For Your Grammy Consideration
I launched Piffany because I wanted to stretch my writing and reporting muscles by breaking out of the comedy-centric coverage I created for myself with The Comic's Comic. On that note...my first Buttondown newsletter focuses on the Grammy Awards!
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First-round ballots went out this week to Recording Academy members, and due a week from this Friday, Oct. 20. Members can vote in up to 10 categories across up to three genres, plus the six overall biggies (Record Of The Year, Album Of The Year, Song Of The Year, Best New Artist, Producer Of The Year, Non-Classical and Songwriter Of The Year, Non-Classical).
We'll find out the nominees Nov. 10. But who deserves attention and recognition from the Grammys this year?
By this year, we mean the Grammy eligibility year, which for the 2024 Grammy Awards, runs from Oct. 1, 2022, through Sept. 15, 2023. I've been actively listening to new music throughout this period, and I now come to you with the albums that have delighted me most. Note: If you don't see your favorite artist here, that doesn't necessarily mean you have bad taste in music, or that I do, either, but more likely I loved one or two songs off the album and felt meh or mid or whatever the next three-letter-slang-term for just ok is about the full album. If you want to see a wider selection of those tunes, do I have just the playlist for you!
And yes, I'm mostly using Spotify links for this newsletter just because it's the easiest way I know right now, although I also listen to tunes through my paid Apple Music subscription, or via Amazon Music on my Alexa device (where I also have plenty of vinyl purchases thanks to Amazon's Auto-Rip perks). I did also discover more than a few of these artists through Spotify's New Music Friday or All New Indie playlists, so there's them to thank for that. We can get into the broader issue of where and how we listen to music at another time and place. This time and place is just for celebrating the past Grammy calendar year in music, so let's get to it!
OCTOBER 2022
Alvvays, Blue Rev. Canadian indie power pop with grungy chords. Bring it.
Noah Kahan, Stick Season. Would you have guessed he's from Vermont if I hadn't told you just now? Kahan will remind you of a half-dozen other singer-songwriters or bands, but this is most definitely his season.
NOVEMBER 2022
Phoenix, Alpha Zulu. If you loved Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix, then you'll love Alpha Zulu. Bravo!
Spoon, Lucifer on the Sofa. These rockers have repped Austin since long before that city stopped being weird in a good way, and even though Austin is now weird in a bad way, Spoon came through with one of their most solid efforts ever.
Sault, 11. Sault prefers to remain mysterious and enigmatic, and somehow released five new albums all at once last fall. At first, I really dug into Earth. But the more I listened, the more I turned it up to 11.
Weyes Blood, And in the Darkness Hearts Aglow. I don't know where I first heard Weyes Blood although I want to say it was one of the music newsletters I subscribe to that tipped me off to her. She's captivating and ethereal and you get the idea, right?
DECEMBER 2022
I know many of you went crazy for SZA's "SOS," but for me, I found myself spinning Little Simz just a little bit more.
Little Simz, No Thank You. Yes, please.
JANUARY 2023
The new year kicked off with new tunes from Ava Max, Belle & Sebastian, and of course Miley Cyrus brought and bought herself "Flowers."
The Arcs, Electrophonic Chronic, a side project from Dan Auerbach of The Black Keys, allows himself to go sideways a bit.
FEBRUARY 2023
Raye, My 21st Century Blues. So much more than blues. A cross-genre breakthrough from this young Brit.
Paramore, This Is Why. The pandemic allowed me to catch up on all the devoted music fan love for Hayley Williams and I slowly began to realize how many of their songs I knew and loved myself. Their new album slaps. They also just released a new remix album that might be just as if not even more compelling, somehow?
Tennis, Pollen. Another band I clued into thanks to listening to my favorite NYC radio station WFUV outta Fordham University. A husband-and-wife duo outta Denver. Pop with spiky flourish.
Caroline Polachek, Desire I Want to Turn Into You. Wow. Just wow. She won't need my help winning Grammy votes.
Inahler, Cuts & Bruises. Just a great young Irish rock band. Will they build themselves a Sphere on the Vegas Strip four decades from now? Will Vegas be habitable in 2063? That's a better question.
MARCH 2023
Boygenius, the record. Believe the hype. This trio is in fact a supergroup formed by singer-songwriters Julien Baker, Phoebe Bridgers, and Lucy Dacus.
APRIL 2023
Blondshell, Blondshell. AKA indie rocker Sabrina Teitelbaum. Your generation's Liz Phair?
Wednesday, Rat Saw God. Americana that somehow embraces all of American music, which means it might not fit in Americana?!?
Yaeji, With A Hammer. One of the more eclectic releases of the year is a joyous surprise.
Jesse Ware, That! Feels Good! Simply the most dance-happy-disc you'll hear this year.
Superviolet, Infinite Spring. Honestly, I only heard of this power pop guy just this fall thanks to my friend Christian Finnegan's newsletter New Music For Olds, so I'm only getting around to it now myself. What Finnegan wrote: "Ciolek is a legit power pop songwriter—the hooks are massive and the arrangements are interesting without feeling fussed over. "Blue Bower" is my favorite of the bunch, evoking both Jellyfish and Nonesuch-era XTC. Mighty praise, in my book."
