One of the fun things about having and reading blogs is participating in these challenges from time to time. They're useful for getting to know others and letting them know you, since most of the time, even when talking about personal topics, it's difficult to truly get to know each other.

Music is one of my greatest passions. I spend tens of thousands of minutes each year listening to and discovering new music. In the near future, I'd like to deepen my study of it, not so much by learning to play a new instrument, but by understanding the language necessary to comprehend it better.

1 What are five of your favorite albums?

2 What are five of your favorite songs?

3 Favorite instrument(s)?

Drums. I tried taking lessons a few years ago for about a year and a half. Unfortunately, I gave up mainly due to time constraints and because, in hindsight, I realized I had started way too late to learn and by then my cognitive abilities weren't responding well enough to my desire to master the instrument like a rock star.

4 What song or album are you currently listening to?

I have a small tradition. At the beginning of each year, I have the habit of creating a thread (previously on X, here are the ones for 2024, now on Bluesky) where I save my favorite album listened to during a week. Lately, I'm really enjoying The Blue Blanket by Charlie Reynolds.

5 Do you listen to the radio? If so, how often?

Years ago, yes, every day while driving to work during my daily commute. Now not anymore, I only listen to replays of La Zanzara (I don't even know where to start to explain this. It's a mix of trash, satirical, populist radio show that gives voice to the worst part of Italy, but it's a sociological experience to me).

6 How often do you listen to music?

Every day, at least 15-30 songs per day. It's one of my greatest passions.

7 How often do you discover music? And how do you discover music?

I've been a Spotify user since 2016. Occasionally I've tried all its competitors, always ending up returning to the base for various reasons. Anyway, every Monday I listen to Discovery Weekly (the auto-generated playlist by Spotify based on your tastes) and from there I try to discover new artists, follow them, listen to their albums.
I've discovered countless numbers of amazing artists through Discovery Weekly that at this point I think I trained the algorithm so well that it knows me really deeply. Honestly, some weeks it boils down to the point I like most of the songs I find there.
Another way to discover music is through the reviews I find weekly on this blog.

8 What's a song or album that you enjoy that you wish had more recognition?

Lately this one.

9 What's your favorite song of all time?

When a Blind Man Cries by Metallica. It has anything I need from a rock song. It's a great cover song too. Oh yes, I do love cover songs like A LOT!

10 Has your taste in music evolved over the years?

Yes. Quite a bit. I got into music thanks to an old classic rock cassette tape found attached to a magazine. Meanwhile, between middle and high school, I became passionate about the hip-hop and dance world. Then I completely turned to hard rock, alt rock and indie rock and all its derivations and I haven't strayed from those territories for over 20 years. I don't listen to Italian music but only in English, I detest live albums, and I deeply hate region locks for streaming music.