#13 Culture Fix

La Rentrée Special Edition - Part 3 | New music, old music, great music.

The Culture Fix is the place where I share the books, films, music, articles, interviews, plays, exhibitions, places, and even food, I’ve enjoyed recently.

Recommendations may refer to content in either English, Spanish, French or Italian and sometimes not available in English. But since this is a publication called Abroad written by a multilingual foreigner in London, and hopefully appealing to those curious to explore beyond their own borders, this shouldn’t come as a surprise.

It’s only taken me only over a month and a half to do the third part of a series of special Culture Fix editions so not sure if I can still use the term rentrée in November. If feels like saying “Happy New Year” in March.

In my defence, and not that it really makes any difference now, the reason it’s taken me so long to write this last special instalment focused on music is because I didn’t know how to structure everything I wanted to include. While I thought about it, more new music came under my radar, and recommendations piled up, so the task became even harder to the point that the only logical course of action was a healthy dose of procrastination.

But this week I saw the sign, as Ace of Base sang.

It came in the form of a message from my aunt Lidia, one of the key influencers in shaping my musical taste. She texted me out of the blue to say she was listening to Bryan Adams and thinking of me. I replied I think of her when I listen to George Michael, whose music I discover through her. I think it’s lovely how now each of us has a singer we associate with the other so clearly.

United in music.

One of the books I’m currently reading is Michael Faber’s reflections on music and exploration on how we listen to it on his latest non-fiction book Listen. On Music, Sound and Us. A mix of memoir, history of music and musical analysis, this is a great book for all music lovers and an ode to why music matters in general and why some music matter more than other to us personally, while inviting us to keep an open mind about the stance “I like what I like.”

As Faber discusses in his book, music, more than any other artistic expression, carries a higher emotional component and has the power to change our mood rather swiftly. There is a perfect music for every imaginable emotion and the beauty of it is that the more music you listen to, the wider your catalogue to cater to your inner states will become, enriching your appreciation for more musical styles.

What follows below these lines a curated mix of new music, old music, and music-adjacent content I’ve been enjoying for years or discovered recently. My hope is that you will find something new and exciting to you that makes you curious about venturing beyond your musical comfort zone.

I’ve also resolved the question of structure and I’ve decided to go for a classic and use the ABC(DFU) song, one letter at a time.

And now let’s give it up for our artists today.

Happy listening, everyone.

A is for Alabama Shakes

If you watched Fleabag, you probably are no stranger to Alabama Shakes, whose soulful and heartbreaking This Feeling, from their Sound & Colour album, is the song that closes the series as we watch Fleabag and the Hot Priest part ways.

Since I only watched Fleabag for the first time this summer while I was at Oxford, I came late to the Alabama Shakes party. So late indeed that I was a bit heartbroken when I found out they seem to have split, or at least be on a very long hiatus.

And if This Feeling was the perfect song to get acquainted to their music, I Found You, from their Boys & Girls album, was a great song to forget they’ve been on a musical break for a while now.

B is for Barns Courtney

When your parents name you Barnaby, they probably aren’t thinking of you as a future rock start, let’s be honest. But when you’re blessed with a voice that is made for heavy rock, punk, and blues and flies through more electronic sounds with ease, you find a way not to let your name hold you back in your path to becoming one of the most original -and massively underrated- artists today who also puts on a phenomenal live show. Been there, seen that.

Courtney’s 2017 debut album The Attractions of Youth (with hit singles Fire and Golden Dandelions) pays homage to the Southern sounds he grew up with while living in the US, while his second album 404 is a departure from those heavy guitars and drums and ventures into lighter electronic sounds.

Supernatural, his 2024 album release, is a perfect alchemy of both of these worlds, and fluctuates between the returns to his rock and blues origins with the smashing energy of National Treasure, Guillotine and Heartbreak Hallelujah, the electronic beats of the title track and the hypnotic beat of Golden, the beautiful lightheartedness of the melody in Machine Gun Sun, the upbeat tempo of Young in America, The Vapor and Too Young to Die or the mesmerising closing track I Feel It Now.

