February 10, 2013 may seem like an ordinary date for most, unless you’re amongst the ranks of talented musicians nominated for the 55th annual Grammy Awards. For some lucky artists, two months into the new year promises an accolade of musical achievement in the famed form of a gilded, gramophone trophy. In the list below, you can find your favorite nominee(s) for the upcoming Grammy extravaganza:

Album of the Year
The Black Keys – El Camino
Fun. – Some Nights
Mumford & Sons – Babel
Frank Ocean – Channel Orange
Jack White – Blunderbuss

Record of the Year
The Black Keys – “Lonely Boy”
Fun. feat. Janelle Monae – “We Are Youngâ€�
Kelly Clarkson – “Stronger”
Gotye feat. Kimbra – “Somebody That I Used to Know”
Frank Ocean – “Thinkin Bout You”
Taylor Swift – “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together”

Best New Artist
The Alabama Shakes
Fun.
Hunter Hayes
The Lumineers
Frank Ocean

Best Pop Vocal Album
Kelly Clarkson – Stronger
Florence and the Machine – Ceremonials
Fun. – Some Nights
Maroon 5 – Overexposed
Pink – The Truth About Love

Song of the Year
Ed Sheeran – “The A Team”
Miguel – “Adorn”
Carly Rae Jepsen – “Call Me Maybe”
Kelly Clarkson – “Stronger (What Doesn’t Kill You)”
Fun. – “We Are Young”

Best Pop Solo Performance
Adele – “Set Fire to the Rain (Live)”
Kelly Clarkson – “Stronger (What Doesn’t Kill You)”
Carly Rae Jepsen – “Call Me Maybe”
Katy Perry – “Wide Awake”
Rihanna – “Where Have You Been”

Best Pop Duo/Group Performance
Florence and the Machine – “Shake It Out”
Fun. – “We Are Young”
Gotye feat. Kimbra – “Somebody That I Used to Know”
LMFAO – “Sexy and I Know It”
Maroon 5 – “Payphone”

Best Dance Recording
Avicii – “Levels”
Calvin Harris feat. Ne-Yo – “Let’s Go”
Skrillex feat. Sirah – “Bangarang”
Swedish House Mafia feat. John Martin – “Don’t You Worry Child”
Al Walser – “I Can’t Live Without You”

Best Dance/Electronic Album
Steve Aoki – Wonderland
The Chemical Brothers Don’t Think
deadmau5>Album Title Goes Here<
Kaskade Fire & Ice
Skrillex Bangarang

Best Rock Performance
Alabama Shakes – “Hold On”
The Black Keys – “Lonely Boy”
Coldplay – “Charlie Brown”
Mumford & Sons – “I Will Wait”
Bruce Springsteen – “We Take Care of Our Own”

Best Hard Rock/Metal Performance
Anthrax – “I’m Alive”
Halestorm – “Love Bites (So Do I)”
Iron Maiden – “Blood Brothers”
Lamb of God – “Ghost Walking”
Marilyn Manson – “No Reflection”
Megadeth – “Whose Life (Is It Anyways?)”

Best Rock Song
Jack White – “Freedom at 21”
Mumford & Sons – “I Will Wait”
The Black Keys – “Lonely Boy”
Muse – “Madness”
Bruce Springsteen – “We Take Care of Our Own”

Best Rock Album
The Black Keys, El Camino
Muse, The 2nd Law
Coldplay, Mylo Xyloto
Bruce Springsteen, Wrecking Ball
Jack White, Blunderbuss

Best Alternative Music Album
Fiona Apple, The Idler Wheel Is Wiser Than the Driver of the Screw and Whipping Cords Will Serve You More Than Ropes Will Ever Do
Bjork, Biophilia
Gotye, Making Mirrors
M83, Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming
Tom Waits, Bad As Me

Best R&B Performance
Estelle – “Thank You”
Robert Glasper Experiment feat. Ledisi – “Gonna Be Alright (F.T.B.)
Luke James – “I Want You”
Miguel – “Adorn”
Usher – “Climax”

Best Traditional R&B Performance
Anita Baker – “Lately”
Beyonce – “Love on Top”
Melanie Fiona – “Wrong Side of a Love Song”
Gregory Porter – “Real Good Hands”
SWV – “If Only You Knew”

Best Urban Contemporary Album
Chris Brown, Fortune
Miguel, Kaleidoscope Dream
Frank Ocean, Channel Orange

Best R&B Album
Robert Glasper Experiment, Black Radio
Anthony Hamilton, Back To Love
R. Kelly, Write Me Back
Tamia, Beautiful Surprise
Tyrese, Open Invitation

Best Rap Performance
Drake feat. Lil’ Wayne – “HYFR (Hell Ya F—ing Right)”
Jay-Z & Kanye West – “N—as In Paris”
Nas – “Daughters”
Kanye West feat. Big Sean, Pusha T & 2 Chainz – “Mercy”
Young Jeezy feat. Jay-Z & Andre 3000 – “I Do”

