the frames (and their rabid Dublin following...)

and yes, the hype's too big. But i went to a vicar street gig while i was there and it was effing incredible. The Frames have a good songs and a great live sound, and glen hansard, while he does fall victim to a certain amount of indie-folk-cheesery, is also extremely talented (and, while i'm at it, has maybe the best upper register voice i've heard on a man since thom yorke.)

that's my bit.

I don't understand the worship thing, though.

this movie with mr. frames is getting raves but somehow i think the music might be a turn-off for me

I just find Hansard so blindingly smug. Ugh. I saw them in Galway a few years ago with great optimism and I just wanted to leave for basically all of it. And if they even managed to stumble into sounding like either the Pixies or Will Oldham I'd probably be impressed, but they just sound so hopelessly bland.

i have fitzcaraldo. they're basically unheard of in england. i like the album a lot. genuinely sad in some places.

gigging endlessly around dublin and never going further afield.

don't they also play outside Dublin? Apart from that, Rener OTM.

I liked the movie Once. Yea, some of Hansard's earnest folk sounds a bit samey at times, but the music in this semi-musical ties in well with the story and Hansard's involvement with co-star Marketa Irglova.

The movie's gotten only a limited release--mostly arthouse type theatres.

This film was pretty close to perfect.

the frames song "live forever" off their first album was pretty good, and so were a few other tracks. a friend happened to see them playing at a bar recently and said they were really earnest and bad (not correlated). i played her the first album and she was surprised they were by the same band.

'Once' was just beautiful - how many times does anyone sit in a cinema and just not want the movie to end? I could've watched it again, on the spot. Hansard loud can be a bit of a chore, but Markéta Irglová was flawless.

Saw Hansard and Marketa Irglova last night as The Swell Season. Piano, acoustic guitar, Frames guys playing electric bass, cello, and violin. I wasn't sure that I'd like the songs much outside of the dramatic and living-room-performance context of Once (my favorite movie of this year), but it really was intense and beautiful.

Oscar winner

Got to be in the right mood for it, but the Once soundtrack is ok.

I don't see why playing only in their hometown is a problem. Don't touring musicians get depressed, strung-out, lonely, sad to be away from family and friends? With that being the down-side risk, I can easily see why even a very talented band would prefer to stay near-home.

so nice to see them win this tonight over those fucking horrible overblown enchanted things.

Glen Hansard is one of those people who I hate when they get any success because I'm just like "Don't encourage him for God's sake"

He's basically like the most smug person there is anywhere, now he's got an Oscar?

Worst movie of the year (worth hating)

Great movie, soundtrack's not bad.

He's basically like the most smug person there is anywhere

Wow, this is really not at all the impression I've gotten from him through recent interviews.

Yeah, if anything he seems too nice.

I only like the song that the girl sings when she's walking home from the shop, otherwise Once = snooze. But then I also think The Frames as generally boring as fuck.

I met him once at a small club where he was playing solo and he started asking me questions about the club and the area and couldn't have been nicer. Handed me a Frames EP he had in his bag and wished me well...not smug in the least.

No, he's one of those "Hey, I'm such a nice guy!" smug types. Most smackable person in Ireland.

I saw the frame in the concert one year behind in Hamburg. The singer nice =)

Wow, so much dislike for Hansard and Once on this thread. I can't understand it. I just grabbed a Swell Season show off Dime and found the man's passion to be pretty awesome TBH. And as for not touring, I don't know about the Frames, but the Swell Season are all over the place in Europe at least. Their show in Vienna is sold out six weeks in advance totally through word of mouth.

Once is such a beautiful, warm and inspiring film as well.

No, he's one of those "Hey, I'm such a nice guy!" smug types.

So how exactly is someone supposed to be a nice guy without coming across as smug, I wonder.

glen playing solo in my local next tuesday, might have a ticket. Should be good.

Man, I was pretty lukewarm on the guy, but seeing him open for Eddie Vedder a few months ago was a revelation. He's pretty great live and has a lot of personality.

where is that darraghmac? must be a secret gig as it's not on his list of tour dates.

and yes, should be amazing. Saw him in Vienna the other week and it was incredible.

westport, and yeah it'll be to maybe seventy odd, if i get the tickets it'll be through a draw at work so fingers crossed.

Been a fan since the heady days playin the stables in UL in the late 90's. Wouldn't expect them to be darlings of ilm but always great live.

I have the instinctive hatred shared by most of the Irish ILXors upthread but to be honest I haven't heard them or thought much about them in years...emigrating helped, I guess.

bit fuckin extreme, tbh

seemed reasonable at the time

Seen him multiple times solo, with Frames and with the Swell Season, only once or twice on purpose (he was always part of other bills), and he always left me impressed. Like, I don't know any Frames songs off-hand, but I do know the Frames shows I've seen have been great. Last time I saw Swell Season, Hansard was operating at Springsteen-level charisma, charm and confidence.

proud moment: drunkenly shouting "PLAY SOME FUCKING WU TANG CLAN!" at a glen hansard solo concert in dolans, limerick

Saw this doc the other day, a very raw and honest look at life on the road. Marketa was clearly very uncomfortable with touring. Some excellent footage of Glen with his parents as well.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f0XbvHgByww