C is for Crystal Fighters

You know when you haven’t heard a band ever in your life and the first time you do you are left wondering where have they been all your life? That was what I experienced the first time I saw Crystal Fighters live.

They have a new album out, LIGHT+ and the lead single Manifest is pure Crystal Fighters sound and I can’t wait to dance to it live.

This East London band mixes electronic music, indie rock influences, synthesisers and Basque folk instruments to produce a sound that is both contemporary and eerie, such as in At Home, Bridge of Bones, Lay Low or The Moondog.

But they also know how to get the party started and in fact many of their songs, influenced by Afro-sounds and traditional Basque dances dating back a couple of centuries, have gained them a reputation for being the ultimate festival band for the energy they manage to create in record time. La Plage, You & I, Yellow Sun, Love Natural, LA Calling, In Your Arms, Wild Ones or All Night will definitely have you moving and shaking and vibing to their wonderful pastiche of musical influences. And hopefully feeling a bit more hopeful about humanity.

D is for Damiano David

It is a truth universally acknowledged that every frontman in a band eventually wants to take a break for a solo project. Damiano David, the charismatic singer of Italian rock sensation Måneskin, is no exception.

In any case, he’s reassured fans that they’re not breaking up, however he needed to express this other musical side to him, which is a 180 turn from what he’s been doing until now.

His first single Silverlines has been produced by Labyrinth and I was sold at first listening. It’s grandiose, it’s delicate, it has soul and Damiano’s unique vocals shine in this lyrical composition. This orchestral version belongs in an epic soundtrack.

He has already a second single out, a deceivingly playful pop song whose lyrics are slightly less bright, Born With a Broken Heart. It took me a bit more to warm up to it than to Silverlines but, as I’m typing these lines, this is the song I’m listening to and I’ve converted already to this new Damiano and his music. Definitely loving the 40’s matinée idol aesthetic and can’t wait for his solo album to be released.

E is for English Teacher

The new indie kids on the Leeds block have a fitting name. They’ve given everyone a lesson in how to craft an award-winning album as they’re the brand new Mercury prize winners with their debut This Could be Texas.

As the world of music debates whether the album as a format has a future in the era of TikTok viral hits, English Teacher has crafted an album that has received critical praise and counts with the love of the fans, including indie legends Franz Ferdinand.

Their music might be an acquired taste, but once you give it a listen you may end up enjoying their inventiveness and their sound may grow on you. I’m currently giving lots of love to The World’s Biggest Paving Slab, Broken Biscuits, R&B and Nearly Daffodils.

F is for Franz Ferdinand

And from a Mercury Prize debut album winner to another.

This time it’s the turn of Franz Ferdinand, the Glasgow band that committed to making music the girls want to dance to and great, chaotic videos to go with. It’s worked a treat as they have kept us dancing for 20 years after their first album was released in 2004 and now they’re back with a new studio record, The Human Fear, which will be released in January 2025.

So how did you learn about Franz Ferdinand’s music? Clickbait really

They have already given fans a teaser with the lead single Audacious which sounds like another song I will be wanting to dance to when I go to see them in London in March next year.

After the dance/electronic experimentation - a rather successful one I must add- of Always Ascending in 2018, Franz Ferdinand has worked with producer Mark Ralph for their new studio album in six years. Ralph already produced Right Thoughts, Right Words, Right Actions, the band’s fourth studio album in 2013.

If their lead single is anything to judge by, this means their new songs will be a return to their trademark sound but considering Right Thoughts (RT for brevity) contains some of my favourite songs of them, and that Franz Ferdinand are truly one of those bands who do not repeat themselves but also are not being afraid of doing more of what they do best, I’m already eager to hear how The Human Fear sounds. If they come up with anything half as good as Stand on the Horizon (from RT), I’ll be happy.

G is for George Michael

Obviously.

