5 Grammy Nominees on Vinyl
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In case you haven’t heard, vinyl is back, baby! But that doesn’t mean you have to listen only to albums released during the original heyday of LPs. Artists like Taylor Swift and Arcade Fire are putting out their albums on vinyl, and fans need to own them. The following records have been nominated for Grammys, and listening to them on vinyl will help you understand why. Pick them up while they’re in the spotlight and root for your favorite come Grammy night!
1989, Taylor Swift
When they first listened to this album, fans may have been surprised to hear that Swift had ditched her perky, naive country vibe to enter the daunting world of pop music—but they definitely weren’t disappointed. The album, named for the year Swift was born, is both sweet and sassy, smart and fun—Swift proves herself a musical talent able to reinvent herself and create a piece of work bold enough to compete with the princes and princesses of pop. Swift bursts onto the scene with the opening song, “Welcome to New York,” about her own move to the Big Apple. In the energetic songs “Out of the Woods” and “Blank Space,” she pokes fun at her dating history. It’s clear from hit “Shake It Off” that she still sees herself as a bumbling outsider, rather than the force of nature she’s become.
Days Are Gone, Haim
Haim’s impressive debut album is stacked. It’s so stacked, in fact, it’s difficult to call out one track as the best. Each is different from the next, and each reveals influences from R&B to pop to soft rock. The honest and stripped-down track “The Wire” might end up being your new breakup anthem, and listening to the hooky “If I Could Change Your Mind” and “My Song 5” will send your brain on a dreamy retreat. You’ll fall for the light and catchy melodies, gutsy vocals, and smart lyrics. The band is a trio of sisters who have been playing music since they were practically babies. Their freshman effort makes us excited for their long career ahead.
Reflektor, Arcade Fire
Arcade Fire’s latest spine-tingling set of songs is their fourth album, here collected on two LPs. Its subject matter is dark and intense, its production quality is superb (thanks to the collaboration with former LCD Soundsystem frontman James Murphey), and it includes hints of Haitian rara music. The Suburbs, Arcade’s last album, delighted music fans in 2011 and won the Grammy for Album of the Year. Reflektor is bigger (physically and in scope), making it an essential part of any respectable vinyl collection.
St. Vincent, St. Vincent
This self-titled album is St. Vincent’s fourth studio effort, but in many ways it feels like her first. With bold melodies and intelligent lyrics, it’s bursting with songs that each have their own personality and edge and are fantastic enough to finally shoot Annie Clark into stardom. Everything here, from the hit single “Digital Witness” to “Rattlesnake” to “The Opposite of Birth” is heavy with an underlying sense of gloom, yet light enough that you want to get up and dance.
Ultraviolence, Lana Del Rey
This beautiful, bluesey album is a bit psychedelic. Listening to it, you feel you’ve been swept up in one of Del Rey’s dreams, or as if she’s singing you to sleep. But the collection of haunting songs is actually quite cohesive. Each track is a postcard about a doomed woman—”The Brooklyn Baby,” “The Sad Girl,” “The Other Woman.” The ending of these stories is never happy, but always piercing, and that’s what pulls it all together. The sound is as visual as it is audible, painting a vibrant, dramatic painting that Del Rey seems to reveal more and more of as the album continues.
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