So Anxious

Next week kicks off Central Park's SummerStage. TV on the Radio gets things started Friday June 5th, but the acts I am super duper pumped for are Les Nubians (I have never gotten the chance to see the French-Cameroonian duo live before, as an unfortunate last minute email cancellation from Ticketmaster came right before a Boston gig my sophomore year), Q-Tip, Jazmine Sullivan aaaaaaannnnnnd (drum roll please): GINUWINE, JOE AND CHICO MOTHERFUCKING DEBARGE. On one stage! "So Anxious" and "Pony" live? "Stutter" and "No Guarantee"? 1999 to my face.

Year End Lists: Punctuality is One of Our Resolutions

OK, OK. We know we promised one album per day. But just like you, we can be lazy, irresponsible and prone to lying. Don't despair though. The guilt was killing us, and we are atoning with two picks each right now.

Ben's Picks:

8. The Black Keys - Attack and Release
The blues rock two piece shows Jack White how it's meant to be done. 2004's Rubber Factory, the only other Black Keys record I'm very familiar with, was a great album of blues jams, but this album, produced by the brilliant Danger Mouse (and it sounds like he brought his keyboards with him!), truly takes the band a step further conceptually. Rather than just blasting you with gritty guitar and drums, this set of songs swirls around you, unraveling more with each listen.

7. Vampire Weekend - Vampire Weekend
Sometimes divorcing yourself from the buzz works really, really well. This was one of those cases: when this band's name started whipping around the internet early in 2008 I didn't want to know anything about it. Eventually, I heard the record, and I was blown away. It's such a nice record, I can't believe there was all that buzz about these breezy melodies and vaguely African rhythms. This isn't a new trick (see: everything the Talking Heads recorded) but these kids are doing it well on this LP.

Isabelle's Picks:

8. Jazmine Sullivan - Fearless
Philly jawns stand up. This album would be higher up on my list, but there are like three tracks ("After the Hurricane," "Dream Big" and "Live a Lie" could all be better) that I feel hold this record back from flawless greatness. Otherwise, Missy Elliott's protege's album has been on repeat since dropping. "Call Me Guilty" is the best abused woman revenge tune around and of course the first singles "Need U Bad" and "Bust Your Windows" are stellar. My favorite one though, is "In Love with Another Man," which is all emotion, a bittersweet ballad about being unable to move on, even though it's in every one's best interest.

7. Rhymefest - Mark Ronson presents Rhymefest in The Man in the Mirror
Technically not an album per se, but nevertheless, a cohesive and amazing effort from one of my favorite rappers out there. First of all, the "conversations" between 'Fest and MJ are nothing short of perfection and secondly, this tided me over marvelously because Rhymefest's "sophomore" record El Che got pushed back to '09. This mix tape is the ultimate low key party or BBQ record--it revisits every fantastic Jackson tune from his childhood days on, with the added bonus of Rhymefest's straight up genius.

Grammy Nominations announced, I continue watching Top Chef reruns

The 2009 Grammy Awards Nominations list was announced today. Not that it really matters or anything, because getting a Grammy is now the equivalent of getting the "Most Unique" award in junior high: pointless, slightly embarrassing and about as special as a gold star on your social studies essay on hunter gatherers. Say what you will about the film industry and their award shows, at least they have certain accolades that still mean something. I mean, I know there is no point in getting my panties in a twist about Lil' Wayne's eight (yes, you read that correctly) nods, but I think it's epically fucked up that the Jonas Brothers and fucking Duffy are in the Best New Artist category and Estelle (who is nominated for "American Boy") is not. And Best Album of the Year is like a slap in the face to good taste: Coldplay, Weezy and Ne-Yo all earned a spot while the Rev. Al Green, who had quite possibly one of the greatest albums ever, gets a conciliatory Best R&B Album bone thrown in his legendary and magnificent direction. And forget about ?uestlove's Producer of the Year wish. That honor will probably go to will.i.am or Nigel Godrich (interestingly enough, Godrich has one produced album he is considered for, In Rainbows, while all the other nominees in that category have at least three) and maybe the engineers who worked on Lay It Down can get the Best Engineered Album award, which is an honor; but only a handful of music nerds (Hi, nice to meet you, my name is Isabelle and my favorite guitar arpeggio this year came from the late Spanky Alford) and audio engineers actually pay attention to that category. And if I'm not mistaken, it probably gets the rolling credit style mention that the Best Tejano Album gets. Oh, and by the way, Katy Perry was nominated, because it's really funny to pretend you're a little bit gay.

Well, the good news is that my new favorite Philly jawn Jazmine Sullivan got a few kudos and veteran producer and singer Raphael Saadiq got some respect for his very good album, The Way I See It. Also, Janelle Monae's dope tune, "Many Moons" was shown some love.

But I think the real underdog story of the 51st Annual Grammy Awards is Wayne Brady. I mean, his cover of "A Change is Gonna Come" is just SO soulful. And thanks for nominating Nas' song "Nigger (The Slave and the Master)." It's always good to reward once decent artists for being boringly provocative for the sake of attention/the opportunity to argue with Bill O'Reilly.