The nominees for the Grammy Awards were announced today and, though it’s not nearly as much fun as the PLUG ballot, here are my picks for select categories.

Before we delve into the meager amount of picks I made, I’d like to take note of a few things:

• The sheer number of categories is astounding. I can’t even begin to go through the entire list of nominees.
• Related to the first note, I didn’t really need to go through all the awards and nominees because a lot of them were sheer crap – both the award and the nominees.
• I am completely out of touch with the vast majority of the Grammy voters who came up with these nominations.

On to the awards I gave a crap about!

• Record Of The Year: Gnarls Barkley – Crazy
  The best possible choice for the category but I’d be happy as long as it doesn’t go to James Blunt for You’re Beautiful.
• Album Of The Year: Gnarls Barkley – St. Elsewhere
  I was also tempted to go for Justin Timberlake’s newest album but I’ve been listening to Gnarls’ album longer and it’s still a pleasure to listen to – there’s something to be said about longevity.
• Best New Artist: Corinne Bailey Rae
  She’s got one hell of a voice. Sadly, I believe she has no chance to win when up against James Blunt.
• Best Alternative Music Album : Yeah Yeah Yeahs – Show Your Bones
  Less screeching, more singing. Better album.

It’s time to cast your ballot in the annual PLUG Independent Music Awards – you can’t gripe about who won or lost if you weren’t even in the game to begin with.

Every year, the line separating indie music and mainstream music blur even more. It’s through no fault of indie music itself but a result of the sheer proliferation of the Internet – MySpace, MP3 blogs, musicblogs – and a growing number of film and television directors/writers/producers who are more aware of the vast amount of quality tunes outside of the mainstream. Until the the Grammys or the AMAs start sharing nominees with PLUG, I think the line will still exist, as blurry as it may get.

What follows below are the selections and some thoughts from the categories I voted in – some of these categories just don’t apply to my musical tastes or did not contain enough nominees I’d be able to choose from.

Music Categories (General)

• Album of the Year: The Hold Steady – Boys And Girls In America (Vagrant)
  Arguments could certainly be made for Band of Horses, Neko Case, Cat Power, and Beirut but, from start to finish, they have crafted one of the best albums in years.
• New Artist of the Year: Cold War Kids
  A toss-up between them and Beirut but on the strength of the three concerts of theirs I’ve attended, they get the nod.
• Female Artist of the Year: Chan Marshall
  This was one of the hardest choices for me – at one point I had Neko Case, then Chan, then Neko again. Ultimately, Chan’s selection was based not so much on her album – which was phenomenal – but rather her newly found comfort on stage.
• Male Artist of the Year: Beirut
  The man put out so much energy during his most recent tour that he had to cancel the backend of it.
• Indie Rock Album of the Year: Band of Horses – Everything All The Time (Sub Pop)
  Because The Hold Steady can’t win every award? Really though, this is a great debut and shows a lot of promise for things to come.
• Americana Album of the Year: Neko Case – Fox Confessor Brings The Flood (Anti-)
  Three horse race between Neko, Jenny Lewis, and Band of Horses but Neko’s voice and lyrics put her on top.

Music Categories (Obsessive)

• Artist of the Year: The Hold Steady
  They put out the best album of the year and their live shows are among the best there are. No debate on this one for me.
• Live Act of the Year: The Hold Steady
  It’s starting to become a broken record so how about I give some props to CSS and Art Brut – they put on some good shows too! The Hold Steady still win this one.
• Song of the Year: Arctic Monkeys – “I Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor” (Domino)
  Bloggers began annointing these guys as the big thing for 2006 as early as last December. It clocks in at less than three minutes but it packs a lot of punch into a short amount of time.
• Album Art/Packaging of the Year Asobi Seksu – Citrus (Friendly Fire)
  With three different album cover designs for The Greatest, it’s tempting to vote for Cat Power. Asobi Seksu’s general sense of aesthetics make them the winners in my eyes.
• Live Music Venue of the Year: Bowery Ballroom, New York, NY
  It’s no secret that I love this place – just the perfect combination of size, sound systems, and sightlines.

My 25 favorite albums of 2005, presented in two parts. This, part 2, contains albums 10-1.

As stated before in the songs list – these are my favorite albums from 2005. While this list may share elements with other top lists out there, in no way am I declaring these to be the best albums since taste is subjective and my favorite albums can easily be someone else’s most-hated albums. After a lot of thinking and searching through iTunes, I’ve come up with a list of 25 albums that I’m happy to say are my favorite albums of the year.