My aunt was a fervent Wham! fan (by the way, their Netflix documentary is fantastic) and while the band was short-lived, their legacy was longlasting and their music made it to my life soundtrank. Once they split, my aunt procedeed to acquire Faith like every devoted Wham! fan did and George Michael took over.

While we can argue that I Want Your Sex wasn’t the song to be singing out loud in a small town of La Mancha as a teenager, no one back then really understood a word of English so no harm done. However, if I had to pick my favourite song from this album, and one of my overall favourites from George Michael, that’d be Kissing a Fool.

H is for Hozier

He may have converted the impious among you with the excellent Take me to Church, but Irish artist Hozier had to wait a decade to top Billboard’s Hot 100, something that an Irish act hadn’t achieved since Sinéad O’Connor’s Nothing Compares 2 U in 1990.

And he’s done so thanks to the bluesy rhythm of “Too Sweet,” the lead single of his 2024 studio album Unreal Earth, which has also given Hozier his first UK No 1 (Take Me to Church unbelievably only reached No 2)

Too Sweet is sexy, mysterious and highly addictive - just like the night owls and not so pure souls Hozier describes in it and who have made of this track their hymn.

If you haven’t done so yet, I invite you to explore Hozier’s music beyond his hit singles past and present. You’ll fall in love with his soulful vocals and will discover one of the most wholesome creative souls alive.

I is for Irish hip-hop

Let’s remain a bit more on Irish musical soil as the next entry is Irish language hip-hop trio Kneecap, whose homonymous big screen debut this summer has been selected as Ireland’s entry for the 2025 Oscars. Partly based on the real story of how they came to be, party fictional account, the film has put Kneecap and their music on the radar of many of us.

After I left the cinema the first time I watched their film, I reached for my phone and started playing C.E.A.R.T.A. By the second time I went to see the film, I could hum along most of the songs. Proof that you don’t really need to understand a language to appreciate the music made in it.

J is for Justin Hawkins Rides Again

Justin Hawkins, frontman of The Darkness, has a podcast. Who hasn’t, I hear you ask, but this one is a great place to explore more music and enjoy Justin’s music reviews and analysis as the insider he is.

I found out about his podcast thanks to an interview with Luke Spiller, frontman of The Struts (more on them later), a beutiful way to close a circle as Spiller has acknowledged the great influence The Darkness has had on The Struts.

One of the episodes I’ve enjoyed the most recently is this one with opera singer and vocal coach Elizabeth Zharoff, who in her YouTube channel The Charismatic Voice, analises musician’s vocal ranges as she listens to one of their songs for the first time.

She was blown away when she came across the epic I Believe in a Thing Called Love, and Justin reacted to her positive analysis in the comments and even did an episode reacting to her reaction which is quite funny to watch. After this, the internet worked its magic and reunited the two of them for an insightful chat on all things music, vocal polyps, voice techniques and recovery, tea preferences, and everything in between, really.

K is for Kimberose

Led by singer Kimberly Rose Kitson-Mills, Kimberose conquered hearts and ears with their debut single I’m Sorry, earning Kitson-Mills’ vocals the unconditional love of jazz and soul fans.

If you’re new to this French soul/pop/funk band, you are in for a treat. Their third studio album Roses was recently released and it is a little gem and it’s been on heavy rotation over the past few weeks.

Lead single Anita is a mix of classic Latin and French influences as it is Je t’aime beaucoup. Opening track You Made Me Pray is the perfect amuse-bouche to get you in the mood for the shot of energy that comes straight after with (Where Are) The Good Days? , a disco-funk tune produced with the golden touch of Nile Rodgers, who also plays guitar.

Out of Love is an upbeat track on the sorrows of unrequited love, but one that doesn’t hit as hard as it does in the softer melody of Bird of Prey, a perfect soundtrack to think about life and love while watching the rain fall outside.

I’m on a Roll is a soulful hymn to finding your freedom and not limiting yourself to be a smaller version of who you are. Up and Down brings to mind the sound of Erykah Badu but with an upbeat twist and it’s perhaps my favourite track.

