The 54th Annual Grammy Awards are almost upon us! Hey, we'd love to help you with your office pools and living room side-bets with some sure-thing Vegas-ready odds. However, we always seem to be dead wrong (fucking Esperanza Spalding). So here are some completely arbitrary, critical decisions on who should win the nine biggest categories, just in case you want to know who we're rooting for on the SPIN couch. Everything You Need to Know About the 54th Grammy Awards Nominations Record of the Year Adele - "Rolling in the Deep" Bon Iver - "Holocene" Bruno Mars - "Grenade" Mumford & Sons - "The Cave" Katy Perry - "Firework" Who Should Win: Adele Why: This one goes to the producers, engineers, and performer for making the total pop package. Bon Iver and Mumford are a little to insular, Bruno and Katy a little too eager. Adele somehow lives right in between, both muted and bombastic, rockist-pleasing "authentic" and poptimist-pleasing immediate. It’s the "Heart Shaped Box" of a new generation. We had it all! Album of the Year Adele - 21 Foo Fighters - Wasting Light Lady Gaga - Born This Way Bruno Mars - Doo-Wops & Hooligans Rihanna - Loud Who Should Win: Lady Gaga Why: It did rank the highest of these five albums on our Top 50 Albums of 2011 list , and we can’t exactly give the award to Fucked Up, can we? Writes our own Mikael Wood: "Beneath the hair and makeup and arena-razing disco-metal grooves, Born This Way delivers a message that old glamazon Pete Seeger could dig: She thinks pop can still move policy, and she might be right." Song of the Year Kanye West - “All of the Lights” (songwriters: Kanye West, Jeff Bhasker, Really Doe, & Malik Yusef) Mumford & Sons - “The Cave” (songwriters: Ted Dwane, Ben Lovett, Marcus Mumford & Country Winston) Bruno Mars - “Grenade” (songwriters: Brody Brown, Claude Kelly, The Smeezingtons & Andrew Wyatt) Bon Iver - “Holocene” (songwriter: Justin Vernon) Adele - "Rolling in the Deep" (songwriters: Adele & Paul Epworth) Who Should Win: Adele Why: This one goes to the songwriter, and naturally we'd want to give it to the co-writer of our No. 1 single of 2011 , a blown-out blowback of relationship bluster and that high D that can drown out car alarms. Best New Artist The Band Perry Bon Iver J. Cole Nicki Minaj Skrillex Who Should Win: Skrillex Why: Before you Bon Iver fans tear us limb from limb in the comments section, let us clarify. Although we clearly love Bon Iver's extra-naked, sensitive, '80s AM gold take on folk rock, our guyliner-and-glasses pal is essentially helping reinvent a new musical language of bowel-busting bass and whirring industrial noise. Bon Iver's forbear Bruce Hornsby already won this very award in 1987, while an electronic artist has never taken one home. Let's hear it for drawing new blood. Best Rock Album Jeff Beck - Rock ‘n’ Roll Party (Honoring Les Paul) Foo Fighters - Wasting Light Kings of Leon - Come Around Sundown Red Hot Chili Peppers - I’m With You Wilco - The Whole Love Who Should Win: Foo Fighters Why: Because exactly one album on this list actually "rocks." Best R&B; Album ...

Once again, the networks will be broadcasting their typical New Year’s Eve fare—movie marathons, cooking show marathons and, of course, Times Square marathons (including the we’re-still-so-cool-we-can-leave-off-the-G Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve). But, thanks to PBS, there’s now a welcome option. For the first time in its 36-year history, Austin City Limits hosts a New Year’s Eve concert, with Coldplay being the one and only performers during the 90-minute special. The band gives its usual soaring and convincingly earnest performance with Chris Martin singing his little angst-filled heart out on songs like “Yellow ...

In anticipation of the annual year-end review, here is a collection of several favorite overlooked songs that were not included in last year's list . This is a recognition of some tracks released in 2010 that either got a raw deal last December or simply weren't discovered until after the calendar changed... Crystal Castles feat. Robert Smith "Not in Love" Crystal Castles has the habit of bringing in outside influence to create a masterpiece (see "Crimewave"). For their single release of Platinum Blonde's "Not in Love," they employed The Cure's Robert Smith to turn an adequate cover ...

