Thursday, January 25, 2018

60th Grammy Awards (Write-ins & Predictions)

I'll never grow tired of this picture, or really any of Prince, but I submit this otherwise without comment.
When the Grammys released their list of nominees back in November, I did an off the cuff breakdown of the relevant categories here, and promised I'd return with my predictions and write-in nominations. Earlier this week in the typical uncontrollable brainstorm that happens just before falling asleep, I realized I better do that soon. Then, despite avoiding so much of the hype surrounding the record industry's self-congratulatory award show, I eventually became aware that "Music's biggest night" was in fact this weekend. So here I am jumping on that bandwagon, delivering some silly predictions and attempting to shine a light on some artists I feel deserve more praise than they are currently receiving. As usual I preface this whole endeavor by reminding you that this is done (like the awards themselves) simply for fun and to get people talking and sharing more music from their favourite artists.


Best Dance Recording
Who will win: Line Of Sight X
Who should win: Tonite ✔
Write-in nomination: Woke - Tiga

Looking back at the last 5 winners the progression is clear (Bangarang, Clarity, Rather Be, Where Are Ü Now, and Don't Let Me Down). In this case I'm assuming the Grammys continue to move down this path and award not just the most poppy, but easily accessible track in the list. While most will argue that LCD Soundsystem's best work lays behind them, I'd counter that this is their time to be rewarded. And as I said in my nominations post, I don't see "Tonite" as the best track on the album, but certainly we cannot have everything. Finally, my write-in nomination should be a no brainer, as Tiga's "Woke" took the top spot in my top 100 countdown here.

Best Dance/Electronic Album
Who should win: Mura Masa X
Write-in nomination: First Opus - Sinjin Hawke

I struggled with the picks here. The Grammys have been all over the place with their list of winners in this albeit short lived category. In the last three years alone the winners have been Flume, Jack Ü and Aphex Twin. This had led me to feel like it's a bit of a toss up between Bonobo and Kraftwerk. I ultimately ended up with Bonobo, because I heard so much about him and his album, certainly more than Kraftwerk. That being said I could see Mura Masa taking home the hardware, and am rooting for him, as it was on my podium for best album of 2017. Once again my write-in is more than obvious, with my love for First Opus being well known at this point, as it took the top spot in that aforementioned podium.

Best Remixed Recording
Who should win: Four Tet X
Write-in nomination: Busy P ft. Mayer Hawthorne - Genie (Joe Goddard)

 Again I found myself struggling with this one. Trying to understand the Grammys, and more specifically the voters', direction and perspective proves incredibly difficult. Looking back at previous winners shines very little light as was the case with each of the above categories. 2012 and '13 were Skrillex's years and as mentioned in the nominations post, we're without perennial contenders RAC and Kaskade. While I could truly see this going to any of the nominees, I landed on Louie Vega in large part due to his widespread name recognition. That's not to discount the quality of his remix, which I do indeed groove to, I just think that with such a diverse category (despite all bordering on house), it could be something as simple as name recognition that puts him over the top. My personal favourite from this list is Four Tet, which I will be cheering for alongside fellow Canucks, Adventure Club. Finally, my write-in not only speaks to its runner up position in my top 100, but also fits into the Grammys' direction as Joe Goddard earned a nod in this category last year.

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That's it for me for now, I may fill out a full predictions sheet later (which I'll post here), but there's so many categories that I just couldn't care less about. And speaking of not caring, I'm afraid these awards will likely not be included in the main televised broadcast, but occur earlier in the day. I'll do my best to live tweet those, so follow me @OggieJames and also note that when it comes to the main televised show I'll be watching late via PVR so that I can skip the parts I don't care for. Anyway, enjoy the show Sunday starting at 7:30 with CBS' second best late night host, James Corden.
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