L is for Lágrimas Negras

Last year marked the 20th anniversary of the release of one of the best albums ever recorded in Spanish and I believe more people should know about it.

In 2003 two unlikely musical figures separated by over 50 years of age, the legendary Cuban pianist, composer and arranger Bebo Valdés and Spanish flamenco singer Diego el Cigala, got together to record what would become an epic album: Lágrimas Negras.

A fusion of jazz, flamenco, latin rhythms, the album revisits nine popular classics in the Spanish and Portuguese language and it went on to win the Latin Grammy for Best Contemporary Tropical Music (a bit of a snub not to be nominated in the general category, honestly).

This must have been one of the first original cd’s my sister and I bought back in the day as we had been recently gifted a cd and radio player and I remember listening to this album with her for weeks on end.

In the same way that Faith by George Michael reminds me of my aunt, Lágrimas Negras reminds me of my sister as she loved this album. And still does.

M is for Midnight Juggernauts

Have you ever experienced that feeling of listening to a song for the first time and being hooked immediately and needing to listen to it over and over again to the point you put it on repeat and let it play for hours as you go about your day or are you normal?

When last September Into the Galaxy entered my eardrums, and my heart, I instantly fell in love with its space rock vibe and those vocals that at times sound like David Bowie. The authors of this addictive track are Australian alternative electronic rock band Midnight Juggernauts, and the song belongs to their debut album Dystopia from 2007.

Their sound reminds me of a mix between David Bowie, Muse, Arcade Fire and Tame Impala (a fellow Australian band) but with hints of folk (the title track Dystopia being a good example) and space rock. Other great tracks are Shadows, Worlds Converged (whose sound is very reminiscent of Muse) and Road to Recovery.

In 2013 the band released a second album Uncanny Valley, which is their last album to date although they haven’t officially separated. It follows a similar style to Dystopia but it’s perhaps more cohesive and mature stylistically speaking.

N is for Nile Rodgers

Music legend Nile Rodgers is responsible for the disco soundtrack of our lives. I really enjoyed listening to him explain the back story and process of producing three of his biggest hits, Freak Out, Let’s Dance, and Get Lucky, as well as his love of the sound he’s been making for decades and which has come so representative of him.

The man is the definition of funk, fun and love for creating the best music you’ll ever dance to, which comes from the passion for what he does. I dare you to sit still while listening to him and Chic as they bring the house down in their Tiny Desk Concert.

O is for Opera

One of the things that surprises people the most about my musical taste is the fact that I love opera as well as rock, as if these two styles couldn’t belong in the same person.

In my mind the two are quite complementary as the grand overtures of operas have something definitely very rock and roll about them. I’ll tell you more: if Rossini were alive today, he’d give fellow Italians Måneskin a good run for their money.

However, more often than not opera seems to be associated with an elitist and old-fashion musical genre that seem to be enjoyed only by people who have a foot on the grave. As the very much alive and kicking person that I am I categorically refuse that argument.

I’ve been a regular visitor to the ROH since April 2010, when I attended my first performance, and I greatly appreciate how inclusive the venue is and how far they’ve come in making the booking easy through their internet site. Long are the days of queuing outside on the piazza under the rain to get cheap seats… although that added to the experience and I always met lovely people in the queue with whom to talk about opera and ballet as we slowly moved forward.

If you are intimidated by the perceived solmemnity of opera, you should know two things.

The first is that opera is for everyone as it is concerned with the great themes we’ve always been worried about: love, death, justice, treason, patriotism, or revenge, and therefore anyone can follow the story. No, seriously - they do surtitles so no need to download Duolingo in German.

And no, not all operas are tearjerkers. Mozart, Donizetti and Rossini created some of the best Opere Buffe (comic operas), such as Le Nozze di Figaro, L’elisir d’amore or Il Barbiere di Siviglia, respectively.

The second is that you don’t need to dress up to go the opera. Or not particularly. There is no set dress code at the Royal Opera House, for instance.