L.A. native JoiStaRR (formerly back up singer to Kanye West) is back with another cover track. Earlier on this year she covered Coldplay's "Yellow". This time its a cover of OFWGKTA crooner Frank Ocean's "Thinking Bout You". JoiStaRR's vocals over this is, quite simply, beautiful. Since I first heard it, it has been on repeat. [...]

L.A. native JoiStaRR (formerly back up singer to Kanye West) is back with another cover track. Earlier on this year she covered Coldplay's "Yellow". This time its a cover of OFWGKTA crooner Frank Ocean's "Thinking Bout You". JoiStaRR's vocals over this is, quite simply, beautiful. Since I first heard it, it has been on repeat. [...]

It's going to be hard throwing a swanky awards bash in this economic climate. The temptation to be showy and flash must be avoided at all costs, while still keeping a sense of dignity. How are the Grammy organisers going with that? Oh, yes. That ugly wrist choker is the official Grammy "timepiece" (implying there's no Grammy cuckoo clock this year) and comes in at just $1,395. As ever, here's the full list of nominations; leap over to get to the chattery bit 1. Record Of The Year Rolling In The Deep Adele Paul Epworth, producer ...

Summary:  The leader of the pack for Grammy nominations this year goes to  Kanye West , who leads with a whopping seven Grammy nominations.  2012 Grammy Nomination Results (LIST) The nominations are in, and the music gods have spoken! The leader of the pack for Grammy nominations this year goes to Kanye West , who leads with a whopping seven Grammy nominations.  Our favorite UK singer Adele is hot on his tail with an astounding six nominations, along with Bruno Mars and the Foo Fighters , who also have six nods.  LIST: GlobalGrind's Grammy Picks! Other artists who racked up nominations this ...

The GRAMMY award nominations list has been revealed, and it's exactly what you'd expect, with Adele/Bon Iver/Kanye West all featuring heavily. The surprising thing about the list, apart from Mumford & Sons getting nominated for a couple of awards, is the lack of My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy on the Album Of The Year list. The full list can be seen here , though we've listed the main awards below. Album Of The Year 21 – Adele Wasting Light – Foo Fighters Born This Way – Lady Gaga Doo-Wops & Hooligans – Bruno Mars Loud – Rihanna Record Of The Year Rolling In ...

It’s hard to believe that twelve years ago (that’s right, twelve years ago) Coldplay’s breakthrough single ‘Yellow’ was released. Four albums and over fifty million album sales later, we have their fifth record Mylo Xyloto. The arrival of...

One of radio host Howard Stern’s best qualities is his ability to get the best out of the celebrities he interviews. This was the case yesterday when much maligned Coldplay front man Chris Martin stopped by the Sirius/XM studios for a chat with Howie. Whether you like Coldplay or not, you’ve got to appreciate some of the anecdotes Martin tells and some of the songs he played for the radio audience. Chris explains how we came up with Clocks and Yellow, talks about inter-band dynamics and sang a brief cover of Billie Jean. In the end one ...

So I was browsing the interwebs yesterday and came across this pretty sweet music blog called ' Tympanogram ' who are compiling a list of songs that they would take to a desert island. I thought this was an interesting idea and since for Thanksgiving I'll be driving from Washington, DC to New Mexico (long story) I'll need some killer tunes myself. I didn't feel like adding up the total number of minutes so I choose 365 songs that I really, really like. A lot. A few things about the mix. I tried to put them in groupings of ...

It's been a terribly busy month at the London Film Festival but we've managed to collect a few album and film reviews on the way. We've also been put forward in this year's Record Of The Day Awards longlist for Best Blog - your vote would be much appreciated to see if we can make it onto the shortlist. Vote away here and read our reviews below. ALBUM REVIEWS: Manic Street Preachers - 'National Treasures: The Complete Singles' // Emily Solan // 9.5 Matthew Herbert - 'One Pig' // Simon Opie // 9.0 Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin - 'Tape Club ...

