Music Recs Round Folk Music Is Delightful (+ fic-writing natterings)

...Dammit, Passchendaele, thanks to you I am now plotting the fic where Fraser, having hunted an international criminal to the vicinity of Niagara Falls, guilts Jaye Tyler into helping solve the case (with the unbeknownst-to-him assistance of her talking menagerie, of course). Arrrrrggghhhh.

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Reasons why I love folk music: Five musicians came together in 2009 (150 years after the publication of The Origin of Species) to make a concept album about Charles Darwin. YES. And it's kind of awesome. Three songs in particular I like: We're All Leaving, Mother of My Soul, and Emma's Lullaby.

I found out about this album after searching for Karine Polwart songs I hadn't heard yet. (I've recc'ed her before; she's gorgeous.) In doing so, I discovered Krista Detor, who is excellent as well. She's a bit more country-flavored, perhaps. I particularly like A Red Bowl (link goes to a live version that's hard to hear, sorry). I have yet to check out their individual bodies of work, but the other people involved in this project were Rachael McShane, Jez Lowe, Chris Wood, Emily Smith (who I have heard before, and is quite nice), Stu Hannah, and Mark Erelli

The other band I want to rec is Horse Feathers, who despite being from Portland sound like nothing so much as a modernized, slowed-down Rankin Family. I like what I've heard, but I do have a caveat: there's something about the lead singer's voice and singing style; he slurs his words (a shame, because the lyrics are contemplative and lovely) and is otherwise kind of...vague, but without being attractively ethereal. If they'd do an instrumental, I'd be all over it.

Nevertheless, Thistled Spring is lovely. Given the lyrics, I really enjoy that it sounds almost like a melancholy iteration of a wedding march at the beginning and end. The Drought is the most Rankin Family-ish of their offerings, and I also like Starving Robin.

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fandom_stocking stockings are going to be revealed today! Hooray! (Actually, I think they've almost all been revealed, but there might be some to go?) I will make a roundup post of everything I did for the fest later tonight.

Fandom_Stocking Roundup

Fandom stockings have been revealed! Yay! I received some lovely graphics and recs for poetry and books which look interesting indeed.

I volunteered as a pinch-hitter (pinch-stuffer?) and thus ended up doing more than I thought I would for this fest; specifically, I wrote twelve fics and made one vid. Here's everything I wrote/vidded, with links to the AO3 because it's simpler than chasing down comment threads, especially for those that are broken into multiple comments. (Unless otherwise stated, these are 1,000ish words or fewer. All are, at most, PG.)

Babylon 5
And thou, O wall, O sweet, O lovely wall for perverseparagon – Londo's life is full of mazes now.

If Equal Affection Cannot Be for rivendellrose – Five poems Marcus Cole knows by heart. One-sided Ivanova/Marcus.

Soldiers for bessemerprocess – In which Susan Ivanova and Olivia Dunham meet in a bar. Angsty and apocalyptic. Crossover with Fringe.

Castle
...In an Elevator for debirlfan – Castle and Beckett, stuck in an elevator. UST.

Murder Most Kindergarten for soobunny – Five-year-old Alexis writes a story. It gives her father cause to worry.

Corner Gas
Baby, Baby for livii – Someone leaves a baby on the steps of the Dog River Police Station. Chaos ensues. Everyone appears, but it's Karen- and Davis-centric. (3,000 words; also at LJ.)

Doctor Who
Second Star to the Right for jenavira – Eight, Charley, and a low-gravity planet.

Follow the Fleet
Side by Side for idharao – Sherry and Bake are having a trying Christmas, but they make the most of it.

Fringe
Soldiers for bessemerprocess – In which Susan Ivanova and Olivia Dunham meet in a bar. Angsty and apocalyptic. Crossover with Babylon 5.

Northern Exposure
I Feel the Sky Tumbling Down for oxoniensis – An alternate explanation for Maggie's vertigo in "I Feel the Earth Move." Joel/Maggie, Ruth-Anne.

The Reality of Experience for juniperphoenix – Roslyn and Cicely share a life lived through books.

Slings & Arrows
All in a Day's Work for wiliqueen – An all-too-typical day for Anna Conroy.

Sea-Changed (vid) for loneraven – A vid about Geoffrey, the theater, and even Oliver. Set to "Full Fathom Five," by Hem, feat. Audra McDonald and Anne Hathaway. 1:30 long, 19 MB Quicktime file.

X-Files
The Heart of Saturday Night for ruuger – "John Doggett requires a cautious, quiet approach, like sneaking up on a bird or squirrel to take its picture." Doggett/Reyes UST.