It was Christmas Eve, babe...

...in the drunk tank...

No need for a long winded explanation.  Just a great Christmas song from the Pogues that I'm sure everyone's heard.  IT hasn't gotten over 4 million YouTube views for nothing.  I'll admit I actually heard Christy Moore's cover before the original, so I'm including it for my own benefit.

Merry Christmas and enjoy.

The Pogues (featuring Kirsty MacColl) - Fairytale of New York


Christy Moore - Fairytale of New York

Admitting my man crush on Glen Hansard

There.  I said it.  I have a man crush on Glen Hansard (my wife is ok with this and the rest of my quirks).  Can you really blame me?  The dude is really friggin good at what he does and has some great stage presence.  Like many people, I became aware of Glen Hansard through the movie Once and his work with Marketa Irglova in The Swell Season, instead of his work with The Frames.  Sadly, I'm still only familiar with Hansard's Swell Season music and I need to start digging through The Frames' catalog.  My wife and I had the pleasure of seeing The Swell Season live not too long ago (but missed out on the recent Frames anniversary tour) and it was well worth the price of admission.  They were so good, I forgot to be annoyed by the guy in front of me unknowingly blocking my view as he kept shifting his weight back and forth.

"Low Rising," off of The Swell Season's most recent album, "Strict Joy," plays well into Hansard's strengths.  Simple in its setup and execution, Glen delivers "Low Rising" like all of his songs, with a sincerity and soul that can't be faked.  Are the Irish just born with old souls?  I continue to be thankful to the creators and users of YouTube for the chance to watch and listen to this stuff over and over again.

Glen Hansard - Low Rising

Holiday Wish List: ...and they have escaped the weight of darkness

I just rearranged my turntable and small vinyl collection (a decent amount of classic rock and Motown singles that I stole from my dad), which is motivating me to add to it.  There are certain types of music that I think lend themselves to the warm, intimate, nostalgic feeling I get when I put a record on.  Classical music is definitely at the top of that list for me.  I've written before about my soft spot for some of the music coming out of Iceland, specifically Sigur Ros and Olafur Arnalds.  Arnalds' neo-classical music is something that I came across through a video for "Ljósið" off of his ambitious and beautiful "Found Songs" EP.  His most recent effort, "...and the have escaped the weight of darkness" was released earlier this year and, after hearing "Þú Ert Sólin," me and my record player are ready to devour the whole album.  If you're interested, the song is available for free download at Olafur Arnalds' website.  I suggest you check it out.  Also, there's a video out for "Hægt, kemur ljósið."  Here's the video of the soaring track (I wish I understood what the song titles meant, because ljósið is used in the two tracks and there's a cool reference to the violin from "Ljósið" in "Hægt, kemur ljósið"...anyone know Icelandic?).  I dare you not to like it.

Olafur Arnalds - Hægt, kemur ljósið