GRAPHICS BY SUSANNAH LOHR I inherited my love of musicals from my mom, who was raised on them, and who in turn raised me on them. My family traveled almost constantly for the first 10 years of my life, so I was in the car a lot, usually either reading or watching movies. I’m an only child, so the books and movies (and also my cat, “Pumpkin” - R.I.P.) became my BFF’s. Since musicals were a mainstay in our house, they became really important to me. We went to stage musicals as often as we could, [...]
2012 was definitely a year of blockbuster films. We saw movies like The Avengers , The Hunger Games , The Amazing Spider-Man , and Underworld: Awakening entertaining movie-goers with explosions, chase scenes, and suspense. We also saw the end of The Twilight Saga , Disney going 8-bit on us with Wreck It Ralph , got our fair share of laughs from The Five-Year Engagement , saw Rza enter the movie game, and got a brand-new Oliver Stone film ( Savages ). All in all, it was a great year [...]
Not only is it four years since I began writing this blog but I can be reasonably sure that I'm going to hit the 500,000 views milestone in the next few hours. I'm hugely proud of this milestone considering I limit my content to Irish artists and restrict the content further to the music which genuinely excites me. As with every project it can go stall when you fail to review so here I am going to review the music I wrote about in 2009. Part 2 - 2009 When I [...]
Irish singer/songwriter Glen Hansard really paid his doting Toronto audience quite the treat on Sunday night. The man who's clearly born to be a performer, hurtled through two hours and at the end, it seemed like he was only just warmed up. But let's take it from the beginning. I sat down in my seat on the balcony at the Danforth Music Hall after Tony Dekker's set. I noticed that the little wall in front of my row was practically at my eye level. Good , I thought. I've been meaning to [...]
'Morning Will Come Soon' is the new album from Joey Ryan. It's an album of mature contemporary songs that has it's fair share of fine moments. Recorded by Gavin Ralston, 'Morning Will Come Soon' will be released on September 14th and supported by a full Irish tour this Autumn. Joey Ryan is well known and respected on the singer-songwriter intimate venue circuit and this album showcases his ability to writer smart, clever, [...]
Listen to Eddie Vedder sing Cat Power and Cat Stevens, plus Springsteen and two covers with Glen Hansard (The Swell Season).
Glen Hansard, Lisa Hannigan & John Smith turn in a heartfelt and pitch perfect cover here, but I'm slightly confused by the first minute of this video. Hansard weaves a better yarn than most, but his depiction of listening to toads croak on an idyllic summer evening in the great American wilderness of… Baltimore, seems rather odd. Perhaps he is unfamiliar with a little show called, The Wire, or is it possible that there is more to this great city than West Baltimore? Either way this is a pretty sweet cover of a classic tune. Check [...]
I t's hard to believe that Rhythm and Repose, the latest from Irish singer/songwriter Glen Hansard is actually his first solo release. Through the 90s and early 00s, Hansard toured with The Frames. But he's most well known for his role in 20072s Once. Hansard starred in the film but also gained notoriety with the soundtrack, where he was featured on 11 of the 13 tracks. Afterwards, he toured with fellow Once actress Markéta Irglová as The Swell Season. So in 2012, everyone knows the name Glen Hansard, just not for any of his own solo work. Rhythm and [...]
A few weeks back I was privileged to see Glen Hansard play an intimate (mostly) solo show at Housing Works . Last week I got to hear many of these songs in a much different fashion, in a full-band show at the beautiful Beacon Theatre in New York. As either a man with a guitar or a man with a full company of musicians behind him, a Glen Hansard gig is not to be missed. The show at the Beacon served as a kind of career retrospective, with songs from his latest solo offering, [...]
'Rhythm & Repose' ticks all the right boxes for Glen Hansard as he attempts to keep himself relevant. There's enough quality tunes to please the masses but the big 'but' is that it's not 'The Frames' or 'The Swell Season'. Isn't it always a problem when a solo album appears that it can't be judged in isolation? I mean, Paul McCartney released a few decent albums but they weren't The Beatles records! As soon [...]