MAY 2023
Sir Chloe, I Am the Dog. Dana Foote fronts this indie rock band from Vermont, but unlike Noah Kahan, you wouldn't likely peg Sir Chloe as a Green Mountain State product.
JUNE 2023
The Aces, I’ve Loved You for So Long. Guitarist Katie Henderson, bassist McKenna Petty, and sisters Alisa Ramirez (drums) and Cristal Ramirez (lead vocals and guitars) are from Provo. Provo! One of Fletch's favorite names. Who woulda thunk this pop band would emerge from Provo? I'm not questioning it.
The Revivalists, Pour It Out Into the Night. Loved this album and bought it immediately. Arcade Fire "without the baggage"? When I heard The Revivalists at ACL last weekend, I loved this band even more.
Purr, Who Is Afraid of Blue? I haven't studied enough music or art theory to know exactly what New Yorkers Eliza Barry Callahan and Jack Staffen are up to here, but I don't need to know much more than putting this record on and grooving out.
JULY 2023
Oscar Lang, Look Now. What if Harry Nilsson but now and British and look now and listen up.
AUGUST 2023
I spent most of the month watching comedy in Scotland, then returned home and to enough free time to catch up on tunes, only to find a slew of new releases all hitting at the end of the month.
Zach Bryan, Zach Bryan. Yep. Solid new voices in country music rising to the occasion. With tracks featuring Kacey Musgraves, The Lumineers, Sierra Ferrell, and The War and Treaty. I surrender!
Victoria Monet, Jaguar II. A little bit funk, a little bit soul, a little bit reggae, a lot of fun.
Morgan Wade, Psychopath. Rocking new country star in the making.
Charlotte Cardin, 99 Nights. Electro-pop. Cool.
Laufey, Bewitched. I get why people are hot for Laufey and her music. I'm not yet as under her spell as other critics, but I get it and want you to know I get it.
Sid Sriram, Sidharth. An Indian actor and singer works with Bon Iver, you're gonna get a wild mix.
Hiss Golden Messenger, Jump for Joy. A folk band from North Carolina that's been around for at least 15 years, earned Grammy nominations, and somehow I'm just hearing them. My loss. My loss no more.
Slow Pulp, Yard. From Madison now Chicago, this is short but sweet clocking in at a half-hour but finally makes me understand why a musical genre would be called shoegaze.
Buck Meek, Haunted Mountain. Guitarist from Big Thief, so proceed accordingly.
Slowdive, everything is alive. Moody. Goody.
SEPTEMBER 2023
Some of this past month's flurry of new releases to get under the Grammy eligibility wire might night a few more spins from me, but here's what I've got on rotation so far...
Jobi Riccio, Whiplash. Winning an award named after John Prine is going to get my attention, and it sure sounds like she deserves this attention.
Mitski, The Land Is Inhospitable And So Are We. I'm late to the Mitski bandwagon, so forgive me for loving this new record without fully appreciating her back catalog already?
Vagabon, Sorry I Haven’t Called. From Wiki to me to you: "Laetitia Tamko, better known by her stage name Vagabon, is a Cameroonian-American self-taught multi-instrumentalist, singer-songwriter and music producer based in New York City." Hit play and you just start moving your body. It's a good thing.
Haley Blais, Wisecrack. Hopefully you're as pleasantly surprised as I am at including so many Canadians on this list!
Ghost of Vroom, Ghost of Vroom 3. My friend Mike Doughty (long removed at this point from fronting Soul Coughing) has now released his third album of this project that can you call it a side project if there is no side? I should've probably just asked Mike before I typed this. But this album, this album be grooving.
Olivia Rodrigo, GUTS. Did you think I wasn't going to include her second smash album, released just in time to possibly clean up again in Grammy nominations? Please save some for the rest of the old kids out there, Olivia!
CRi, Miracles. A Canadian Tame Impala type? That might be a miracle, indeed.
Jalen Ngonda, Come Around and Love Me. You're really gonna start off sounding like you brought Marvin Gaye's DNA back to life? Alrighty then.
Teddy Swims, I've Tried Everything But Therapy (Part 1). Is it still blue-eyed soul if the guy wears shades so you don't see the color of his eyes? I guess there's "Some Things I'll Never Know."
Cleo Sol, Heaven. OK, so Cleo Sol sure sounds like one of the singers in Sault. But she's great on her own, too, even if perhaps she's not on her own if Sault is working on her album, too. I don't know how it all works. What I do know is she released a second album, Gold, at the end of September, that's even better than Heaven.
But I can't really embed Gold in a column about this year's Grammys, can I? Harrumph.
If you know a Grammy voter, let 'em know about these albums, or let me and em know about some albums you think I neglected to mention here!
And just know that Cleo Sol's Gold will strike Grammy gold come...checks notes...2025?!?!