Frequent Spins and the Grammy Nominees

I'm not necessarily a big fan of the Grammy awards, as they're basically mainstream music honors and most of the music I listen to would be considered outside of the mainstream. However, there usually are some crossover artists featured in my Frequent Spins posts, so I thought I'd highlight those who received Grammy nominations this year.

The first nomination on this list is quite a surprise, and definitely a big deal. That is, an indie artist, recording on an independent label, going up against the likes of Eminem, Lady Antebellum, Lady Gaga and Katy Perry for album of the year honors.

Album Of The Year
The Suburbs
Arcade Fire
Arcade Fire & Markus Dravs, producers; Arcade Fire, Mark Lawson & Craig Silvey, engineers/mixers; Mark Lawson, mastering engineer
[Merge Records]

Best Solo Rock Vocal Performance
"Angry World"
Neil Young
Track from: Le Noise
[Reprise]

Best Rock Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocals
"Ready To Start"
Arcade Fire
Track from: The Suburbs
[Merge Records / Sonovox]

Best Rock Song
"Angry World"
Neil Young, songwriter (Neil Young)
Track from: Le Noise
[Reprise; Publisher: Silver Fiddle Music]

Best Rock Album
Le Noise
Neil Young
[Reprise]

Best Alternative Music Album
The Suburbs
Arcade Fire
[Merge Records / Sonovox]

Infinite Arms
Band Of Horses
[Columbia Records/Brown/FatPossum]

Contra
Vampire Weekend
[XL Recordings]

Best Long Form Music Video
Rush: Beyond The Lighted Stage
Rush
Sam Dunn & Scot McFadyen, video directors; Sam Dunn & Scot McFadyen, video producers
[Zoe]

The latter actually had nothing to do with my Frequent Spins column, but I did write about the film here in my blog, so a mention seems appropriate.