		10. Bloc Party: Silent Alarm A stellar blend of rock, pop, dance, and punk – a fine debut from the British band.
		9. Sleater-Kinney: The Woods A change in producer leads to the Portland princesses’ most rocking-est album.
		8. Imogen Heap: Speak For Yourself On a whole, the album is uneven but it earns this lofty spot on the strength of Hide and Seek alone.
		7. Broken Social Scene: Broken Social Scene Yes, it’s not as good as You Forgot It in People. Yes, it suffers from a lack of cohesion. Still, the album’s highs seriously outweighs its lows.
		6. M.I.A.: Arular The Sri Lankan rapper puts out a debut album that seamlessly meshes dancehall, hip hop, and reggae.
		5. Franz Ferdinand: You Could Have It So Much Better More good stuff from the Scottish band – no sophomore slump for these guys.
		4. Clap Your Hands Say Yeah: Clap Your Hands Say Yeah This album is sheer fun.
		3. Stars: Set Yourself On Fire Torquil Campbell and Amy Millan make some beautiful music together.
		2. The New Pornographers: Twin Cinema Carl Newman’s superband continue put out their most cohesive and, arguably, their best album.
		1. Sufjan Stevens: Illinoise Is there any top list where this album isn’t number one? This is some of the best writing I’ve heard in an album in a very long time – emphasis on album as Stevens doesn’t take his foot off the gas for any track.

Previous Year-End Lists:
Favorite Albums of 2005, 25-11
Favorite Songs of 2005, 10-1
Favorite Songs of 2005, 25-11

My 25 favorite albums of 2005, presented in two parts. This, part 1, contains albums 25-11.

As stated before in the songs list – these are my favorite albums from 2005. While this list may share elements with other top lists out there, in no way am I declaring these to be the best albums since taste is subjective and my favorite albums can easily be someone else’s most-hated albums. After a lot of thinking and searching through iTunes, I’ve come up with a list of 25 albums that I’m happy to say are my favorite albums of the year.

		25. Fiona Apple: Extraordinary Machine (Jon Brion) While the album that was eventually released was good, the session she did with Jon Brion was even better. Find this version if you can.
		24. The Hold Steady: Separation Sunday Two albums in two years for the boys from Minnesota with still no drop in quality from lead singer Craig Finn and guitarist Tad Kubler’s days in Lifter Puller.
		23. Maximo Park: A Certain Trigger It starts out strong and fast, maintaining that pace, until “Acrobat” where it slows down and adopts a confessional nature. As a whole, it loses its appeal after a few listens but there are enough gems on the album to keep it in rotation.
		22. Kaiser Chiefs: Employment There’s a cheeky swagger that’s pervasive throughout the entire album. I personally enjoy that about their music but it’s not hard to see why it can be annoying for others.
		21. My Morning Jacket: Z The Kentucky band makes the leap, crafting their first truly great album.
		20. Susie Suh: Susie Suh A solid debut from the Korean-American singer-songwriter from California. It’s just a shame that the album was originally released with the trojan horse-carrying copy protection from Sony.
		19. Gorillaz: Demon Days Damon Albarn’s side project churns out another great album that keeps the Gorillaz story going.
		18. Spoon: Gimme Fiction One of the finest pop rock bands around put out a well-crafted effort.
		17. Metric: Live It Out With all the twists and turns, the best way to describe this album is “weird” – “good” would also do it.
		16. Sigur Ros: Takk The Iceland band continues to craft songs that are emotionally evocative and ethereal.
		15. The Boy Least Likely To: The Best Party Ever Nothing like a little British twee-pop to brighten your mood.
		14. Art Brut: Bang Bang Rock And Roll Lead singer Eddie Argos doesn’t really sing, choosing to use more of a spoken-word style in his songs. Does it really matter anyway? No, it doesn’t.
		13. The Go! Team: Thunder, Lightning, Strike Listening to this album evokes memories of Saturday morning cartoons.
		12. The Decemberists: Picaresque Colin Meloy’s amazing lyrics cements the album as their best to date.
		11. Wolf Parade: Apologies To The Queen Mary The band’s energy and enthusiasm just leap off each track on this brilliant rock album.

Previous Year-End Lists:
Favorite Songs of 2005, 10-1
Favorite Songs of 2005, 25-11

My 25 favorite songs of 2005, presented in two parts. This, part 2, contains songs 10-1.

I can’t stress this point enough – these are my favorite songs from 2005. In no way am I declaring these to be the best songs since taste is subjective and my favorite songs can easily be someone else’s most-hated songs (though I hope that’s not the case). After a lot of thinking and searching through iTunes, I’ve come up with a list of 25 songs that I’m happy to say are my favorite songs of the year.

