2014 is finally going quickly in disintegration mode and then it’s time to write a summary of the most important moments of my last year of life (the part I want to share with Internet people).

On January I decided to quit my job at the university of Florence after 14 years of work. It felt like freedom. On February I became coordinator of the Master in Fashion Communication at Polimoda Institute and then started my new freelance life from scratch. On March I turned 41 years old. Less hair, same soul. It felt like 21 or 31 (it’s the same).

But my hardest time starts in the last days of December, when I have to select my best music albums of the year 🙂 . It feels like suffering. As usual. This post is my final solution, but some words about the experience of listening music today are required before I give my annual playlist for free once again…

How we listen to music

Nowadays listening to music is a shit experience. Nobody has the time (and the will) to live this as a mono-tasking experience, because we make many things at the same time. We do listen while working, driving, running and so on. I also often do the same and then my ears and mind are not so open to discover and appreciate the most unconventional sounds. We are not focused on what we are listening. We lose something.

In addition we have a huge problem called streaming music services, or, as you prefer, listen every kind of music, in every kind of place, with every kind of device. But you listen low quality songs.

C’mon, it’s time to bury the mp3 format. We say thanks for the revolution in music industry, but now we really have to make a step ahead: we need hi-res audio with mobile devices. Many companies are working on this, but this is content for another article.

When we listen to music

It’s one of the best tasks of my day and I am lucky with it, because different devices gave us the freedom to choose the right song for the right moment. I wake up in the morning and start with a pop song from my Sonos (wireless multi room sound system, great sound and portable, a little bit expensive) connected to the desktop computer.

During the day I have two options. If I work with the laptop (coding, software production, writing, social media monitoring) I wear Beyerdynamic DTX 501 p headphones (good design, light, great sound, not expensive) to listen to new music. It’s the time when my brain is more accessible to receive new vibrations.

The second option is completely different and occurs during my lecturing activities. I always start my talking session with a song, not a random song, but the proper song to play with THIS people in THIS room in THIS moment of the day. It’s something I feel when I see faces in front of me and it has the goal to create a connection with the audience and foster engagement.

In the first hours of the night it’s time to use Spotify as a dark time machine, listening to the music albums I mostly loved during the last years. Night is not the right time to discover something new for me. I need comfortable sounds.

Ok, now let’s go, let’s start my playlist for the zombie year called 2014, that’s to say: 6 best albums, some minor ones and a playlist to follow on Spotify. Have fun with it.

6 – Ben Frost – Aurora – web

I can listen to this album for hours, but if I play it in front of other people, somebody could kill me. If you need drones, drones and drones, if you want to be immersed in a vortex of Sound, Ben from Australia is the man for you. When you start listening to this music, you go to another state of perception. If you don’t feel it, you are in the wrong website.

5 – Clipping. – CLPPNG – web

Rap is the bravest genre of the last years, one of the few where artists really propose something new in music. Clipping. is the the perfect band of our century: two producers (sound designers, experimental musicians and DJs) and a rapper. Built for an unconventional dancefloor, this album is full of cool ideas about how to blend super sonic hip-hop verses with noisy samples, electronics and broken loops. Maybe I am going too far, but sometimes they remind me the same approach of a band I love: The Books.

4 – Wild Beasts – Present tense – web

Maybe one of the most underrated bands of the last 10 years. Maybe they are too sophisticated. Maybe they have a not memorable name or face, but they are great. They write amazing pop songs. Nothing more nothing less. Ah sorry, maybe Hayden Thorpe has a mission on earth: to let us show how the voice of an angel truly sounds. The title of this post comes from their song Wanderlust, which was played recently in a special performance with the Royal Festival Hall organ, a legendary 7,866 pipe instrument.

3 – Run The Jewels – Run The Jewels 2 – web

Hip-hop again. But this time we are closer to the old school style, that’s to say: a lot of m***r, d**k, f***k words repeated continuously. But here we have EL-P and Killer Mike starting a real war against all the modern rappers. They really push the rapping to its boundaries. Loads of fun here, you can dance all the night with your best friends thanks to these loops & rhythms. Extra: you can scream m***r as much as you want too.

2 – Spoon – They want my soul – web

Spoon are the Beach boys of our time and Britt Daniel could be considered a modern Brian Wilson. I did not expect an album like this after all these years, but the inspiration of this band is never ending, and finally they are living the commercial success they deserve. Pop music at its best: simple, straight to the point, great voice, perfect tunes. Do you is one my favorite songs for starting the day.

1 – FKA Twigs – LP1 – web

Sexiest musician on earth? Who can say something against this girl now? Impossible. People who dislike her videos on YouTube are completely crazy or, for sure, are trolls with a lot of free time. We are talking about a real artist, more than only a musician. Each kind of action related to Tahliah Debrett Barnett is an action of complete communication. Clothing, dancing, videos, partnerships (#throughglass). But at the end a great album of modern music. Respect (and love, a lot of love).

Minor albums

Do you want more? Here we go with a list of other albums to discover which are not in the best 6:

  • Liz Green – Haul Away! – web
  • Sun Kill Moon – Benji – web
  • Perfume Genius – Too Bright  – web
  • How to dress well –  What is this heart – web
  • Brian Eno & Karl Hyde – Someday world web
  • Kevin Drew – Darlings – web
  • The War on DrugsLost in the Dream – web
  • James Vincent McMorrow – Post Tropical – web
  • East India YouthTotal Strife Foreverweb

Extra: Spotify playlist

Don’t confuse me with someone who gives a fuck

I always say thank you. I always care about my friends. Whether they are far away or living in the same city, I do think of them them when I write articles like this. More or less publishing this list is a way to say to them: I love you, I am close to you wherever you are.

This year I met some wonderful people and built something new with other ones. So I say thank you to all these new and old friends again. See you with another playlist in the next year.