Grammy Awards Superlatives!

(swiped from Pitchfork Media)

The Grammy Awards made an effort to get younger, hipper and more relevant this year by nominating people like Lil Wayne, Radiohead, and M.I.A. in major categories. But, in the end, the same voters who always seem to go for what's old, respected, and safe triumphed by awarding Robert Plant and Alison Krauss' (admittedly not bad) duets project both Record of the Year and Album of the Year along with three other trophies, making them the night's biggest winners. Behind them was Wayne with four wins including Best Rap Album and Best Rap Song for "Lollipop". Coldplay took three golden gramophones home, including Song of the Year for "Viva La Vida" and Best Rock Album.

Other Pitchfork-friendly acts who accumulated some hardware last night: Radiohead won for Best Alternative Music Album and Best Boxed or Special Limited Edition Package for In Rainbows-- and anyone who owns the hardcover double-vinyl Rainbows set knows the award was well-deserved. (Though Trent Reznor, whose Ghosts set was up for the same award, disagreed.) Daft Punk were also two-time winners, taking Best Dance/Electronic Album for their live record Alive 2007, and Best Dance Recording for "Harder Better Faster Stronger" off the same album. (All that Kanye love couldn't have hurt).

Speaking of Mr. West, the sometime Grammy brat was involved in two award-winning tracks-- Estelle's "American Boy" (Best Rap/Sung Collaboration) and his collaboration with Jay-Z, Lil Wayne, and T.I., "Swagga Like Us" (Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group). Justice nabbed Best Remixed Recording, Non-Classical for their reworking of MGMT's "Electric Feel", Weezer took Best Short Form Music Video for their viral-ready "Pork and Beans" clip, Bruce Springsteen made the Best Rock Song-- "Girls in Their Summer Clothes"-- according to the Recording Academy, and They Might Be Giants beat out all others to win Best Musical Album for Children.

Check out a list of all the nominations and winners here.

M.I.A. may have lost her Record of the Year bid, but the very pregnant pop rebel (she's due any minute now) did take part in the night's undoubted highlight, a black-tie take on "Swagga Like Us" along with Kanye, Wayne, Jay, and T.I. And it's not like she tried to hide her bump, either-- her polka-dot bikini/mesh outfit left little to the imagination. It was easily the most fearless performance of the entire night.

A few Pitchfork staffers kept tabs on the proceedings via the Pitchfork Twitter, while ?uestlove's and Diplo's takes from inside the belly of the beast are essential reading.

There were other highlights, too. Ladies and gentlemen, your Grammy Superlatives:

Best Pete Wentz Tribute: Bono and his guyliner
Best Smile: The Rock
Best Tinsel-Based Shoulder Adornment: Chris Martin

Most Likely to Be High on Three Too Many Painkillers: Whitney Houston (runner-up: Travis Barker)
Best Neil Diamond Impersonator: Neil Diamond

Best Mick Jagger-With-An-Itch Impression (Or Muppet impression): Thom Yorke
Best Nomination Cutaway: Faux-water-breaking M.I.A.
Most Likely to Be a Cyborg Who's Hiding Crucial Machinery Under His Hat: Kenny Chesney

Most Likely to Be a "Close Talker": Kevin Jonas
Most Likely to Be Watching the Grammys from Home in Two Years (Please?): Miley Cyrus
Best So-Called Bling: Joe Jonas

Most Likely to Be Checking Wikipedia to See If He Is Indeed Still Alive: Ringo Starr
Most Likely to Be Long-Lost Brothers: T-Pain and will.i.am
Best Guitar Solo: Carrie Underwood's badass blonde bombshell axe slinger (apologies to B.B. King and Buddy Guy)

Video: Various Artists: Various Songs from the 51st Annual Grammy Awards

Video: Radiohead / M.I.A., Kanye West, Lil Wayne, Jay-Z, and T.I. / U2 / Estelle and Kanye West / Coldplay [ft. Jay-Z] @ The Grammys

Radiohead With the USC Marching Band: "15 Step"


M.I.A., Kanye West, Lil Wayne, Jay-Z, T.I.: "Swagger Like Us"


Estelle and Kanye West: "American Boy"


Coldplay [ft. Jay-Z]: "Lost" / "Viva la Vida"

Al Green, Justin Timberlake, Boyz II Men, and Keith Urban: "Let's Stay Together"

Video: M.I.A. Interview (Part 2 of 2)

Video: Pitchfork.TV's interview with M.I.A.

Part 1:



Part 2 to be posted when it comes up.

Timbaland On Producing Jay-Z's Next LP: 'It'll Be A Monster'

Super-producer calls recently completed project with Chris Cornell his 'best work' ever.

(Swiped from MTVNews)

Jay-Z has at least one super-producer onboard for his next LP, and according to said super-producer, that's all Hova needs.