In fact at that first performance I was wearing a shirt and jeans and I bumped into a man dressed in a Hawaian short-sleeved shirt and shorts as well as people wearing tuxedos and long dresses, giving me flashbacks of Pretty Woman. Between those two fashion styles, anything goes really.

While tickets have gone up after the pandemic, getting a good seat at the ROH in London will cost you on average of £35-70, depending on the performance and visibility angle. Many seats at the £35 bracket are marked as “reduced visibility” but offer very decent views. If you don’t mind standing, or having a truly reduced view, you can get tickets for as little as £20.

And of course wherever you are in the world, you always have YouTube (there are full performances available for free), or the Royal Opera House streaming service. I promise you I don’t work for the ROH, I simply love what they do and how they’re trying make opera accessible for more people so it continues existing.

So for less than a tiny seat at any West End threatre that leaves your knees and neck in pain for hours after the performance has finished, and doesn’t even come with a live orchestra giving you goosebumps or a soprano making you question your very unremarkable speaking voice, you can enjoy the Opera performance of a lifetime.

P is for The Playlist

If only there was a series based on Spotify…

Luckily Netflix has answers -and budget- for almost everything and back in 2022 they released The Playlist, a limited series on the birth of one of the most disruptive players in the music industry in the XXI century.

Consisting of six episodes, each of them narrated from the point of view of a different character involved in bringing Spotify from idea to reality, the series sets the scene for viewers to understand why a platform like Spotify found success in the era of illegal downloads and what it took to get there.

While this is a fiction series, it’s a great account of how Spotify’s irruption in the music industry impacted labels, royalties, consolidated artists and smaller musicians alike.

Q is for Quevedo || BZRP session #52

in August 2022 I visited my hometown for Feria, which I hadn’t done for ten years. This is one of the two visits I make back home a year, where I don’t get to go out much to any place where I can discover new music.

But that particular time there was no escaping a song recorded by Gran Canarian artist Quevedo and produced by Argentine DJ Bizarrap. Session #52, also known as Quédate played every where that summer and people went wild when the chorus hit. It was the Despacito of 2022 and I gladly yielded to its power. It has become a song synonymous with summer and having the best time you can have.

Interestingly, this session was followed by a collaboration with Shakira, who recorded a notorious song right after her split with footballer Gerard Piqué which also became another instant hit as well as gossip.

R is for Rosalía

In 2018 a concept album based on El Romance de Flamenco, a work from the 13th century about a woman locked up in a tower by her jealous husband, fusioned flamenco with pop and hip hop and urban sounds taking Spanish-speaking music world by a storm.

The album was El Mal Querer, which received critical and public acclaim and went on to win the Latin Grammy for Best Latin Rock, Urban or Alternative Album in 2020. Malamente was its lead single. Rosalía was the mind and voice behind it.

When Motomami, her follow up album, was published in 2022 Rosalía was already a consolidated global artist. She found the magic formula to connect with international audiences while being true to the music she wanted to make and her creative vision and gathering recognition along the way.

Motomami won 5 Latin Grammy’s, including Album of the Year. However, despite the well-deserved accolades, music critics noted how the artist had been snubbed by the Recording Academy by not including the album in their general awards nominations and flagging the lack of musical appreciation beyond the English language. Lágrimas Negras dejá vu anyone?

Although I wasn’t initially sold on her music, after watching interviews of her talking about her passion for what she does, I’ve become very fond of Rosalía as a person. She’s one of the sweetest, nicest, most humble, spontaneous, and genuine artists in the musical scene today and I’m sure she’ll keep on surprising us in years to come.

It was only a matter of time I converted to her music as well and now I have several favourite tracks already from Motomami: Bizcochito, Candy, Despechá, La Fama and Saoko, a reggeaton-heavy song with a piano jazz interlude I wouldn’t have expected to like, but which I’m quite addicted to.

