A few weeks ago the music industry celebrated the Grammys, that sacrosanct annual self-congratulatory ceremony second only to the Oscars, for which I could not be paid to give to licks about. I know that Kanye made an ass of himself again, but I couldn’t tell you much more than that. A cursory Google search tells me that Beck won for best album, and Pharrell won best music video.

I am not very good at keeping my finger on the pulse of what’s trending in the music world, but there are two artists worth checking out by way of music videos. I should say also that I don’t pay particularly close attention to music videos. These were just stumbled upon and managed to latch themselves to my consciousness. I think they will do the same for you.

The first video is for Take Me to Church, by Hozier, a self-taught Irish singer/songwriter who infuses a flavor of blues into his guitar heavy melodies. The video features Ukranian ballet dancer Sergei Polunin.  There is not much more I can say about it, other than it is mesmerizing.

The second video is for Listen to the Man, by George Ezra. He is a 21-year-old singer from England who sings in a register reserved for Johnny Cash. The video features the 75-year-old Sir Ian McKellen, and if it doesn’t make you smile then you have no soul.