And the nominees for "Album of the Year" are:

* The Suburbs by Arcade Fire
* Recovery by Eminem
* Need You Now by Lady Antebellum
* The Fame Monster by Lady Gaga
* Teenage Dream by Katy Perry

Also funny: Mumford & Sons are up for Best New Artist against Justin Bieber (and Drake, Florence & The Machine, and Esperanza Spalding)

Robyn is up for Best Dance Recording against Lady Gaga (and Goldfrapp, La Roux, and Rihanna).

Arcade Fire are also nominated for Best Rock Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocals against Muse, Kings of Leon, The Black Keys, and... Jeff Beck & Joss Stone.

The Black Keys also landed in the "Best Rock Instrumental Performance" along with... Dave Matthews.

The Black Keys and Mumford & Sons and Kings of Leon and Muse are also all in the "Best Rock Song" category.

"Best Alternative Album" category:

* The Suburbs by Arcade Fire
* Infinite Arms by Band Of Horses
* Brothers by The Black Keys
* Broken Bells by Broken Bells
* Contra by Vampire Weekend

Other names that got nominated: Cee-Lo, Janelle Monae, Big Boi, John Legend & The Roots, Jay-Z, Darcy James Argue's Secret Society, Flight of the Conchords, Devendra Banhart (for "Best Recording Package"), Oh No Ono (ditto), Anais Mitchell (ditto), Danger Mouse, Gorillaz, and Carol Burnett. Full list at the Grammys site.

by Bill Pearis

Montreal's "trip-rock" BEAST return to NYC for two shows next week: they play The Living Room on Tuesday (2/16) and a late show at Cameo Gallery on Wednesday (2/17). This will be the band's first shows here since CMJ, where you may have seen them play at the Brooklyn Vegan Saturday day party. As I've said before, BEAST need to be seen live, as singer Betti Bonifassi has a magnetic prescence, not to mention some killer pipes, and they're just a lot of fun. The tight confines of Cameo (where they'll play after regular Wed comedy night Big Terriffic) should be especially good.

BEAST were nominated for a Grammy this year for their buzzy video for "Mr. Hurricane" which was directed by Benjamin Steiger Levine (who also directed the amazing clip for Socalled's "You Are Never Alone") and, of course, lost to "Boom Boom Pow." The band will also be at SXSW this year, so look out for them there too.

The "Mr. Hurricane" video and all BEAST tour dates are below.

Continue reading "Beast (didn't win the Grammy) playing 2 NYC shows, SXSW"

Eclectic rocker Neil Young, who has made no secret of his disdain for the Grammys, finally won a coveted trophy on Sunday for the first time in a career spanning almost 50 years.

Fittingly, the Canadian singer/songwriter was honored for a long-delayed boxed set collecting more than 120 tracks from his early days.

"Neil Young Archives Vol. 1 (1963-1972)" won the Grammy for best art direction on a boxed or special limited-edition package. Young, 64, shared the award with fellow art directors Gary Burden and Jenice Heo.

"Thanks a lot, everybody," Young said as he accepted his statuette.

He also competed for best solo rock vocal Grammy but lost to Bruce Springsteen, whose career total rose to 20.

On Friday he was honored by the music industry at its annual MusiCares charity fundraiser in recognition of his annual concerts for the Bridge School for disabled children.

The 10-disc "Archives" boxed set has been in the works for years, with Young frequently delaying its release so that technology could catch up with his vision. It boasts studio and live tracks, demos, outtakes and other rarities, as well as videos and the first digital release of his directing debut, "Journey Through the Past."

Fans have the choice of three configurations: CD, DVD and Blu-ray -- the most expensive at more than $200. [Reuters]

Continue reading "full list of 2010 Grammy Award Winners (Phoenix, Stephen Colbert, Kings of Leon, David Byrne, Leonard Cohen & more) "

"[A Grammy] definitely doesn't hold as much credence in the indie world," said Amy Phillips, news editor of online music tastemaker and news site Pitchfork.com.

Though the Grammys occasionally have bestowed their highest reward on albums that pretty much everybody agrees are great - such as OutKast's Speakerboxxx/The Love Below, in 2004, or The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill, in 1998 - the Recording Academy's choices usually don't match those of the music press.

