What’s new in my world?  Well, I think it officially became winter yesterday here in Calgary.  Snow, harsh winds and even harsher traffic.  We did have a bad traffic day due to inclement weather last Friday (Nov. 27th) which resulted in horrific 5 hour one way commutes home after work, but this was only the first sign as the weather did turn back a bit.  Now we here in Calgary have resumed our inevitable course to Father Winter territory.  Above is a photo of winter in Calgary, except it tends to often be overcast but overall we are fairly sunny with average to less snow than some Canadian centers.  I am not totally depressed by all this weather crap as I recently confirmed two trips to sunny destinations (Mexico in a little less than a month and St. Lucia in August for my anniversary – 5 years!).  Well enough about me, what is happening in music blogger world??

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• Daytrotter has been supplying some great sessions lately (and via their new iPhone app) I have discovered two sessions that jumped up at me – Robert Francis and that JBM.  So head over and listen to some great music and if you have an iPhone – try out the app, it is really slick.
• Tis the season for lists, so if you missed it – check my brethren over at Knox Road for their best of the decade post – Anyone who knows anything will either agree, disagree or at least have an opinion.  Check it HERE.
• Matador Records debuted the new Shearwater track on their Matablog – looking forward to it very much.  Thanks to Frank at Chromewaves for the tweet that gave me the heads up!  Listen:  “Castaways” from The Golden Archipelago album (Feb. 2010).
• Also found via a Tweet heads up from The Music Slut – Jonsi from Sigur Rós has a solo project coming up.  The song is an average to okay track but I just like listening to an English version of Jonsi (and like I said on twitter, it is more a Sigur Rós lite, for you die-hards but definitely worth a spin or two).   Listen: “Boy Lilikoi” from “Go” (Mar. 2010)
• The good folks over at We Listen For You named Slowcoustic as their #6 Music Blog of 2009!  I guess we’re doing something right, check out the rest of the list HERE.  Don’t forget to visit next week as we will have a post from WLFY here on Slowcoustic with a list of more “Best of 2009”!
• Tsururadio also put a mixtape and best of list for part 1 and 2 for his 35 best albums of 2009 (and a great post in the first place, love Tsuru posts) – you can’t miss it, so go HERE to discover the top list and listen along.  And for heaven’s sake, play gapless!!
• HearYa also put a J. Tillman interview up yesterday – learn why Tillman doesn’t like to shave by clicking HERE.

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Oh, and because it is December, the best of list and Xmas posts will be starting, so I wanted to officially put my first “Festive” track of 2010 on the blog.  And as usual I will not dissapoint – I have a uber melancholic show stopper from Scott Matthew – such a beautiful and tragic song…so…MERRY Xmas?

“Silent Nights (with Sia)” – Scott Matthew

Check out the video as well:

And I have a few more seasonal tracks that will surface over the next couple of weeks, so don’t be greedy.  If needed Craig over at Songs:Illinois always has a MASSIVE list of festive songs to dig into.

~Smansmith