Song of The Day #199

"La Luna" by Holger Czukay

I don't think this is related to Soon Over Babaluma's awesome "Come Sta, La Luna," but it's still, well, awesome. Comprised of forty-five minutes of pulsating, unusually ominous Kosmische drone, "La Luna" sounds especially relevant as acts like Emeralds, Expo 70, and Oneohtrix Point Never continue to trace from the template Czukay and his contemporaries constructed over thirty years ago. (Obviously the YouTube link is not the whole song. Not even close. But it'll give you a good idea.)

Song of The Day #198

"Across The Great Divide" by The Band

Starts beautiful, turns endlessly catchy. Just a rollickin', knee slappin' good pop song from Canada's premier southern United States band. Or rather, Band.

The Grammys, Il Buono Style

(In a perfect world, this post would have been published before last night's Grammys, but, well, this isn't a perfect world I guess. Bummer.)

The Grammys are music's biggest honor. Unfortunately, they're 99% irrelevant and anyone who truly values music does not take them seriously. Except me; I love the Grammys. Granted, I love all awards shows, but I especially dig the Grammys because, well, they're about music. And I like music.

All that said, I know that the Grammys largely suck (for lack of a better word). The music performed and nominated is, nearly without fail, terrible. Rather than a celebration of creativity, the Grammys are a celebration of corporations. But that's okay. Right? Right. Last night's show, though, managed to be a little more worth-watching than past years'. What with Arcade Fire winning Album of the Year and Janelle Monae stealing the show in front of millions and Mick Jagger not dying... It was a comparatively entertaining and relevant telecast. Sure we had to sit through Lady Antebellum winning an armful of awards and Barbra Streisand doing whatever Barbra Streisand was doing, but it was all worth it. I think. Yay Grammys.

Enough waxing pathetic about the Grammys; let's get down to business. As I said before, "The music performed and nominated is, nearly without fail, terrible." (Yes, I just quoted myself exactly.) So I decided, because I have a large music library and plenty of spare time, to make my own version of the Grammys--you know, nominees and winners for most of the major categories. So much good music from the past year was snubbed, and I thought it would be nice to give it some recognition. (Keep in mind: the cutoff dates for the Grammys are basically 11/09 and 11/10. That means, sadly, that My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, among some other things, is ineligible. (Some of the prereleased singles, though, are eligible. I think.))

I leave out some categories, and I combine some categories. Unfortunately, even in my version, lots of great music is excluded. Oh well... I chose the nominees based on what I think fit the category and also what I think deserved recognition. I chose the winners based on both which I genuinely liked most and which I thought would make a nice acceptance speech. Those are in italics. Without further ado...