(And that's as true this year as ever, despite the academy's efforts to get hipper and younger. After wins in the last two years by Herbie Hancock and the duo of Robert Plant and Alison Kruass, there's a notable absence of geezer entries in the top categories this year.)

That's because the critical consensus of what makes for good pop music in 2010 has coalesced around indie bands - all of them at least partly based in Brooklyn - such as Grizzly Bear, Dirty Projectors and, most of all, Animal Collective, which won the Village Voice's annual Pazz & Jop critics' poll, published earlier this month.

You won't find any of those bands up for any Grammy Awards. But you will find all of them on 2009's Top 10 list from Pitchfork, the online music magazine whose 1-to-10 scoring system - down to scientifically precise decimal points - is taken as gospel in the indie universe. (Animal Collective's Merriweather Post Pavilion garnered a world-beating 9.6.)

As Chuck Eddy skeptically pointed out in his essay accompanying the Pazz & Jop poll, eight of the Pitchfork Top 10 also made the P&J Top 10, suggesting that "indie-rock is suddenly better than everything put together." [Philadelphia Inquirer]

The Ting Tings, Silversun Pickups, and MGMT all appear in the Grammy's Best New Artist category. David Byrne & Brian Eno, Death Cab For Cutie, Depeche Mode, Phoenix, and Yeah Yeah Yeahs are all up for Best Alternative Music Album (the latter two also made the top 10 albums list in Pazz & Jop).

UPDATE: Phoenix won it.

"I'm sure Lady Gaga will do something amazing, and I can't wait to see that," said Pitchfork's Phillips. "That's really good, but the awards themselves don't seem to be relevant.

"I think what people don't really realize is that it's all industry people voting for themselves. The fact is that it's taken so seriously, and it really shouldn't be." [Omaha World-Record]

Continue reading "good albums don't win Grammys (tonight), Pazz & Jop 2010 looks like Pitchfork, & other obvious statements "

Beast @ CMJ 2009 (more by Chris La Putt)

Lady Gaga was nominated five times. Considering her rocket to fame over the last year, many were expecting more for her. But at least the contests are going to be really interesting: Beyoncé, [Taylor] Swift and Lady Gaga are going head to head in three of the most important categories: album, record and song of the year. Will one of them sweep, or will the lady vote be split?

One of the usual complaints about the Grammys is that it over-rewards older, established, familiar acts at the expense of newer, fresher ones. MGMT, the Brooklyn synth-rock duo, was nominated for best new artist, a big coup although not unexpected. But some of the shoulda-been names that have been circulated and Tweeted: Grizzly Bear, another acclaimed Brooklyn group; Regina Spektor, a young New York songwriter who started in the underground and has found some mainstream popularity; Diane Birch, a young soul-style singer, just the revivalist type the Grammys usually adore; and the Decemberists, an alt-folk-rock band from Portland, Ore., that released an ambitious concept album this year. [NY Times]

One surprise (for me anyway) came this year in the video category. Montreal's Beast were nominated for "Mr. Hurricane". That video with a list of some of the other nominees, below...

Continue reading "Beast's 'Mr. Hurricane' video & other 2009 Grammy nominees "

by Black Bubblegum

TMBG performing ninja moves avec their golden statuettes

Not to put too fine a point on it, but tickets are still available for They Might Be Giants at Le Poisson Rouge on Feb 28th, part of their previously mentioned residency.

After the sold out success of their last show, the band will once again perform their platinum album Flood in it's entirety, as well as a warm up set of songs new, old and possibly brand new. Flansburgh and Linnell will be backed up by their super-killer band Marty Beller on the drum, Dan Miller on guitar and Danny Weinkauf on bass. The show will also include an appearance by The Tricerachops Horns featuring Dan "The Machine" Levine on trombone, Curt Ramm on trumpet, and Stan "The Optimist" Harrison on saxophone and clarinet.

TMBG are also happy to welcome back their good friends all the way from Belfast, Northern Ireland--the always great, never late duo you can't overrate: Oppenheimer!

