Bedecked with bicycles

I never really enjoyed a backlash before, but Jeff Buckley's "Hallelujah" is nearly the ONLY song on the radio here in Ireland at the moment thanks to the offense taken by his fans at the recent version of "Hallelujah" covered by a singing reality tv star, who then actually released her reality tv version. The backlash brought Jeff Buckley's Hallelujah back up the charts, even though his version wasn't re-released, a Facebook group was of course set up, and it must have helped because he went to number 2. Ah there is too much information to sift through it all, Buckley's version already went to number one several months ago when it was sung by a different contestant on a different reality tv singing show.

So if i'm too lazy to dig through it all, I guess I just want to say that it's nice the radio stations are supporting Buckley's beloved version. It's a relief to hear him singing it rather than some bird off the telly. And if the nearly 150,000 members of that Facebook group are anything to go by, I'm not the only one..

Online downloads are tricky little things, from the percentage of the selling cost the artist actually receives, and the quality or usability of the track you buy...

I may have exaggerated a little about the 3 song playlist rotating on the airwaves at the moment. Another artist getting a few spins is Lisa Hannigan. Anyone who was in Ireland a few years ago (or anyone who watched the OC, or anyone, ever) amid the Damien Rice mania (Damania?!) will know Lisa's soft and haunting vocals. It's amazing to see what she is doing by herself. It feels like you can get a real sense of who she is by checking out her myspace, Lisa updates her own blog (check out her christmas post with a recipe for Mrs. Moynihans flapjacks, i'm sooo trying that) and her photos are class. Lisa on a hillside with some cows / lisa performing live / and my favourite - lisa lepping about with an umbrella. (Just looking at the photos agin now it just struck me that she could be Cat Power's Irish cousin).

I'm really excited now to get my hands on her first album, when I do a bit of shopping in Dublin on my way back to Berlin. It just came out a few months ago, "Sea saw" is the name of it, and when the radio show starts back again in the new year (January 5th) I will definitely add some songs to our track list.

xo