And don’t worry if you don’t understand Rosalía when she sings because I can’t either. There’s in fact a running joke among Spanish speakers claiming that being able to understand a Rosalía song clearly means you’ve finally reached the pro-level at Duolingo. One day perhaps…

S is for The Struts

I’ve written recently a full post talking about my love for The Struts so I’ll invite you to read it and discover one of the most criminally under appreciated rock bands today that should be selling out stadiums by now.

But they deserve a mention here because, roll drum, they have a new single out - Can’t Stop Talking. They already played it at The Roundhouse a few weeks ago and it had everyone singing and jumping around.

I seriously doubt The Struts can create anything I don’t like, and I love them even more for that because being a highly judgemental person who finds flaws in everything and everyone eventually it’s good to know there’s at least a rock band that can do no wrong in my eyes. Or my ears.

T is for Therapie Taxi

One of the things I hate is discovering a new group that I’m totally addicted to only to realise they have already dismantled for good. That was the case of Parisians Therapie Taxi. In fact, the first song I listened to them was Été 90, from their goodbye EP, Rupture de Merde.

How am I supposed to ever be fluent in the language, putain de merde, if all the things I love listening, watching (Dix pour Cent), or reading (Romain Gary) are over by the time I realise they had once existed?

Anyway, revenons à nos muttons. Mixing pop, rock, electronic and hip hop influences with lyrics that sang to the freedom of being young and wild, and a sound that was overall very refreshing, Therapie Taxi soon became quite a sensation in France.

One of the reasons? The use of the French language in their songs, a language that was undergoing a musical renaissance among young listeners that usually preferred lyrics in English. Like the French Revolution, Therapie Taxi and their music irrupted in the French musical scene to spread a message of liberté, égalité, fraternité when the time was right for them to do so.

When their first album Hit Sale came out in 2018, and following the success of their previously released single Salope!, critics were ravi with their sound and hoped the title track could lead them to mainstream success.

Their debut was followed in December 2019 by Cadavre Exquis, but since Covid hit in 2020, the group had to cancelled any tours to present the album and in the summer of 2020 they announced their split. To thank the fans, and end on a good note, they released their farewell EP in 2021 and did three concerts in October of that year as restrictions lifted and live events were allowed again.

Music is a very challenging and uncertain industry, and early career musicians need a lot of resilience to ride the waves until they achieve a reasonable level of recognition. Last year the first ever UK Musicians’ Census revealed that almost third of professional musicians in the country were experiencing poor mental wellbeing and that support was fundamental for artists not to leave the industry due to poor mental health.

Who knows if that’s what happened with Therapie Taxi. Like many artists that are beginning their careers, they surely struggled when the pandemic hit and maybe decided they had run their course as a group. I’m glad to have discovered their music even if it was when they had already split as now I can share it with you as well.

U is for Urban Music

In 2020 London-based ensemble Kokoroko won Best Group at the the Urban Music Awards and that same year they played in the Proms at the Royal Albert Hall.

I’m catching up with their 2022 album Could We Be More? which is music for the soul.

I discovered Kokoroko back in 2020 and I used to listened to them during the first lockdown quite often, when we had one of the best spells of consistently good weather in the UK. Paradoxically, a period that for many was rather dreadful, for me was linked to sunny days and good music.

Although Abusey Junction is the track that made them popular, the more upbeat Carry Me Home has a very special place in my heart.

V is for Videoclub

Ah, young love! As exhilarating and ephemeral as a French group whose sound you like… That’s Videoclub in a nutshell for you.

They managed to stay together even less than Therapie Taxi but it’s understandable considering the duo was made of lovebirds Adèle Castillon and Matthieu Reynaud and when they broke up, so did their musical project.

At least they have left us Amour Plastique an ode to being young, carefree, madly in love, dressed in 90s fashion while you smooch your crush incessantly and you run after them as if you didn’t have a job to go to nor a tube strikes preventing you to do so, and sing their endless virtues to the rhythm of 80s synths.

Ah merde, this is indeed a great song. Why did they have to break up?

