Author: ilariamontagni

Researcher Health Communication

Review of a CD 9

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MED IN ITALI

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An ordinary name, a demo given almost brutely: a cd with a title written with a pen and a faded booklet, “home-made”. Horrible first impression. But when the stereo swallows the cd and hides its simplicistic aspect, the Med in Itali show an unexpected perfection. Precise harmonies, lyrics which are easily memorized and a wonderful voice. They mix rock and jazz in a new unidentified genre. It’s not manieristic swing and neither minimalistic blues. It’s not easy to define their music if with only one word: magnfique! We need more songs. The Med in Itali must give us a full album.

Original Italian article on ROCKIT: http://www.rockit.it/magazine/album.php?x=9532

Assignment 6

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Everybody knows how much I love internet and being connected. Anyway, reading this article by Stephen Downes, the first thing that has come up to my mind is: trolls. You can find the definition of this word here. More than anywhere, on the net you risk to find people who take part into a conversation just in order to be annoying and irritating. And some other people just comment on your posts or works, by being bad and even offensive. The absolute freedom of the net is just like the free will. If God has made all of us free to be bad or good, well, even on the net we can apply this freedom…But sometimes this freedom scares me a lot. There are some trolls that hurt me a lot with their comments on my notes, reviews and posts. Connection is freedom and freedom is sometimes translatable into cruelty…

This is the reason why I write my very personal thoughts  on facebook where only my friends can comment…

Review of a CD 8

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THE LEGENDARY KID COMBO

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Welcome Madames et Monsieurs! Just enter the Kid Combo’s funfair! Does the crisis scare you? Let’s forget it looping the loop. Well, make the title of the cd the anthem of your life: Viva la Muerte! It’s compulsory to go and see the witch house: you will meet the spirits of the eleven protagonists of the eleven tracks of the album. Pirates and cowboys, ladies and complete strangers, heroes and bandits. All dead.

Let the music become theatre, cinema and litterature. Not only seven notes in loop. Just mingle punk and country with a flash of Bulgarian polyphonies like those of Goran Bregovic. Pay attention not to fall into the pirates’ trap. And beware! There should be some bullets. Just be enchanted by the histories of The Legendary Kid Combo and enjoy the death.

Just creating an entire cd on such a theme without being pessimistic and boring is simply phenomenal. A great cd thanks to its originality both for lyrics and melodies. An interesting band.

Original Italian article on ROCKIT: http://www.rockit.it/magazine/album.php?x=00009672

Review of a CD 7

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ALI BABA

A noi ci piace

thumbnailI listen to the cd in my car. Ten o’clock in the evening. December and it is so cold that your toes freeze. The first song begins and the fog seems to fade. With “Fobia”, it feels like it’s July again. Sicilian sea, sandy swim suits and dancing on the beach til the morning comes. It’s the reggae that make you wave and make your fingetips tick on the steering wheel. Maybe also because of the heating system, the cd creates the right atmosphere. Very good voice Max Busa! You emerges all over the tracks. And very good lyrics, especially those in Sicilian which reminds the exotic atmosphere of Jamaica.

All is nice for a part of my journey. But then you notice that after 30 minutes you’re still listening to the 6th song and the landscape is cold again. The palm-trees freeze, the sea shakes and my toes become ice temperatured. The music is the same music. The same guitar riffs, same rhytms, same chorus. And there are still 4 songs left to listen. Maybe it was better to compact everything. Why do they need to repeat the same patterns in the whole album? The last track, a sort of gospel, extinguish any summer recalling. What a pity.

Original Italian version on ROCKIT: http://www.rockit.it/album/9549/ali-baba-a-noi-ci-piace

Assignment 5

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It’s all Yolanda’s fault!!!! She’s been the first of my friends to use Facebook. She even found a boyfriend in Milan thanks to FB!  At the beginning I wasn’t really interested in this thing… It seemed all so blurred. Then, I started using the chat and the private messages tools. I must say that my life has changed! I mean, my wallet is now very happy that I don’t have to spend lots of cents every day to call my friends or send them a text. I’m not using my phone anymore. I always hated to have something on me to be traced everywhere. Now, I only have to log in FB and check if someone needs me… What’s more is that I can create public events like the sponsorship of local concerts and meetings, which is wonderful as I work for a Festival! We have even create a system inside fb in order to book the tickets for some music performances. And what about the pics? I can upload my photos and share them tagging my friends: we can comment them as if we were chatting together on a sofa!

