Jun 13The Essential António Variações PlaylistThere is no particular reason for putting this playlist together at this very moment; there are no special rereleases coming out (at least that I’m aware of), it’s not António’s birthday, and 2017 doesn’t mark any special anniversary of his death. …Music4 min read
Jun 10The Things We Cannot Change: Grief, Trauma, and Acceptance in Russian Doll Season 2From the moment we see Nadia waiting for the subway at the very beginning of the trailer for Russian Doll season two, we instantly know she’ll travel much farther than she intends to. However, and after a first season of loop-based attempts at correcting what seemed to be an exasperating…Netflix5 min read
Apr 26Live Review: Giorgio Moroder’s The Celebration of the 80’s Tour (Le Grand Rex, Paris)How do you describe the privilege of being able to see music royalty live? Forever intertwined with the very history of electronica, the career of Italian DJ, producer, and Synth Master extraordinaire Giorgio Moroder is famously narrated by the Father of Disco himself on ‘Giorgio by Moroder’, his contribution to…Giorgio Moroder4 min read
Dec 29, 2021The Essential Harry Nilsson PlaylistHarry Nilsson is one of those weird, extreme cases in popular music: you’ve either never heard of him, or you are hopelessly, forever in love with him. …Music2 min read
Aug 5, 2021The Beatles’ Revolver turns 50Revolver laid the foundations for a never-seen-before strategy within show business, later perfected and dutifully assumed with Sgt Pepper: to record an album so complex that on-stage reproduction would be rendered impossible. Where does one begin to talk about how seminal The Beatles’ Revolver is? By the abnormally balanced way…The Beatles3 min read
Aug 2, 2021Rolling Stones at 55: a look at Gimme Shelter (1970)1969 is the key year to understanding not only the events that ultimately dictated the approach the Maysles brothers took of what was initially planned to be a documentary in the style of Woodstock or Monterey, but also of the general feeling of malaise that impregnated the so-called love generation…Rolling Stones6 min read
May 26, 2021The Essential Bob Dylan PlaylistPutting together an essential Bob Dylan playlist must be one of the most difficult tasks ever. With a career over half-a-century long, full of extreme highs and shameful lows, and featuring thirty-six studio albums plus countless live cuts and bootlegs, it’s virtually impossible to cover all of his work on…Bob Dylan4 min read
Mar 31, 2021Hippies, tanks, and Jeez: why Jesus Christ Superstar is a film worthy of your timeSpoiler alert: he dies at the end. I was raised a Catholic. Coming from the North of Portugal, it was almost inevitable, even though my parents — having always taught me the importance of questioning everything (which gave me my fair share of problems at school) — never forced religion on me: we’d never go to church…Film7 min read
Mar 20, 2021Love & Mercy (Bill Pohlad, 2015)Oh God, where to start? I’ll just make it plain and simple: Love & Mercy is an amazing movie and I can’t wait to watch it again. The highly-anticipated, much-hyped Brian Wilson biopic deserves every single word of praise it’s getting, for it is an accomplished portrait of the musician’s…Brian Wilson3 min read
Mar 1, 2021The Essential Serge Gainsbourg PlaylistSerge Gainsbourg was one of the most revolutionary composers of his time. By mixing several styles that had rarely been combined before (Jazz, Chanson, World music, Bossa Nova, Pop, Prog Rock, Reggae — to name only a few), he created some of last century’s greatest melodies, either for him or…Serge Gainsbourg4 min read