"Music is, to me, proof of the existence of God." Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.

It may sound trivial, but I think music is not all about the sound; it's very much about that is put in motion in your mind, the smells and pictures, and maybe touch and taste that come to mind. Also the urge to follow the rhythm, something ancestral and old as man. Or the complementary drive to stand on your toes, stretch your limbs 'til they ache and climb to the sky. Music that hits me is always an opening and multisensorial experience.

It's very rare for an album to be put on 4.5 rate after the first listen; mostly, works that compel me fall in to 4.0, rate increasing if they don't stop growing and I don't stop searching something from them. Normally my 5.0 to be given need at least a year of love; that's a rating for something that really influenced me and my taste.

DISCLAIMER: 'my favourite records' fall both in the 4.5 and 5 area, and nearly half of the 5star ones are not so much what I consider "state of the art" insofar as the deepest footprints in my life of listening. I am fond of tracking back what influenced me year after year, even considering its naivety.