		10. The Go! Team: Huddle Formation The title alone makes this one of my favorite songs. The upbeat introduction, the general campy 80s kitsch, and the playground chanting of the lyrics will put a smile on anyone’s face.
		9. Art Brut: Bad Weekend “Popular culture no longer applies to me.”
		8. The Boy Least Likely To: Be Gentle With Me The banjo and the xylophone make for a delightful – there’s no other way to describe it – combination.
		7. Franz Ferdinand: Do You Want To It’s an infectious, witty, cheeky song – Franz Ferdinand at its finest.
		6. M.I.A.: Bucky Done Gun It’s the trumpet fanfare that makes this song work for me.
		5. Metric: Monster Hospital The emphatic first 15 seconds – I won’t even try to make out the words – lead to a less than subtle song about government abuse of power. The point is emphasized in the chorus by making use of Bobby Fuller’s famous line “I fought the law”, substituting “war” for “law”.
		4. Stars: Your Ex-Lover Is Dead “When there’s nothing left to burn, you have to set yourself on fire.” That first line is followed by some great back and forth singing by Torquil Campbell and Amy Millan before they meld beautifully during the chorus. Great instrumental work adds to the weepy mood of the song.
		3. Kelly Clarkson: Since U Been Gone There’s always one breakout pop hit each year that manages to hook in fans of all genres and, this year, it was Kelly Clarkson’s monster hit. Borrowing from the Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ “Maps” for the bridge, this song is female power pop at its best.
		2. The New Pornographers: Use It After this song was released in advance of the full album, I found myself singing “use it toniiiiiigght” quite a few times.
		1. Imogen Heap: Hide and Seek This is just one of the most beautiful songs I have ever heard.

Previous Year-End Lists:
Favorite Songs of 2005, 25-11

My 25 favorite songs of 2005, presented in two parts. This, part 1, contains songs 25-11.

I can’t stress this point enough – these are my favorite songs from 2005. In no way am I declaring these to be the best songs since taste is subjective and my favorite songs can easily be someone else’s most-hated songs (though I hope that’s not the case). After a lot of thinking and searching through iTunes, I’ve come up with a list of 25 songs that I’m happy to say are my favorite songs of the year.

		25. Anna Nalick: Breathe (2 AM) It may seem like a typical pop song – and it really is – but Anna’s voice, filled with sighs and airiness, elevates it above the average pop song. It’s the song you listen to when you need a pick me up.
		24. Coldplay: Fix You Yes, it’s a pale imitation of the monster ballad “In My Place” from A Rush of Blood to the Head but Chris Martin’s emotion makes it work.
		23. LCD Soundsystem: Daft Punk Is Playing At My House A danceable song about Daft Punk playing at “my house,” with the furniture confined to the garage, no less – what could be better? How about a cowbell solo? Yeah, I thought that would do it.
		22. Wolf Parade: This Heart’s On Fire A solid synth track drives this song until a pulse-pounding drum beat takes over a third of the way in. Dan Boeckner repeated tortured utterings of “this heart’s on fire” form an honest raw emotion that builds to a triumphant finish.
		21. Gorillaz: DARE Funny story about this song – it was originally titled “It’s There” but Shaun Ryder’s thick accent forced a change in title. Whatever it’s called, this is a rollicking fun blend of rock and hip-hop. Just try listening to this song without wanting to yell out “It’s DARE!” – you might be able to stop yourself but why would you want to?
		20. OK Go: A Million Ways Just watch the video and you’ll see why this song is on the list.
		19. Maximo Park: Apply Some Pressure An excellent post-punk song about relationship – as well as general – anxiety with enough stop-start riffs to drive you nuts. Basically, it’s Maximo Park in a nutshell.
		18. The Decemberists: On The Bus Mall Quite possibly, the best – certainly, the most profound – song Colin Meloy has ever written.
		17. Hot Hot Heat: Running Out Of Time There’s a great guitar riff that plays in the background thoughout the entire length of the song.
		16. Spoon: I Turn My Camera On There’s a certain swagger to this song, with the “woos” and “oohs” punctuating the end of several lines. Combine that with a persistent beat from the drums and bass and you get one of the best songs Spoon has ever come up with.
		15. Kaiser Chiefs: I Predict A Riot A song about a rowdy night out – finally something comes along to succeed Franz Ferdinand’s “Take Me Out” as the drunk frat boys’ night out anthem.
		14. Rilo Kiley: I Never Jenny Lewis’ voice just soars on this song.
		13. Bloc Party: Blue Light It’s not their most ambitious song but it’s certainly their prettiest.
		12. Broken Social Scene: Ibi Dreams of Pavement (A Better Day) From the faint instrumental stirrings at the beginning to the knockout brass section to finish it off, it’s a tight display of the expansive talent at Broken Social Scene’s disposal.
		11. Clap Your Hands Say Yeah: The Skin of My Yellow Country Teeth Solid lyrics backed up by an even better instrumental track – just listen to the first minute which is devoid of any singing and you’ll get it.