#yearinmusic A song or two per day - Best song and album of 2016

2016 has been a pretty good year for me under many points of view, but A song or two per day has not been one of them, and the two things are probably related: I have been having such a good time that I found it hard to find the time and (mental) energies to sit down and write blog entries constantly, which ended up in me posting very rarely. The music point of view is another one in which 2016 lacked with respect to its predecessors, which is maybe another reason why I didn't post as much. These two reasons are also the ones why I procrastinated the posting of my 2016 music summary, as I am pretty much at a loss in finding a best song and best album released this year...

Best song 2016: Line of fire - Junip

Best song: Line of fire - Junip

Given that 2016 has mostly been the outcome of life decisions made in the past years, with a lot of change that took place thanks to triggering moments that had happened in the years before, I am actually quite ok with choosing a song that was actually released 3 years before as my 2016 Best song pick. Junip and José Gonzalez have been hugely meaningful for me in the last couple of years, probably the most influential new music discovery I made lately and 'Line of fire' in particular has been a soundtrack of many big moments of 2016, mostly the ones related to me moving to Hong Kong. "What would you say if you had to leave today? Leave everything behind even though for once, you're shining."

Best album 2016: Shura - Nothing's real

Best album: Shura - Nothing's real

2016 has been quite a disappointment for me mostly because some of my favourite artists released albums that were not nearly up to my expectations or to the level of what they have been releasing before. The biggest one of these disappointments has been PJ Harvey's 'The hope six demolition project': PJ made us wait 5 years for new music, and all the expectations built in this time crushed against an album I personally find weak and pretty much pointless, the only low of her career together with 'White chalk'. On a similar note I can place the new releases by OneRepublic, KT Tunstall and, to a lesser extent, Sia. Their albums have not been all bad and feature some quite awesome songs, but overall lack a consistency that would allow me to classify them as great albums. I have been tempted to pick Sia's 'This is acting' as my favourite album released in 2016, as notwithstanding its not being nearly as good as '1000 forms of fear', it's a quite good album, but in the end I decided to go for something that I discovered towards the end of the year, here in Hong Kong: I found out about Shura thanks to Clockenflap, the music festival I attended in Hong Kong this past November, and I fell in love with her debut album quite quickly. It will not go on to enter my music olympus, but it's a good representation of my life in this past year: new, enjoyable and linked to Hong Kong!

After a hectic, full and great 2016, which has been mostly about consolidation under the music point of view, I hope 2017 will take me back to previously unseen heights with some new, great music! And I also hope I'll be able to post a bit more consistently on the blog (even if I have a hard time believing myself)...!

Happy 2017!

Run on home - KT Tunstall

Run on home - KT Tunstall

Hey my dears, I have been away from the blog for the longest time (again), my life has taken me on a rollercoaster once again! A very intense final week in Hong Kong, enjoying time there and taking exams, then a super long flight back to Italy, a trip to Milan and here I am back home...! Since Singapore 10 days went by literally in the blink of an eye, but I guess I can't complain, also as I have been running on home and enjoying all the Italian things I had missed! 2016 has been a full year, the fullest I can remember probably, and with all the highs and lows, I really can't complain about how it went by, even if it kept me away from the blog as never before. I'll be back soon with the wrap-up of this year in music, another daunting task!!

Feel it all - KT Tunstall

Feel it all - KT Tunstall

Finding a new favourite spot in Hong Kong, spending a good, relaxing Saturday afternoon, enjoying one of the (probably) last warm suns of this year that is coming to an end... it's almost time to sum this 2016 up! I think this song is a good one in both regards: this has actually been a year in which I have felt it all, moving to very high highs to very low lows, like it hadn't happened for a while... overall the balance is quite positive though. Still one month and a half to go, I'm expecting more surprises on the road in front of me! On the other side, KT's second latest album is an awesome soundtrack for a lazy afternoon, hope you can use it too!

Evil eye - KT Tunstall

Evil eye - KT Tunstall

I am a weird one, and that's not news, you will know it if you have stumbled on my ranting up here in the past. I embrace my weirdness, as it's one of the traits of my personality I like the most, and I am about to do exactly this now! I am giving you this song as my own personal summer hit. I know that pretty much no one has given a damn about what KT has been doing in the last... 10 years? Maybe a little less so? Well, I am not no one, and I kept on following her. She actually recorded and released quite a few cool things in the last half decade, and she isn't stopping. Yep, KT is coming out with a brand new EP and this is her new single. Which has like a little more than 100k views on YouTube. Well, you guys out there who contributed to the 100k, you already know what I am talking about. All of you who didn't, I strongly suggest you spend 3 minutes of your time finding out what's gonna surely be your favourite song for this summer 2016!!!

#sundayrevival Uummannaq song - KT Tunstall

Uummannaq song - KT Tunstall

For today's sundayrevival I went back to see what I was listening 5 years ago, i.e. what songs were on my November 2010 playlist. I see some PJ Harvey, Tori Amos, Bjork, OneRepublic, Skunk Anansie... I already had a pretty nice taste in music! But what I decided to pick is KT Tunstall: her 2010 album 'Tiger suit' is my favourite of hers, probably one of the most underestimated (not that she got massive radio playing since her first couple of albums, at least in Italy). It's a pity, because it's full of gems, and this is one of them. The weird name in song title is the name of a small town (I believe) in Greenland that KT visited during an inspirational trip. Amazing music anyway.

