Suds on Bleeker

The 55th Grammy Awards are taking place tomorrow, and while there likely will be an unfortunate dearth of good ol’ fashioned T&A (come on Grammys, what is your show without a little conspicuous Katy Perry cleavage?!), there will definitely be plenty of worthy musical talent vying for trophies.

Today, I’m going to take a look at four albums that I never got around to reviewing upon their release but are up for awards this year.  I mean, this is as good a time as any to evaluate these records’ merit, no?  And due to the Grammys’ nomination process, you may notice that some of these records actually came out way back in 2011, but that’s just how these awards shows roll.

So let’s get into it!

The Lumineers – The Lumineers (Best New Artist, Best Americana Album)

A lot of times, the Grammys’ Best New Artist award introduces a young artist or two to a wider audience who had never before heard of them.  Let’s be honest, before the 2011 show, who had ever heard of Esperanza Spalding?  This year, I can be sure that absolutely everybody, no matter how socially secluded they may be, has heard of The Lumineers.  This ragtag troupe exploded seemingly out of nowhere based on the inescapable, utterly infectious two minutes and forty-three seconds that make up “Ho Hey” – perhaps the most culturally ubiquitous song of 2012.  That ditty showed up everywhere – played nonstop on radio (some stations going so far as to regularly play it twice in a row) and soundtracking countless TV shows, movie trailers and commercials.  Most songs that get this kind of star treatment eventually lose most of their luster, becoming passe’ or seen as a commercial shill.  In extreme cases, it causes listeners who at first enjoyed the song to turn their back on it in over-saturated disgust.  Amazingly, I don’t think that’s happened yet with “Ho Hey,” and I sincerely hope it never does because as The Lumineers have proven on their debut record, they are the farthest thing from one-hit wonders.

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