Leonard Cohen - "Waiting for the Miracle" (spotlight)

Just when you thought 2016 could not get any worse...  This time 2016 claims the songwriters' songwriter, Leonard Cohen.  I've often written here about the difference between influential and popular, and few represent that difference better than Cohen (see the lineup for 1991 tribute LP "I'm Your Fan" or the 1995 tribute LP "Tower of Song").

His most famous song, probably due to various popular covers, is "Hallelujah" but I'll choose to remember him with "Waiting for the Miracle", from the 1992 LP "The Future" as well as the 1994 soundtrack for "Natural Born Killers".

Leonard Cohen - "Waiting for the Miracle" (studio), live 1993, live 2013

Bonus link: Austin City Limits, 1998-10-31

Angel Olsen - Live KEXP 2014-03-07 (concert)

I recently found out about Angel Olsen via several people raving about her most recent LP, "My Woman", on the "Now Playing" Facebook group.  Eventually I investigated the LP and her body of work in general, and now I understand the buzz.  I'm not yet quite ready to review it, so in the mean time I'll just bring your attention to her via this KEXP concert from 2014 in support of her "Burn Your Fire for No Witness" LP. 



This is a good performance and I enjoy it more than her 2014 solo acoustic performance on NPR's Tiny Desk Concert, but 2016's "My Woman" represents a significant progression for her.  Check her out.