In other TMBG news, congrats to the guys on their Grammy win for "Best Musical Album For Children", Here Come The 123's! If you missed that broadcast, check it out here and scroll to 41:30 to see TMBG... and don't forget to check out an about-to-pop MIA, Lil Wayne, TI, Kanyeezy, and Jay-Z as well as Radiohead with a marching band.

And TMBG's winning streak in the kid's department continues. Their song, sung by John Linnell, is featured on the Coraline soundtrack.

This song was recorded for the movie Coraline. Due to cuts, this is the only song TMBG ended up providing for the film. It takes place when Coraline's other father (voiced by John Hodgman) shows how his piano plays him rather than he plays the piano. He proceeds to sing a song about how great Coraline is. The repeated mention of eyes and buttons plays on the fact that the Other Father's eyes are buttons. [this might be a wiki]

They Might Be Giants were one of the last musical guests on Late Night With Conan O'Brian, but not THE last musical guest. Video from the February 12th episode is also, below...

Continue reading "They Might Be Giants - a Grammy, Coraline & FLOOD AGAIN"

Spank Rock is performing at a Unis & Anna Sheffeild party tonight (2/12) at Chloe (81 Ludlow St) (10pm - 3am)

The Duke Spirit are performing an an Alexander McQueen party on Friday (2/13) at 330 West St (8-11 p.m.) The Duke Spirit also play NYC-area shows on Sunday and Monday.

NY Magazine's Fashion Week party list includes performances and/or DJ sets by The Virgins (acoustic), James Murphy, Mandy Coon (2MANDYDJS), Mike Nouveau, Deakin (Animal Collective) (DJ set), and White Magic (DJ set).

Santos Party House is hosting a Fashion Week party (DOSSIER / NOMIA) on Sunday (2/15) with DJ Holy Ghost and a live set by Lemonade (downstairs 9pm... 21+).

A rumor is going around that Thom Yorke is here and possibly performing, but Men.Style.com says...

I've got some good news and some bad news for all you fashion, music, and fashion music fans. The bad news first: Despite the rumors Twittering around the Interwebs, Thom Yorke will not, in fact, be playing tomorrow's Rag & Bone show. The good news, however, is that the Radiohead singer did "curate" the tunes that'll accompany the models down the runway. Guess he's returning the favor after the nice bomber jacket the lads hooked him up with for the Grammys. (Notably, Lil Wayne also wore the brand last Sunday--who knows, maybe he's hard at work on a playlist for Spring 2010.) In any case, autograph seekers should leave the Sharpies at home, as I'm told Yorke won't even be at the show. (I assume the same's true for Wayne.)

This is the second time Terminator Salvation came up recently. The first was because of Christian Bale freaking out.

Leave more party tips (if you have them) (preferably ones where bands are playing) in the comments.

IM ON TV!

TODAY I WENT ON T.V

I did CNN HEADLINE NEWS

CNN LATIN AMERICA

AND TAVIS SMILEY ON PBS WHICH WILL AIR AS I POST THIS!!!

tomaro
im gonna do
al jazeera
france 24 and
ap t.v

I want you to know that , everyone has been asking me on the shows to talk about the sudden popularity im experiencing, the babies, the grammies the oscars etc

and i want you to know that this has been part of the plan from day 1.

this is the only oppotunity i have had to do something about the genocide in Sri Lanka and im seizing that oppotunity

so for a lil while im gonna go from being

M.I.A. TO I. Y. F.

IN YA FACE!!!!!!!!!!!
[M.I.A.]

She left the above message on her MySpace blog before the Grammys. On the Tavis Smiley show she talked about being accused of being a terrorist, being the only Tamil in the Western media which gives her the platform to speak for the Tamil civilians, not to be confused with the Tamil Tigers. Watch the video below...

Continue reading "M.I.A., still pregnant?, on TV - planned to be popular, doing something about Tamil civilian genocide (video)"

Alison Krauss & Robert Plant @ ACL 2008 (more by Kyle Dean Reinford)

Rounder Records, a venerable independent label based in the Northeast, released "Raising Sand," and it has become one of its biggest hits. Its multiple nominations were old hat for Alison Krauss, who before Sunday had already won 21 Grammy Awards. But none was for a project quite this adventurous.

"We ostensibly come from such different places on the musical map," Robert Plant said in a media conference backstage Sunday. "Alison showed me so much I had never been exposed to."

