| The world’s most populous… | …is | And you might be interested to know… |
| Country | India | It just overtook China about a month ago (April 2023). |
| City | Tokyo | It kind of depends on how you define a city, but Tokyo’s metropolitan area contains about a third of all of Japan’s people. |
| Island | Java | Java is part of Indonesia, which might look like a bunch of small-ish islands, but it’s actually huge. From east to west it’s easily wider than the US or Europe. |
| University | Indira Gandhi National Open University in India | It’s got about 7 million students. |
| Building | Hard to define, but it might be this apartment complex in St. Petersburg, Russia | There are more than 20 thousand residents. |
| Place on earth ever, probably | (was) Kowloon Walled City | It was bonkers. A 6.4-acre site that was home to 33 000 people. Read more about it here. |
Populous, the musician also known as Andrea Mangia, comes from the town of Lecce in the heel of Italy’s boot. It’s got a population of just under 100 000, in case you were wondering.
His 2021 album Stasi, meaning “stasis” is great thinking music. Or perhaps counting music.
What makes this a beautiful song:
1. The title. The other stracks on the album have beautifully meditative Italian titles, most of which even my less-than-basic Italian can easily translate; “Luna Liquida” (liquid moon); “L’architettura del Mare” (the architecture of the sea); “Vita Lenat” (slow life).
But the song “Pietre Roventi” caught my eye because I immediately wondered who Peter Roventi was. After an embarrassingly long and fruitless internet search, it finally occurred to me that the title might not be someone’s name.
Nope. It means “hot rocks.”
2. Populous’ style is minimal and textured, like a combination of Tycho and Lemon Jelly. Easy to get lost in.
3. Despite the persistence of the percussion, it’s not overbearing.
Recommended listening activity:
Zooming in on the map of a city you’ve never been to.