The Swell Season: Live at the Artists Den on DVD Win It | Buy It As I've mentioned a couple of times already, Glen Hansard has a new album that came out last week entitled Rhythm & Repose . In support of his new release, he'll be playing a short free show early this evening at Barnes & Noble Union Square, a small club show later on tonight at LPR , and then finally a [...]
Today marks the release of Glen Hansard's (The Frames, The Swell Season) debut solo album Rhythm And Response . Awesome. Glen recently stopped by the NPR studios to offer up another phenomenal Tiny Desk Concert: Not sure if there is anyone who sings with more conviction and honesty than this man. Wow.
[photo courtesy of Tim Griffin and brooklynvegan ] Glen Hansard played Housing Works last night, plays Beacon Theatre later this month, and he will release his first solo album Rhythm and Repose tomorrow. So we figured it would be a good time to post this short solo set that Glen played at Hotel Vegan's Thursday daytime show at SXSW in March. At just four songs its a bit of a tease, but interestingly the set represents each of period of his career. [...]
Early last year Iron & Wine performed "One More Try" as part of the A.V. Undercover series . The cover was such a phenomenal success that it's going to see an official release via Suicide Squeeze's 2012 singles series. The single titled Two Sides of George with feature Iron & Wine covering George Michael on the A side and the Lowell George lead Little Feat's "Trouble" on the B side. The limited edition 73 will only have 750 pressings and the online orders are already sold out. Now you'll have to hunt [...]
Filed under: News , Exclusive , New Music , New Releases Getty | Getty One of the last things Levon Helm worked on before he died was a collaboration with Glen Hansard and the singer-guitarist says it might get released someday. Despite fighting cancer for the last decade and a half of his life, Helm never let his illness stifle his creativity. Unable to tour, [...]
Filed under: News , Exclusive , New Music , New Releases Anti New York has played muse to many a musician over the years, so its not surprising that Glen Hansard turned to the city while looking for respite from his increasingly hectic schedule. After five years on the road first touring with his band the Frames and then with Markéta Irglová as Academy Award-winning indie darlings the Swell Season , [...]
With the first annual Great GoogaMooga just a week and a half or so away, fest organizers have revealed the daily schedule of music, comedy and food and beverage-centric panels that will take place over the course of the two days. Of particular note on Saturday is comedian Marc Maron hosting a WTF Podcast, Noshing With... Ruth Reichl, David Chang, Aziz Ansari and James Murphy, and Beer vs Wine with Garret Oliver and Alan Benton. While we've got the New Orleans Brass Brunch with the Dirty Dozen Brass Band, Liquid Brunch: The Art of Daytime Drinking [...]
As torrential rain hits Ireland I'm listening to the best three Irish songs written about Floods! The Divine Comedy - Here Comes The Flood This song becomes my earworm whenever 'The Floods' hit Ireland! The P Affection - The Flood This was the stand-out track on the debut album from The P Affection. The Swell Season - [...]
I'm excited to accounce that Glen Hansard is set to release his debut solo album. If his name isn't familiar to you, Glen Hansard was the star of Once and the frontman of spectacular Irish bands The Frames and The Swell Season. His solo debut, Rhythm and Repose, will be released by Anti Records on [...]
Glen Hansard has revealed the video for his debut solo single.
the WILD honey pie
indie shuffle
2 U I Bestow
The Panic Manual
Cover Me
Merchants Of Rock
Music Savage
The Ruckus
Bumpershine.com
Halfway House Music
nyctaper
The Muse In Music
Spinner.com
Hidden Track
Muruch
Swear I'm Not Paul
Maribou State feat. Holly Walker - Tongue (Official Video)
Ears Wide Open: Ocha la Rocha
New Boards Of Canada - Reach For The Dead