Best Rap/Sung Collaboration
Flo Rida feat. Sia – “Wild Ones”
Jay-Z & Kanye West feat. Frank Ocean & The Dream – “No Church in the Wild”
John Legend feat. Ludacris – “Tonight (Best You Ever Had)”
Nas feat. Amy Winehouse – “Cherry Wine”
Rihanna feat. Jay-Z – “Talk That Talk”

Best Rap Song
Nas – “Daughters”
Wale feat. Miguel – “Lotus Flower Bomb”
Kanye West Featuring Big Sean, Pusha T & 2 Chainz – “Mercy”
Drake feat. Lil’ Wayne – “The Motto”
Jay-Z & Kanye West – “N—as In Paris”
Snoop Dogg & Wiz Khalifa Featuring Bruno Mars – “Young, Wild & Free”

Best Rap Album
Drake, Take Care
Lupe Fiasco, Food & Liquor II: The Great American Rap Album, Pt. 1
The Roots, Undun
Nas, Life Is Good
Rick Ross, God Forgives, I Don’t
2 Chainz, Based on a T.R.U. Story

Best Country Song
Carrie Underwood – “Blown Away”
Ronnie Dunn -“Cost of Livin’ ”
Alan Jackson – “So You Don’t Have to Love Me Anymore”
Eli Young Band – “Even If It Breaks Your Heart”
Eric Church – “Springsteen”

Best Country Solo Performance
Dierks Bentley – “Home”
Eric Church – “Springsteen”
Ronnie Dunn – “Cost of Livin’ ”
Hunter Hayes – “Wanted”
Blake Shelton – “Over”
Carrie Underwood – “Blown Away”

Best Americana Album
The Avett Brothers, The Carpenter
John Fullbright, From the Ground Up
The Lumineers, The Lumineers
Mumford & Sons, Babel
Bonnie Raitt, Slipstream

Best Blues Album
Shemekia Copeland, 33 1/3
Dr. John, Locked Down
Ruthie Foster, Let It Burn
Heritage Blues Orchestra, And I Still Rise
Joan Osborne, Bring It on Home

An eclectic range of artists battle for lead nominee, spanning from the indie-rock and folk genres of Fun., The Black Keys and Mumford & Sons to the hip-hop contenders of Frank Ocean, Jay-Z and Kanye West.

Regardless of the end result, the 2013 Grammys guarantee a myriad of categorical diversity, showcasing a bevy of talented performers truly deserving of such musical recognition.

>> Make sure to tune into CBS on February 10, 2013 at 8/7 c to follow the winning results of your favorite artists! <<

(*Spoken as Jimmy Fallon doing wacky FM DJ*) And we’re back! Actually, we were planning on being back a few weeks ago, but Andrew McMahon, lead singer and songwriter of Jack’s Mannequin, is a tough guy to pin down. Turn your back on him for a second, and he’s peeled off in his tour bus to do another four months of dates. We caught his final show with Guster last month, and it was a blast, especially when the two teamed up for a cover of Peter Bjorn and John’s “Young Folks.”

The Mannequin’s third album, People and Things, was released last week, and when McMahon finally decided to sit down and rest for a second, we were quick to strike: Tell us the 10 songs rocking your world at the moment, or your piano bites it. Surprisingly, there is little piano to be found here, but there are lots of happy techno beats. Rave on, rave on.

“Safe and Sound,” Capital Cities

A great tune in the indie/techno vein.

“Our Hearts Are Wrong,” Jessica Lea Mayfield

“The only time I miss you is every single day.” That says it all.

Read the rest after the jump...

Ah, St. Patrick’s Day, where everyone is Irish for a day. March seems to be full of days like that, since Fat Tuesday is the day where everyone is Catholic for a day.

Since we know many of you will be getting a full-fledged drink on this St. Paddy’s Day, especially since it is also the first day of the NCAA tournament, we have provided a small list of songs about drinking, the effects of drinking, and the vow that many of you will make the following morning. Think of it as the bender that you never took; we love booze as much as the next guys, but sometimes those things are better lived vicariously.

“It’s Time to Party,” Andrew W.K.

With a whopping three songs about partying on his debut album, Andrew W.K. will forever remain our master of ceremonies when it comes to partying. Until we saw the grammar-challenged lyric video, though, we didn’t know this song made a reference to a money shot. Yikes.

“Have a Drink on Me,” AC/DC

The night is young. Everyone is flush with cash and feeling generous. Try and remember this moment when 1:30 rolls around and you’re buying Natural Light pounders. For now, though, you’re living on the top shelf.

To read the rest of the St. Patrick’s Day playlist, click here.