To be truly truly true, I love facebook for its free games! Try to challenge me in WordChallenge and Pet Society!

Review of a CD 6

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THE GOSH

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Songs which lay in your head and you can’t stop singing once you’ve listened to them. Direct songs which go straightly to your heart and stay inside you. A cd which tastes of ’80s, The Cure and even a bit of Depeche Mode. A formidable fusion of darkwave, funk and accordion: you can’t believe how extraordinary the result is. You want to dance and to stop thinking. I’ve never heard something similar: simple lyrics in loop which are as heavy as stones (Dreams mixed with clay and sun, dreams moved by the secret gun). You can’t imagine how armoniously mingle together elettrical guitars and accordion: a fabolous neofolk. In “Circle” the voice is very beautiful, but the masterpiece is, with no doubts, “Breaking On Me”.

The Gosh offer light effects in their live performances. Sounds and lights dancing together at the rythm of “Jacknife”. New music. That’s all. It’s one of those cds which go beyond the élite. You don’t have to be a fan of the Joy Division to understand their essence. A magnifique product.

You can find the original Italian version on ROCKIT: http://www.rockit.it/album/9514/the-gosh-pineland

Assignment 4

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What I’ve noticed so far is that in Bologna’s faculty things were a little bit different…. I actually payed twice as much, but the facilities fo students were four times better. I mean, we had in our building in Forlì for the SSLMIT a laboratory with 50 computers. We had free access to all websites and the University made us access to all the websites of translation and interpretation reviews. As for medicines online reviews, these websites were not for free, but with our university rates we were allowed to read them without paying anything. For my own thesis I consulted thousands of articles for free thanks to the service provided by Bologna’s Alma Mater Studiorum. Now that I am in Florence, I’ve noticed how it is difficult to even have access to the faculty’s website… I mean, there’ s no such freedom in reading and discovering articles which can interest us. If I want to read an article from the simple website of “Il Corriere della Sera”, I have to pay and this service is not covered by the faculty itself. Such a shame… I’m speechless…

Review of a CD 5

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MAMAROOTS

Città di uomini

A pleasant cd. Not very bad, not very good. Very easy melodies and lyrics. thumbnail2It seems like a short encyclopedia of reggae music. An album which takes a lot of clichés of reggaetime with no real innovations. There’s something of Bob Marley and a bit of Giuliano Palma’s ska. The themes are typical of the roots’ style: the fight against the greedy society (True and false mingle in society. If you can discern you become a dangerous figure… Only power is the ambition of the politician), critics of the war (There’s no war in the name of God. He would never allowed them. There are only wars in the name of business!)  and love, of course (Now I would like to touch your face. Live this romantic dream. Please don’t wake me up). Clear sounds, nice female chorus and regular rhythms: these are the qualities of “Come to conquer”, the best track of the album.

Twelve good songs, but not so original.

Original Italian version on ROCKIT: http://www.rockit.it/album/9464/mama-roots-citta-di-uomini

Review of a cd 4

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POSTpost

Che vuoi che sia

If the first album by Post were limited to three songs (“Come posso”, “Esercizio di stile” and “Zeta”), we will be able to listen to a music jewel. These are three rock pearls which give evidence to a very original voice. The singer Gio Franco shows something new with particular melodies and scratching tones. It is up to him- and to beautiful lyrics and pleasant guitar riffs- the fact that these three songs are catchy but never plain.

Unfortunately, all is lost in the other tracks. Too many computer sounds and no balance between guitars and violins. Some chorus are too banal (like in “Che vuoi che sia”) and some melodies are too plain (listen to “Rosicchiando” and “Corre”). What a waste: we hope for a better cd next time.

Original Italian Version on ROCKIT: http://www.rockit.it/album/9041/post-piemonte-nulla-da-decidere