listens I got the hang of it and started loving it a lot, while I didn't get much positive feedback from them. She recently told me she was about to approach it again, and she did this morning, thus making me willing to listen to it again while I was taking a shower and getting ready to get out of home for the first time after some 10 days! Needless to say, I enjoyed it a lot, but I am kind of at a loss as I posted already practically all of the songs I love on it, and that I would love to share with you again. The real pity is that I posted them at the beginning, when the blog still had virtually no audience, so it's been kind of a waste, but well... when I decide it's time to start re-posting some stuff, I'll advertise them again! For now I'm playing my trump card, that is Orpheus! This song is quite long and heavy to digest, but the guitar riff is quite catchy and will stick in your head like candy syrup, I'm sure!

Wake up - Arcade Fire

Somethin' filled up

my heart with nothin',

someone told me not to cry

Getting to the end of a long book or a TV series (as it is my case now, I just finished True Blood) always leaves you with a feeling of emptiness inside you when that parallel world did mean something for you, at least at one point, if it taught you any lesson, if you felt like being a part of that world...

Children wake up,

hold your mistake up,

before they turn the summer into dust

I stand here with a fixed and empty stare at the computer screen, trying to process things, tearing up with that parallel world, getting out of it once and for all, making sense of reality, of my reality once again and realising that this will be a part of it no more.

I guess we'll just have to adjust

Wake up - Arcade Fire

I am spending these days in Milan as if they were my last, I have no idea what will be of my life, but chances are I will be spending at least a bunch of time here, be it for the people who gravitate around here, be it as it is so close to my hometown, be it for the relationship I built with city, be it because it's the one place in Italy I would choose to live my life in. Yet, whatever comes next, it's not gonna be the same. Things are changing already, as I mentioned in my latest post, and I am changing too. I am slowly realising that this very relevant and long chapter of my life is ending, and I am getting some closure, I am actually willing to get some closure because behaving like this helps me get so many memories of the time I spent there, the things I've done, the places I've loved, the people I've met... but everything comes to an end, and something new starts! I guess we'll just have to adjust.

Yellow flicker beat - Lorde

Yellow flicker beat - Lorde

I guess you can say I feel good again by the fact that my posting has trespassed yet again, this time not only the limit of the 24h solar day, but also of the month! Screw that, posting at this time is the best, even if it gets less interaction, it's more genuine, it's me at my most active! Well, maybe not really...! Now I'm feeling quite sleepy... but I know what to post, I've been knowing for a while and, well... it's one of these awesome times in life when all pieces of the puzzle fall into their place! I think I've been telling myself at least 3 or 4 times: "Hey, come on! You didn't even post Yellow flicker beat yet! It's well about time..." and well, today is just about time. Perfection stemmed from the fact that I have just finished (re)-watching Catching fire with my friend E, so what better moment? (Keep into account that I have created the fourth playlist since this song came to me, so it waited quite a while!)

"This is the red, orange, yellow flicker beat sparking up my heart"

EDIT: Updated with official music video (which is awesoooome)!

Keep the car running - Arcade Fire

Keep the car running - Arcade Fire

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

Neighborhood #3 (Power out) - Arcade Fire

Neighborhood #3 (Power out) -
Arcade Fire

The time has come! Second concert of my summer, here I come! The circumstances of our trip are not forecasted to be the best ones (we're leaving around the traffic jam time and the storm that's supposed to rage out on the concert is more and more strongly confirmed by the weather forecast), but I'm still thrilled by the whole experience, I hope it's gonna be unforgettable. Actually, I hope that the storm won't cause a 'power out'!!

#sundayrevival Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels) - Arcade Fire

I have been quite busy doing nothing lately and well, it's time to post! In this weird moment of tiring nothingness interspersed with super busy days I almost forgot that my second (and last for the time being) concert of this summer; almost, but not completely! I have started listening to Arcade Fire's whole discography to get ready for the gig and to get in the mood! It's just two days away and I still have to finalise the arrangements: the thing that is worrying me the most is that a storm is forecast to rage out on the place exactly before and during the gig... it's gonna be like being at a british festival I suppose! Well, we'll see how it goes, in the meanwhile let's enjoy the opening track of their debut album, Funeral, in this sundayrevival post!

Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels) -
Arcade Fire

We exist - Arcade Fire

We exist - Arcade Fire

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

Down on their knees

Begging us please

Praying that we don't exist

But we exist

#sundayrevival Rebellion (lies) - Arcade Fire

Rebellion (lies) - Arcade Fire

Hello guys! Yesterday has been a pretty intense day, so good enough that I posted just after midnight rang before going to bed! I took a very nice trip south of Exeter with some friends and, even though the weather was not so good, I really enjoyed it! But it didn't end up there... after a swift dinner we went to have a goodbye-weekend party at some friends' house and then out to dance in an alternative rock club, our favourite in Exeter (I'm not a fan of discos but this one is enjoyable from time to time). I had a good time once again, just a little bit sad because it's gonna be the last one. It's not time for goodbyes still, but I'm starting to realise that my time here is coming to an end... And it has been very funny to kind of close a circle: this song is the first one I've listened to as soon as I arrived in Montréal two years ago and the last one that played last night in the club, kind of the goodbye to Exeter and to my university times abroad. I'm a bit scared, but mostly curious to see how my life's gonna develop in the next few months! But for now, let's just enjoy the present!

