Gee muses

‘heima’ is icelandic for ‘at home’ or ‘homeland’ and this film follows the band as they embarked on a series of free concerts in Iceland.

Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova have won the Oscar for Best Original Song for Falling Slowly from the brilliant low-budget independent hit film, Once. And it couldn’t happen to a nicer pair of people. We, at geemuses, are stoked, and congratulate Glen - the lead singer and songwriter from the mighty Irish band, the Frames - and Marketa. Now go buy their music people. Hansard and Marketa’s CD, Frames CDs, soundtrack, the lot. Even better if you can find any of the music on vinyl!
Get to it then. You won’t regret it, it’s some of the most outstanding music in the modern world.

Leslie Feist is remarkably down to earth for a woman who recently attended the 50th Grammy Awards as a four-time nominee, and in the past year has seen 1234, the song she co-wrote with Sally Seltmann of New Buffalo, become the soundtrack for Apple’s iPod Nano ad.

On paper, her world changed: When the ad was first screened, Feist - the name she goes under when playing solo, as distinct from the other part of her career as a member of the brilliant Canadian indie supergroup and musical collective, Broken Social Scene, had just released her fourth solo album, The Reminder - a lovely, eclectic, smart collection of songs that combines sheer simplicity with sublime atmospheres, rich melodies and, at times, unusual rhythms. Drawing on chamber pop, post-modern folk and classic 1960s singer/songwriters, her work is cool and refreshing. 1234 is a perfect example.

Prior to the advertisment screening, The Reminder was selling about 6000 copies a week and 1234 about 2000 downloads a week. Following the commercial’s debut, the album jumped from No. 36 to No. 28 on the Billboard 200. 1234 reached No. 7 on the Hot Digital Songs chart and No. 8 on the Billboard Hot 100. In the UK it originally charted at 102; post-ad it also soared to No. 8. Time magazine, as venerable a publication as you can get, slotted 1234 in at No. 2 on its The 10 Best Songs of 2007 list. More was to follow. Feist was photographed by the legendary Annie Liebowitz for the November 2007 issue of Vanity Fair for a photo essay on folk music that also included Joni Mitchell, The Guthrie Family and Peter, Paul and Mary. To cap things off she was then nominated in four Grammy Award categories: Best Female Pop Vocal, Best New Artist, Best Pop Vocal Album (for the reminder), and Best Short Form Music Video (for 1234). Feist also performed 1234 on the Awards’ show.
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