W is for What You Know

Defined as a festival modern classic anthem What You Know is perhaps the song even people who claim not to know who Two Door Cinema Club are have listened to at least once.

Included in their debut Tourist History from 2010, the song is a good example of the electronic/alternative rock sound the Norther Irish trio is famous for.

Since that distant 2010, the band has been busy and produced four other albums in addition to an excellent EP, Changing of the Seasons, whose title track is my Two Door Cinema Club anthem.

Beacon (2012) was a good follow up to their debut similar but slightly more sophisticated and there is a bit of an evolution in their sound, as reflected in the uplifting brassy pop of Sun, the more lyrical The World is Watching or the progression in Sleep Alone.

Gameshow (2016) leaned more towards electronic music and 80’s pop sounds than its predecessors while False Alarm (2019) confirmed the transition towards electronic pop and it’s perhaps their weakest work despite it contains Satellite, a favourite song from this Northern Irish trio. Keep on Smiling (2022), which I haven’t listened to in depth, seems to be an iteration of the electro pop sound in False Alarm, which lacks the vibrancy the band is capable of.

That’s why I was very happy to listen to their 2023 single Sure Enough, which is everything you would expect from the best Two Door Cinema Club sound of the past. Happy Customers, their 2024 single release, is in the same vein so I’m hopeful this means Two Door Cinema Club will soon be back with a new album and in great musical shape.

X is for (e)Xtraordinary talent

What would this newsletter be if I failed to include at least one musical prodigy? No, Mozart doesn’t count as the aim is to help you discover music you may not be familiar with.

Luckily for you there’s a German musician in our current age and time that was also a child prodigy: David Garrett, who at 9 played his first solo concert and at 44 has been playing violin for nearly 40 years. Not a bad track record, I’d say. However, all that comes at the cost of sacrificing your childhood, as he has explained in a recent interview.

After a brief stint at the Royal College of Music in London, Garrett studied at the prestigious Juilliard School under the direction of Itzhak Perlman, and he is a classic and crossover violinist as well as a recording artist.

I first came across him thanks to his rendition of Smells Like Teen Spirit. Not going to lie: it wasn’t only his rock covers what got my attention. With his luscious blond mane and tattoos, Garrett was a far cry from what a classically-trained violinist usually looks and sounds like.

In Garrett’s rendition of classical pieces his love for music and his instrument shines even further as he gets lost into the music and the sadness that often transpires from his interviews seems to vanish in the melody of the music.

And because he is someone who never rests, this year he has released a new album Millennium Symphony giving the Garrett treatment to a new batch of songs, from Taylor Swifts’s Shake it Off, Luis Fonsi’s Despacito, The WEKND’s Blinding Lights or Måneskin’s The Loneliest among many others. I’m glad to see that Bittersweet Symphony by The Verve and Take Me to Church by Hozier are also in the new album as they’re perfect songs to be played fully instrumental with a sprinkle of Garrett’s classical touch.

Y is for You Know I’m No Good

I don’t think I need to introduce Amy Winehouse but in case you haven’t listened to her music and her astonishing voice before coming across this newsletter, I’m pleased to be of service and remedy that by sharing my favourite song of hers.

I remember the news of her death really shocked me as I was already living in London and therefore exposed to the news the press published about her on a regular basis. It all felt surreal and at the same time it was as if we were expecting it to happen any given day but couldn’t believe it actually had. She still had so much music inside her.

The world lost a phenomenal artist who left us too soon, but we can preserve her legacy by listening to her. Over and over and over again.

Z is for Zitti e Buoni

When the first notes of Zitti e Buoni played in March 2021, they caught me by surprise. This wasn’t your classic Sanremo song, that much was obvious.

When the song ended, I was ecstatic. Who were these Måneskin? Why hadn’t I heard anything by them before? Where could I find more of their music?