Ain't nobody - KT Tunstall

Ain't nobody - KT Tunstall

I don't know if you guys ever post(ed) about music, so I don't know if it happened to you to feel what I have just been feeling now... it's not so unlikely methinks. Anyway, I was just about to open the page of my blog to write this post and a song started hammering on my mind out of nowhere... "ain't nobody... lalala...". I realised I just recently got to listen to a cover of the original version of 'Ain't nobody' (which I don't even know if I have ever listened to, but I presumed so because I already knew the song), and after a quick search on Wikipedia I found out where: KT Tunstall's 'Drastic Fantastic' DVD included in the deluxe edition of the album I recently bought on Amazon (and already posted about here). I couldn't not post it, especially because I'm falling more and more in love with it and because it is a great piece of music interpreted by a great (set of) musician(s). Don't miss out!!

Saving my face - KT Tunstall

Saving my face - KT Tunstall

We all know Amazon is the best when it comes to buying things at a good price and getting them home fast! I guess most of you are also familiar with the concept of free delivery if you spend more than 19.99€ (at least in Italy) that applies to most products sold by Amazon itself. So when I went on to buy Florence's new album HBHBHB, I have been taking a look at other albums I wanted to buy and found a couple of them at a very good price: one is Feist's 'Metals', and the other one is a deluxe edition of KT's second album 'Drastic fantastic'. I must confess it has been a very good bargain and a great purchase!! I am now watching the DVD that came with the album and I am greatly enjoying it! Besides the nice bits and pieces of interviews and life, there are also great performances of the songs of the album, some of them I never felt particularly close to and that I am "discovering" now. That's what I love about extra material (and also live concerts), that they help me take my relationship with songs to a whole new level, and I just love it! This is what happened with 'Saving my face' this morning, so here it is, I hope you can enjoy the post! Cheers!

Invisible empire - KT Tunstall

Invisible empire - KT Tunstall

Hello my dear people! I'm sorry for not posting yesterday but I was fully dead in bed with the worst fever I can remember having... it's quite fucked up, as I have been sick since practically the end of last year and I keep getting these bad temperatures and I'm not really sure where they're coming from, I just know it's pretty annoying, not feeling well and all. Today I'm feeling a bit better, but I've still got a massive headache and stomachache and well... I don't know when was the last time I skipped a meal because of a fever (this time I skipped two)!! I just hope I'll get better soon, gotta see the specialist doctor in a few days, hoping to get things sorted out.
In the meantime I'm sharing with you one beautiful and soothing piece of music out of KT's latest album, 'Invisible empire // Crescent moon', I hope you enjoy it!

Difficulty - KT Tunstall

Difficulty - KT Tunstall

Last night I was scrolling through my playlist and... well maybe I'm telling a lie. I actually don't remember if KT's album Tiger suit (my favourite of hers) came to my mind by itself or only after I stumbled on it on iTunes, well, fact is that a strong willingness to listen to it pervaded me and, voilà! I haven't been listening to it since last summer and, shame on me, I realised that I only posted one song out of it! It's really a pity because it's probably KT's least successful album in terms of popularity, at least here in Italy, but it is also my personal favourite, one of my favs overall! And to honour this undervalued masterpiece!

"What can I do in this world for you 

If difficulty is my friend 

Keeping me company when I know 

I don't need 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...!

Beauty of uncertainty - KT Tunstall

I'm taking inspiration from last days random browsing in my library for the post of today. This is probably among my personal KT top-3, and it's a great one for this time of year too (actually maybe for January, with the snow all around you, a cup of tea or chocolate in one hand, a good book in the other, a comfy armchair, a blanket... well, you get the idea). I must say I'm not sure I am 100% in agreement with the meaning of the song, as I tend to like having things under control sometimes. Some other times though... well, it's nice to not know what's going on and to just ride the wave, especially when it's about traveling new roads, I'll give KT some credit on that!

Made of glass - KT Tunstall

2013 has been pretty stingy with respect to brand new music for me... I personally have been pretty busy catching up with some older stuff and I didn't get the chance to explore widely what new offers were around. I dare say that probably the offer has not been very rich either, probably... just a lack both of demand and supply! Anyway, one of the few CDs from this year that I devoted a good amount of attention to is KT Tunstall's new Invisible Empire // Crescent Moon, and I must say that I didn't waste my time. Unlike the previous albums, her last work lacks practically any rock and dynamic sound; rather it is a very calm, easy-listening and atmosphere record. Nonetheless it is appreciable, even more in these times of heavy dance and disco everywhere. It never hurts to have a relaxing record for winter times! This is Made of Glass, the new single whose video has been released a few hours ago!

EDIT: The video is now regularly up! Cheers!

Madame Trudeax - KT Tunstall

It was 2004 (wow, so long ago?) when KT got famous on the international music scene, mainly thanks to her early successes such as Black Horse and the Cherry Tree, Suddenly I see and Other side of the world. In the years after the buzz around her gradually reduced to the point that she now is touring only in the UK most of the time. But that doesn't mean that her music got less enjoyable... rather, I think she delivered some of her best tunes after. This is one of them, a very energetic song, so shake off that lousy autumn feeling, get up from your chairs and start dancing!

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