"He wants me to do the whole thing this time around," Timbaland said Monday during a visit to the MTV News office. "I'mma make it a classic too. You better believe it. It'll be a monster! I always say this: You get a first single from me, I'mma get you up to gold. And it's hard to get you up to gold in this day [and age]."

Tim insisted that an LP featuring him and Jay would sell more than the 500,000 copies needed for a gold record, as they're both international platinum artists.

"Jay should never chill," he said about the rapper's decision to return to music full time. "We had a long talk, and I really talked to him. Jay-Z does it for the love. That's different. When somebody does it for the love, you don't stop. He has everything, but he's still current. A million people are buying his album regardless.

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"We wanna go to the world," he added. "The world is 'Big Pimpin'.' 'Big Pimpin' ' is an international hit, so we wanna do 10 of those. Meaning, some of the songs gonna sound like M.I.A. would rap on some of the beats. You gonna be like, 'Whoa!' But it's Jay on 'em. That means it reaches everywhere. I'mma have songs with bagpipes. The music is gonna be so worldwide, he'll be able to tour the rest of his life, maybe, off just this one album. The Jay-Z album is gonna be phenomenal. You know why? We don't care. We're doing great music just to do it. We doing it for our fans who love us to say we ain't quit. I'm doing it 'cause that's my homeboy."

Timbaland and Jay don't have a start date for the production of the LP, but Timbo would like to lock in several months with Hov to craft the project. The Virginia producer recently completed an album with another iconic performer, Chris Cornell. Those two spent six months making music, and Timbaland did all the beats for that one as well.

"It's the best work I've done so far," he said. "I could be like, 'Wow. I really took it there.' "

That's obviously speaking volumes for someone who's made so many classics throughout his career, including Justin Timberlake's FutureSex/LoveSounds.

"It beats Justin's album," Tim smiled. "Justin even said that. He listened to it and said, 'You did it again.' " As for when Timbo and Timberlake will hook up again to chef up more magic, that is still up in the air.

"Justin is more into movies right now," Tim said. "He ain't thinking about another album coming out right now until ... I don't know."

Anyone in the singles market?

So, it recently came to my attention that two women have advocated themselves in a recent breakup, and a husband search.

First, a breakup many will be excited about; even though I think this person is very nice and so is her filmmaker husband as well:

That's right! Jenna Fischer, fresh off the hotness that is The Office, has just recently announced on her and her ex-husband's myspace page that they have officially separated. I'm sure they were in good spirits and wish them all the best. At the same time, ain't Jenna Fischer fine? Either way, go wish her and the ex the best of wishes, and who knows? Maybe you can get lucky? Don't even act like y'all don't be pimpin' on myspace either.

A second opportunity presented itself when I stumbled upon a Pitchfork interview:


M.I.A, who just released a stellar fuckin' album called "Kala," has cited in a interview with Pitchfork that she is in need to extend her visa for a year. So she asked the kind interviewer at Pitchfork that she needs a husband, so she can do some heavy touring in the states. Think you can hang? Go to M.I.A.'s MySpace page and make your thoughts known.

Hey, worth a shot right?

Short Album Reviews, in case you were wondering...

Swizz Beatz drops his 2nd album, "One Man Band" fueled by the hit "It's Me Bitches." On the plus side the CD is short and to the point, clocking in at a mere 40 minutes. His signature synth production is all over it, but we do see him get into bouts of sampling. For example, he quotes the chorus for the Wu-Tang Clan's "Cream" in "It's Me Bitches." However, we know Swizz ain't that much a rapper, he just has a knack for making a hit, and thankfully that's why this CD is pretty short and sweet.

M.I.A. returns with her 2nd album "Kala," which is largely void of producer Diplo, who plays more an A & R role for this release. This CD was largely produced by M.I.A. herself and Switch, until Timbaland chimes in on the very last track. Some of the stuff to look for on this CD is the song "Boyz" which has a very wonderfully shot video, the somewhat African tinged groove of "Hussel," featuring Afrikan Boy, and also the rooster cluck meets bagpipe filled sounds of "BirdFlu." You can't really box this CD in as one type of genre, and that's where this CD succeeds in. It's just good all around party jams tinged with lightly laden political and social stances.

Talib Kweli returns with his 3rd release, "Eardrum," which is laden with production from Madlib, Pete Rock, and several others. Fueled by "Listen!!!" other guests make appearances on there like Norah Jones, Kanye West, Roy Ayers, Justin Timberlake ("The Nature Of Things), KRS-One ("The Perfect Beat"). The change this go round finds Kweli doing a lot better than his last album, the short but haphazard album "The Beautiful Struggle." At 20 tracks clocking in around 60+ minutes, its a great whirlwind of lyricism and creativity. He will be performing a CD Release show on Friday at the Electric Fetus in Minneapolis, Minnesota. And on Saturday after Rock the Bells, he'll be doing a DJ and guest appearance at Foundation Nightclub.