That Plant is still learning new tricks is a testament to his artistry. That he's not touring with a reunited Led Zeppelin is a sign of enduring integrity. That's a lot of money to be passing up, even if "Raising Sand" did win five Grammys.

But Plant was having none of it. The singer again was confronted with the inevitable question Sunday about his future involvement in any Zeppelin tour.

"How old are you, man?" Plant responded. "Because you look older than me. You try to do 'Communication Breakdown' in these pants." [Chicago Tribune]

"Kimya and guest performer Eliot" (hortensejones)

So you're up for a Grammy with the "Juno" soundtrack.

Kimya Dawson: (Heaves a sigh) Yeah. (Laughs)

Was it weird for you to be on the No. 1 album last year?

Uh, it was funny. But it was pretty silly. I mean, the songs were in a movie that was really, really popular; and it was just a really good movie. So I think that the way the movie made people feel really made my music more relatable. ... It wasn't like (boatloads) of people were suddenly getting what I do.

Have you gotten calls to appear on other soundtracks?

I've got a few songs on a film that's coming out (that) just premiered at Sundance called "Unmade Beds." And it's (made by) an Argentine director named Alexis Dos Santos. He made a film called "Glue" a few years ago that had a few of my songs in it. ... He had invited me to perform at the premiere last week. But I had started a community choir in Olympia; and our first performance was that night, so I couldn't miss that.

Kimya Dawson is playing Europa in Brooklyn on March 10th with Shellshag. Tickets are on sale. The show is one day before she plays the REM tribute show at Carnegie Hall which is one day before she plays SUNY Purchase. All dates below...

Continue reading "Grammy winner KIMYA DAWSON - 2009 tour dates (Europa)"

TMZ can confirm that Chris Brown just entered an LAPD station, where he turned himself in to police.

Chris is being investigated by the LAPD for an alleged domestic violence felony battery that occurred early this morning near Hancock Park in L.A. Police officials said earlier today they may arrest Brown when they found him. Well, now they know where he is.

According to the female victim -- who cops refuse to identify -- she and Chris got into an argument which turned violent. Cops say when they arrived to the scene, Brown had split, but the woman had "visible injuries and identified Brown as her attacker."

Brown and his girlfriend Rihanna were together earlier last night, attending Clive Davis' pre-Grammy party -- and both canceled their scheduled performances at tonight's event.

Brown is currently being interviewed by detectives. [TMZ]

Continue reading "a list of all the 2009 Grammy winners, Radiohead, MIA video"

Lucero @ Terminal 5 Friday night (more by Mike Lerner)

today in NYC
* DANCE
* Lucero @ Mercury Lounge
* Elysian Fields @ Joe's Pub
* The Black Keys & Doug Gillard Wellmont Theater
* Blank Dogs, Woods, WAVVES & Nodzzz @ Underground Lounge

Underground Lounge is located 955 West End Ave @ 107th St in Morningside Heights. The WAVVES show starts at 2PM.

Kanye West has been blogging about a lot of 'indie' music (and comedy) lately. There was the recent Aziz Ansari post, and the exclusive new Peter Bjorn and John track he posted. Kanye's other recent likes include TV on the Radio's David Bowie cover, Bon Iver covering Feist, Friendly Fires, Francis and the Lights, Passion Pit, Animal Collective AND MOST IMPORTANTLY, LAND OF TALK.

Kanye will be performing at the Grammys today. So will Radiohead. Nominees include MIA, Adele, No Age, Hot Chip, Daft Punk, My Morning Jacket and Death Cab For Cutie.

Antony was just on NPR.

Little Boots played Studio B last night. Video below...

What else?

Continue reading "What's going on Sunday (besides the Grammys)?"

Paul McCartney, Radiohead, Justin Timberlake and the quadruple threat of Jay-Z, Lil Wayne, T.I. and Kanye West have been added to the performance lineup for the 51st annual Grammy Awards, to be held Feb. 8 at Los Angeles' Staples Center.

McCartney will be backed by Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl on drums, while Radiohead will be making its first live U.S. television performance in nearly nine years.

