Grammy Nominations Out; Problem Children Score Big

Being a temperamental, or downright self-destructive, artist seems to be no obstacle to racking up Grammy nominations. Kanye West, who likes to take the stage to voice his displeasure when he doesn't win, scored a total of 8 nominations for the 2008 Grammy Awards, while train wreck Amy Winehouse, who seems to see how many times and ways she can mess up her career and life, racked up 6 nominations.

I have to admit I haven't heard all of Amy Winehouse's much-praised album, “Back to Black.” The song rehab I found to be catchy upon first listening, but now I find it tiresome. I like the old-style soul sound of her CD (from what I've heard of it), but I'm not sure whether credit should go to Winehouse or to her producers and her outstanding backing band, the Dap-Kings (who are also the band for Sharon Jones, a journeywoman soul artist who gets about 5% of the attention the tattooed, drunk-and-disorderly Winehouse garners).

I'll need to look over the 2008 Grammy nominations in more detail before deciding how good a job the Grammy folks did in their picks. I was glad to see one of my favorite singers, Feist, nominated for Best New Artist (even though she came out with her third album in 2007), and to see the Albuquerque-born band The Shins nominated for Best Alternative Album.

Best CDs of 2007 ... It's That Time of Year Again

I've never really been into creating lists of the top 10 (or whatever) CDs of a given year, because any number you choose is going to be totally arbitrary. And with some years having an abundance of riches and others being pretty thin, the quality can vary widely from year to year.

So while I won't be picking a certain number of best CDs, I do offer my votes to a variety of online lists, so that the CDs I like best can be tallied in the totals. One of my favorite radio stations, New York City's WFUV (90.7 FM), lets you choose five CDs and three songs. So here's what I put down on my WFUV list, along with other favorites... keeping in mind that that the 10th CD I put on the list may be as good in my eyes as the number 5 CDs.

WFUV makes the task easier by providing a list of the CDs that game out in 2007, fallling into the station's broad category of Americana/folk/singer-songwriter category. And I have to note that although I'm a big music fan, there are many acclaimed CDs that come out each year that I just haven't heard enough of to consider them for a best-of list (or a worst-of list, for that matter).

Here's a list of some of my favorite CDs of 2007:
Arcade Fire, Neon Bible
Brandi Carlile, The Story
Bruce Springsteen, Magic
Feist, The Reminder
Jonatha Brooke, Careful What You Wish For
Kelly Willis, Translated from Love
Kim Richey, Chinese Boxes
KT Tunstall, Drastic Fantastic
New Pornographers, Challengers
Suzanne Vega, Beauty and Crime
The Donnas, Bitchin'

I'm sure I'll be adding to this list in the days to come as more CDs come to mind. What are your favorites?

And of course, I would be remiss if I didn't mention that in 2007, as in the previous two years, many of my musical discoveries were made through podcasts, from the CBC Radio 3 podcast to Morning Becomes Eclectic to the live concert downloads offered by All Songs Considered.