Got a music fan on your holiday shopping list? We’re not talking about someone who only listens to the radio in the car and, even then, spends half of their time talking on their cell phone. We’re talking about someone who – like the name of this blog – eats, sleeps, and drinks music, someone who isn’t afraid to do a little bit of genre-jumping and who, after being introduced to an artist or a scene, seeks out reference material to learn more about the songs they’re hearing and the people who brought them to fruition. If so, we’ve got a few books for you.

Now, mind you, this isn’t intended to be a comprehensive list, as most obviously evidenced by the fact that neither Keith Richards’ Life nor Jay-Z’s Decoded are anywhere to be found, not to mention Justin Bieber’s scintillating story, First Step 2 Forever. All we’re trying to do is offer up some suggestions based on what we’ve seen, read, and gotten excited about over the course of 2010. And now that you know that, read on…

1. John Lennon: Life is What Happens, by John Borack

Beatles-related coffee-table books are practically a literary industry unto themselves, but John Borack’s contribution to the field is one of the best to come down the pipeline in quite some time, offering a blend of photographs, album covers, movie posters, memorabilia and minutiae from throughout John Lennon’s career while interspersing the visual presentation with text.

Some of it comes courtesy of the author himself, who provides a more thorough history of Lennon’s life and times than you might expect; given the eye candy with which he’s surrounded his words, Borack could’ve gone the simple route, but rest assured that this is no rote history. Beyond his contributions, there are quotes from Lennon himself, of course, both from his lyrics and his interviews, but there are also comments from various musicians, DJs, and others who have been affected by Lennon’s work throughout the years.

You’d be right to hesitate and think to yourself, “Do I really need another big-arse book about John Lennon and the Beatles?” In this case, though, you probably do.

2. Fab: An Intimate Life of Paul McCartney, by Howard Sounes

Ah, but do you need another big-arse book about Paul McCartney and the Beatles? Fortunately, in the case of Howard Sounes’s Fab, you’re not looking at a coffee-table volume but, rather, a proper biography. Sure, Barry Miles would seem to have the upper hand on McCartney bios, given that his contribution, Many Years from Now, was actually authorized by Macca himself, but with the 200+ interviews done by Sounes, the fact that he wasn’t working directly with his subject means that you’ll probably end up learning a few things that Sir Paul probably would prefer that you hadn’t. Given that Sounes manages to tackle both the highs and the lows of McCartney’s career while neither rhapsodizing nor crucifying the man, it’s no surprise that the reviews for Fab have been, well, fab.

3. Talking to Girls About Duran Duran: One Young Man’s Quest for True Love and a Cooler Haircut, by Rob Sheffield

I mean this in the best possible way and intend absolutely no disrespect to Rob Sheffield, but…I totally could’ve written this book. And so, for that matter, could my fellow Bullz-Eye editor, David Medsker. Even though this book may not mirror either of our lives precisely, it contains enough universal truths about growing up in the 1980s and the soundtrack of the era that the experience of reading it proves at various times to be heartwarming and heartbreaking but – fortunately – with a whole lot of hilarity also thrown into the mix. Covering everything from Duran Duran and Depeche Mode to Rob Base and DJ E-Z Rock and Def Leppard, it may be Sheffield’s memoir, but a lot of it is our lives, too. You’ll probably find it contains a bit of yours as well, even if you weren’t even yet born when the ’80s ended (man, did you just hear that really loud collective sigh from all of the thirty- and fortysomethings?)…and if you’re like David and I, it’ll probably make you want to write your own book. But until after you curse Sheffield for having written his first.

4. A Wizard, A True Star: Todd Rundgren in the Studio, by Paul Myers

Paul Myers may have made his biggest literary splash – or certainly his most high profile, anyway – by penning Barenaked Ladies’ authorized biography, Public Stunts, Private Stories, but it’s his passion projects which have proven the most educational for music-bio aficionados.

2007 brought us his examination of the British blues scene of the 1960s as viewed through the kaleidoscope of Long John Baldry’s career (It Ain’t Easy: Long John Baldry and the Birth of the British Blues). Now, Myers has set his sights on a more mainstream musical figure…although, really, when someone inspires his followers to declare, “Todd is God,” doesn’t that by definition mean that they have a cult following?

But I digress.

With A Wizard, A True Star, Myers attempts the daunting task of exploring Rundgren’s work behind the board, as it were, exploring in great detail the albums that he’s produced over the years, including Meat Loaf’s Bat Out of Hell, the New York Dolls’ self-titled album, XTC’s Skylarking, and, as the cliche goes, many, many more. Researched and written with the participation and cooperation of Rundgren himself, Myers also draws upon exclusive new interviews with Robbie Robertson, Patti Smith, XTC, Sparks, Daryl Hall and John Oates, Meat Loaf, Jim Steinman, Cheap Trick, Grand Funk, The Psychedelic Furs, The Tubes, Steve Hillage, and the members of Utopia.