Meanwhile, Jay-Z, Wayne, T.I. and West will team to perform the hit single "Swagga Like Us," while T.I. and Timberlake will also perform together.

Previously announced Grammy performers include Kenny Chesney, Coldplay, Jennifer Hudson, Jonas Brothers, Katy Perry and Carrie Underwood. [Billboard]

Continue reading "Radiohead (and others) playing the Grammys..."

MIA @ MoMA (more by Ryan Muir)

Best Alternative Music Album
(Vocal or Instrumental.)

Modern Guilt
Beck
[DGC Records/XL Recordings/Interscope]

Narrow Stairs
Death Cab For Cutie
[Atlantic]

The Odd Couple
Gnarls Barkley
[Downtown/Atlantic]

Evil Urges
My Morning Jacket
[ATO Records]

In Rainbows
Radiohead
[TBD Records]

Cat Power and John Legend share a bill in Chicago....

Coldbrains wins...

The tour kicks off in Chicago and will continue throughout the month of April with stops in New York, Miami, Dallas and Los Angeles.

Singers/songwriters Cat Power, Colbie Caillat and John Legend will perform at the historic Vic Theatre in Chicago on April 3, the first stop in the five-city tour. Rappers Busta Rhymes and Missy Elliott will headline the next stop at Webster Hall in the heart of the East Village, New York, on April 9. The tour continues on to Miami with Latin artists Kat Deluna, Ozomatli and Pitbull performing at the recently remodeled Fillmore Miami Beach at the historic Jackie Gleason Theatre in the heart of the city's renowned Art Deco district. Rap-rocker Kid Rock takes the stage at the Granada Theatre in Dallas on April 23. The tour concludes in Los Angeles on April 30 with dance-pop vocalist Seal and rapper Sean Kingston at the Avalon in Hollywood.

Does anyone know who's playing the April 9th show at Webster Hall?

nobody loves Kanye like Kanye

finally posing with someone more her size *

* that dude doesn't count

Continue reading "Kanye West - updated 2008 Tour Dates, new videos, Feist"

HA....

Continue reading "Hillary took the stage, the crowd went nuts...."

On Tuesday Michael Jackson will release a 25th-anniversary edition of it. The expanded CD/DVD package will include the original nine-song album, one unreleased track from the original sessions, and five reworkings with contributions from contemporary artists that range from innocuous to downright damaging.

Associating with will.i.am, Fergie, Akon, and Kanye West is meant to lend Jackson credibility with today's urban music fans, but adding modern flourishes to a record like "Thriller" doesn't do anything to improve it. If anything, it diminishes the one unblemished chapter of Jackson's creative life. [The Boston Globe]

Whether it was the real Daft Punk playing at the Grammy Awards last night is being debated, and it is unknown whether the costumed people inside the pyramid were just pretending to push buttons or actually 'manipulating the track with 4 Lemur sequencers', but nonetheless......

Continue reading "video of Daft Punk & Kanye West @ The Grammys"

Nas and Kellis wore the controversial name of his new album on their outfits to the Grammys last night. More photos below....

Continue reading "Nas & Kelis wore/promoted "Nigger" at the Grammys"

Herbie Hancock beat Amy Winehouse, Kanye West, Foo Fighters and Vince Gill for (what the Grammys consider) album of the year.

Taking into account what the Grammys are (a major label/old-school music industry celebration of itself and not something to be taken super seriously or something like that...), this year's show was not so bad - it felt like there were a ton of performances, The White Stripes, Flight of the Conchords, and Slayer won awards, there was Art Brut (not to mention Tina Turner, Stevie Wonder, Amy Winehouse, Jerry Lee Lewis, Little Richard, Prince, Daft Punk, Kanye West, Feist, etc, etc, etc...) and I stopped paying attention to the TV a lot less than usual. More photos, and the full list of winners below....

Continue reading "Jazz beats hip hop, country, rock and soul at the Grammys"

live via satellite, from London, with mom

aka Feist's Grammy performance was kind of boring

Feist & Mocky @ the Grammys - Feb 10, 2008

More photos below......

Continue reading "they should have done a live Cirque Du Soleil version of the "1234" video instead"

also, Bright Eyes won a Grammy

Kanye Daft West Punk @ the Grammys