Everybody wants to rule the world - Lorde

Everybody wants to rule the world -
 Lorde

Hello people, hope your easter weekend has started in the best way possible! I'm on my way to London (goodness bless wifi on buses) enjoying my trip and waiting to meet my parents after 3 months. It is finally the chance for me to review my relationship with London, a city that I've never particularly liked (even though I only spent an afternoon there) and that everybody (well, almost) has been telling me great things about. So here I am, with an open mind and trained legs ready to roam around for a few days! I hope I will be able to post daily, hopefully at night, as I didn't prepare anything for you in advance. Carpe diem, as they say!

For now, I'll just leave you with the song that just started playing on my iPod. I've actually been into the various versions of this song I know for the last couple of weeks: the original has been playing in the office, Patti Smith's is the first one I've listened to (and liked), this is the one I'm listening to the most lately, so here it is: go and find your way to rule the world!

Gale song - The Lumineers

Gale song - The Lumineers

"And there was a time when I stood in line
for love, for love, for love.
But I let you go, oh,
I let you go."

You might have noticed an abundance of Catching Fire soundtrack posts on the blog lately. You might say "Well, I've had enough!" (please doon't!). Be happy, 'cause it's (almost?) over. Well, I've practically posted almost all of them! You might as well say "Give me more! I love it!" (I'd love it!). Well, again, I'm sorry but I almost posted the whole album and I don't have many songs left. But don't worry! In the meanwhile you can enjoy this great one (and maybe one or two more will come, who knows?).
The Lumineers... weird relationship (again) between me and some music. Their genre is one I've been getting really close to, especially in the last couple of years, but the (super successful) song that got them famous, Ho hey (or whatever)... I've never come to like it. Or, at least, I've liked it, just liked it, some rare times I've listened to it, but I didn't really come to peace with it. And that's (probably) a pity, 'cos this brought me not to listen to their debut album (yet), making it a potential great loss of good music for me. But here comes Catching Fire and the fact that in it I ended up loving (much) more the songs I didn't expect to (and less the ones I was expecting). And this little thing here is no exception! It took me a little while to appreciate it fully, but I really do love the lyrics and the whole song too. You can't really get the sense of it without knowing the Hunger Games plot: Gale is the "best friend" of the protagonist, Katniss, and there is a friend/lover relationship going on between them (SPOILER I'm halfway through the third and last book and I still don't know how it's gonna end!). Gale stayed home while Katniss went to the Hunger Games and developed a friend/lover relationship with another guy, thus messing up the whole thing, like it only happens in books and movies (or maybe not). Anyway I think the lyrics and Gale's story are very touching, so don't miss this one out!

Mirror - Ellie Goulding

Mirror - Ellie Goulding

My obsession with The Hunger Games has been going on for about a month now and it's gonna keep on going for a good while still (I just started reading the last book of the trilogy, so I'm still 1/3 away from the end of the story). I must say it's really addictive...! Both the movies and the books don't let you forget about them until you're at the end, and watching the second movie halfway through the second book confused things a little bit, but now that I've finished the book I'd like to watch the movie again 'cos I think I didn't get completely some parts the first time.
Anyway, this current obsession of mine aside, the films are quite good and so are the books. And so is the soundtrack of Catching Fire (the second chapter of the trilogy). I was a bit disappointed by the fact that most of the songs are not featured in the movie nor in the ending titles, but this doesn't diminish the value of the music. This is the last song I've been obsessed with that still hasn't found its place on the blog (it's finding it now!), so it's kind of a closure for me, even if I'm still almost one book (and one movie obviously) away from the end of the series. I'll keep you updated...!

Intervention - Arcade Fire

Well... my day didn't start in the best way possible, let's say. Actually, the bad beginning of today was the aftermath of last night, the last message I got before leaving work was not... well, nice. And this morning didn't turn out to be much better: other (mildly) bitter messaging, wrong data, non-working Internet and so on... the little things that all summed up together make your day unpleasant. Well, I'll face it and survive it (hopefully, as given how crazy British drivers are you are never sure you'll make it at home on your own two legs! And they say that we Italians drive badly, I found out... well... what can I say?).

Intervention - Arcade Fire

Been working for the church

While your life falls apart

Singing hallelujah with the fear in your heart

Every spark of friendship and love

Will die without a home

Hear the soldier groan, 'We'll go at it alone'

Hear the soldier groan, 'We'll go at it alone'

Fire - Kasabian

So, let's go on with my 2013 best! This one dates back to last summer... I had already made up my mind about getting to know Kasabian and the process was quickened by the fact that they were about to give a free gig in the Dumo square in Milan! In the end Fire was the song I loved the most at the time of the concert (I haven't had much time to listen to them before it, it's been like a week between when I started and when the gig took place) and is probably (among) the one(s) I still like the most, so... enjoy!

You already know - Arcade Fire

Last night I kept on going on with the shuffle and I thought about picking up for the post of today one of the songs iTunes gave me at least a couple of times. Yet right now I made up my mind and I decided I will pick another song instead! Running the risk to be boring, here is another one from what I can now safely assume will be my favourite 2013 album, i.e. Arcade Fire's Reflektor. The song is called You already know and it's another masterpiece brought to life by the Montréal-based band. Enjoy!