If you’re a Rundgren fan and didn’t already know what you wanted for Christmas before reading this, I think it’s fair to say that you do now.

5. Husker Du: The Story of the Noise-Pop Pioneers Who Launched Modern Rock, by Andrew Earles

In the interest of full disclosure, I must admit that I have yet to pick up a copy of this book, but while I’m not necessarily expecting it to top Michael Azerrad’s look at the band in Our Band Could Be Your Life: Scenes from the American Indie Underground 1981-1991, the idea of someone putting together a full-fledged history of the work that Bob Mould, Grant Hart, and Greg Norton did together has me excited enough that I feel like I should at least spread the word about it.

Here’s the official description of the book:

Taking their name from a popular Danish children’s board game, Bob Mould, Grant Hart, and Greg Norton formed Hüsker Dü in St. Paul, Minnesota, in 1979 as a wildly cathartic outfit fueled by a cocktail of volume and velocity. Author Andrew Earles examines how Hüsker Dü became the first hardcore band to marry pop melodies with psychedelic influences and ear-shattering volume, and in the process become one of the most influential rock bands of the 1980s indie underground. Earles also explores how the Twin Cities music scene, the creative and competitive dynamic between Mould and Hart, and their personal lives all contributed to the band’s incredible canon and messy demise. Few bands from the American indie movement did more than Hüsker Dü to inform the alternative rock styles that breached the mainstream in the 1990s. Here, finally, is the story behind their brilliance.

Hey, it certainly sounds good. Whichever one of us gets it first, meet back here and let the other know how it is, deal?

Read the rest of this entry »

I don’t even know why I’m here, frankly. I think it’s pretty well documented that all I do these days is write about television and interview people ’til the cows come home. Once upon a time, though, I used to be a music critic, dammit…and once you’ve had opinions about music, you’ll always have opinions about music. As such, here are my thoughts on the albums and songs that grabbed me this year. This may be the first time I’ve actually written about most of them, but you can damn well be sure that I’ve spent plenty of time listening to them.

1. Tom Jones: Praise & Blame
It’s a pretty consistent tradition that my #1 slot on my Best Albums list of any given year belongs to an artist whose career I’ve followed for quite some time, but Sir Tom earned his spot fair and square. Kicking things off with a stark cover of Bob Dylan’s “What Good Am I?� which will leave listeners spellbound, the Welsh wonder goes gospel with this record, and while it’s admittedly not the sort of career move that generally results in the shifting of mass units, it’s a creative success, one which befits a man entering his seventies far more than, say, another retread of “Sexbomb.� Having already secured legendary status (not to mention a knighthood), our man Tom can afford to step outside of people’s perceptions, and for those who’ve been paying attention, that’s what he’s been doing for the past several albums, including 2008’s 24 Hours and his 2004 collaboration with Jools Holland. But while Praise & Blame is a continuation of an existing trend, it’s also arguably the first time Jones has made absolutely no commercial concessions. There’s no wink-and-a-nudge cover of “200 Lbs. of Heavenly joy.� There’s no song by Bono and the Edge nor uber-hip production from Future Cut. There’s just Tom Jones, age 70…and, by God, he’s still got it.

2. Glen Matlock & The Philistines: Born Running
It isn’t as though it’s surprising that John Lydon’s the member of the Sex Pistols who’s gone on to have the most successful solo career – he was, after all, the frontman for the group – but it continues to be equally eyebrow-raising that so few of the band’s fans have kept their ears open for the consistently solid material emerging from Glen Matlock‘s camp. It’s not quite as punk as the Pistols – which makes perfect sense if you believe the story about Matlock supposedly getting the boot from the band for liking the Beatles a bit too much – but the songs on Born Running still pack a fierce wallop.

3. Brian Wilson: Reimagines Gershwin
The older I get, the less I allow myself to feel guilty about enjoying an album that I could easily peddle to people my grandparents’ age. All things considered, I’d much rather have a full collection of new originals from Mr. Wilson, but the way he takes these Gershwin classics and arranges them to match his traditional sound is still music to my ears. Then, of course, there’s the added bonus that he’s taken on the task of completing a couple of previously-unfinished Gershwin songs. Unsurprisingly, they sound just like Brian Wilson compositions…not that there’s anything wrong with that. At all.

4. Farrah: Farrah
There’s Britpop, and then there’s power pop, but you don’t tend to find bands who can manage to comfortably keep a foot in both camp; I’d argue that Farrah succeeds at this task, but given that they don’t have a particularly high profile in either, I suppose it really all depends on how you define success. For my part, though, if an artist releases an album which contains a significant number of catchy-as-hell hooks, it’s top of the pops in my book, which means that this self-titled entry into their discography is yet another winner for Farrah.

Read the rest of this entry »