The realisation that this song, swear words and all, was competing at the Festival of Sanremo -an event that is rather traditional musically speaking,- and the shock of learning that the members of Måneskin were hardly 20, crystallised in my immediate admiration for the extraordinary talent of Victoria, Etan, Thomas and Damiano, the four members of the Roman band who had just conquered a whole country.

Their Sanremo triumph meant they would get a chance to make their music known at Eurovision, as for the past few years the winner of Sanremo represents Italy at the contest. I can’t remember feeling so excited about a group of people I didn't know personally and yet I wished every success in the world.

And most importantly, they sang in Italian - although they also had a few songs in English.

Måneskin had a studio album out by the time they went to Sanremo, Il Ballo della Vita, and had toured Italy extensively as they were already popular thanks to winning Italian X-Factor. They were a relatively well established act despite their youth.

However, sometimes all it takes to start a revolution is a song, and that’s what Måneskin unleashed with Zitti e Buoni. Included in second studio album Teatro d’ira - Vol. I, this provocative anthem arrived at the perfect time to win Sanremo and then make it to Eurovision, where it was given a bigger platform to spread the rebellious spirit of rock and roll to a new generation that was coming of age under lockdown.

To understand their stratospheric journey to global stardom after Eurovision we have to bear in mind the overlap of the restrictions of the pandemic, the feeling of entrapment many young people experienced at the time, the lack of opportunities for social gatherings for over a year by then, and the spirit of rebellion that rock music channels.

If you mix those ingredients, and give young people the opportunity to attend a live show as part of Eurovision where four young, sexy, and talented Italians are bringing the house down with their music, you have the perfect storm for them to immediately connect and identify with Måneskin, creating an unexpected ripple effect for a band who didn’t sing in English and nonetheless arrived, conquered, and prompted a spike in Italian language learning courses.

In a period of five years Måneskin went from busking in the streets of Rome to winning Italian X-Factor, Sanremo, Eurovision and opening for the Rolling Stones in Las Vegas and selling out arenas. And they’re still in their early 20s, let’s remember that fact. Last year the New York Times called them the last great rock band so it’s safe to say that Måneskin have reached unthinkable global heights for an Italian artist.

The joy of listening to the pitch-perfect and unique vocals of Damiano David (which can do justice even to Back to Black by Amy Winehouse), and his Roman inflection, is indescribable. All things considered, it makes sense that if an Italian rock band has to take over the world that it comes from Rome, the capital of one of the world’s most influential empires.

Måneskin have indeed come a long way, but they have worked very hard to get where they are an have always had their feet on the ground. Their conviction in doing the kind of music they believed in -in this case rock in an age where many thought the genre was long dead and sepulted- and doing it their way, it’s what allowed them to fully enjoy the ride and got them to where they are today.

I fell in love with them in Italian and I wish they release new music in that language at some point but it’s been a pleasure to follow them these past few years and see how much they’ve grown as artists, Trastevere being a clear example of how their English lyrics now match the depth of their Italian songs.

What’s clear is that regardless of the language they sing in, their energy, talent, and passion are tangible and extremely contagious.

Although the band is currently on a break after their global tour following the release of their third studio album Rush! -which was No 1 in 15 countries and topped the Alternative Billboard charts- and Damiano David is working on his solo album, I can’t wait to hear new songs from them in due time. As Damiano David proclaimed after their Eurovision victory, rock and roll never dies.

You’ve been an incredible audience, dear reader. Give yourself a round of applause for making it until the end.

I sincerely hope that you have found musical inspiration, or are curious to explore any new styles from the artists I’ve shared with you here -hopefully they lead you to other music, why not?

And even if you haven’t found anything to stir your curiosity, or wish to remain loyal to the music you’ve always liked because that’s what you enjoy, that’s great. I hope you find more of it if you wish so.

It’s time for me to say goodbye and, given the topic at hand, what better way to do so than with a song?

Ciao, Ciao!

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Abroad is an independent publication about identity and belonging, living in between cultures and languages, the love of books, music, films, creativity, life in London, and being human in the age of artificial intelligence.

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