Our brand new PropertyOfZack Playlist comes from The Noise Tour! We’re stoked to be featuring Mayday Parade, We Are The In Crowd, and Tomorrow">There For Tomorrow in this edition of the series. Check out the Playlists and listen to the songs while reading everyone’s thoughts! (Click on image to listen in Spotify) Let’s get to the bare essentials of what’s going on beneath all the titles & sub sub sub genres. Let’s eliminate what would possibly give you street cred or what may be expected of you with your music selection & we can get back to what actually makes music good. To me, even among the cess pool of genres & an endless array sub-genres for you & all your friends with glow sticks, there’s only 2 types of music; Good & Bad! That simple. The music that has an underlying sense of something that goes much deeper than recycled hooks or a perfected song formula is what I always easily gravitate to. I gathered the strangest collection of songs from all ends of the spectrum & all parts of the world for you all to taste. Yum!  - Maika Maile   (Click on image to listen in Spotify) Conditions - Make Them Remember The  Format - Snails When I listen to these songs I immediately find  the  brighter side of a situation. ”Make Them Remember” reminds me to stick up for myself and ”Snails” makes me pay attention to  the  smaller things  in  life and how big their impact can be. - Tay Jardine The  Starting Line - Island The  Starting Line has always been a special band for me. They’re a band that successfully matured along with their fans. It doesn’t matter how upset I am. All I need to do is listen to ”Island” and it feels like  the  first time I heard it, every time. There’s something special about records that bring that nostalgic feeling out of you, even when you feel like everything is going wrong. That’s why TSL will always be one of my favorite bands. It says something when you see them live and other bands that  are  killing it right now  are  side stage singing every word. You just really can’t put it into words.  - Jordan Eckes Parachute - You and Me Another band that I can listen to no matter how I’m feeling is Parachute. They’re an amazing band. They write amazing music and they’re going to be huge. ”You and Me” is really one of those songs that can cheer you up. It’s a great sing along song. What I love about this band is that they also have those sad songs you want to listen to when you’re upset.  We  all have that “go to band” when you’re  in  that situation. If you haven’t listened to Parachute yet I highly recommend checking them out.  - Jordan Eckes fun. -  We   Are  Young I’m a huge Format/fun. fan, I remember this single dropped when  we  were  in  Osaka, on our Japanese run with All Time Low… I found wifi as fast as I could and bought  the  single off iTunes. There  are  very few bands I get that excited about anymore. They write smart pop songs, and they consistently pen some of my favorite lyrics, no matter what mood they’re creating they find a way of sucking me  in . With that being said fun. is a go to for me, whether I’m high on life, or down on myself.  - Mike Ferri The  Weeknd -   The  Zone   *Song is currently not on Spotify I recently got into  The  Weeknd, and this track is one of my favorites.  The  Weeknd is one of  the  most consistent artists out right now. He creates an entire world with his music and you get  the opportunity to visit it when you throw on one of his records. This one  in  particular is a favorite of mine, due to  the  Drake cameo. I’m a big fan of hip hop, and  in  my opinion Drake is one of  the only mainstream artists that does it right. His verse on this song switches gears a little bit, without compromising  the  tone of  the  track as a whole.  - Mike Ferri Mae-  The  Fisherman Song Bayside- Dear Your Holiness  Both of these songs bring a nostalgic but different feeling to me. Whenever I listen to them I feel how I felt when I first heard them. It’s amazing how powerful music really is. Sometimes  the feeling  we  get has nothing to do with  the  actual lyrics, just  the  tone of a song can effect someones life. - Rob Chianelli Secret Lives of  the  Freemasons - Life Begins at 40oz. The  Story So Far - Quicksand Nobody wants to be a downer when they’re about to go out. So listen to these bands/songs to put a little skip  in  your step, and have a good time. Make mistakes responsibly. ;) - Cameron Hurley (Click on image to listen in Spotify) Foo Fighters - My Hero The feeling this song gives me is powerful. It makes me feel like I can ...

JARED EVAN puts together an amazing project with all original reproductions of some of music’s most classic songs including Andre 3000’s “Roses” and Coldplay’s “Yellow”. Some great tracks that were on the project were taken off but I’ll see if I can leak those to you Egoists ;) Download the project HERE . 01. Eleanor Rigby 02. Hurt 03. Once In A LIfetime 04. Yellow 05. Roses 06. Bulletproof 07. Ice Cream 08. The Man Who Sold the World 09. Pool Shark 10. Bohemian Rap City

Jared Evan puts his spin on 10 classic records from the likes of The Beatles, Nine Inch Nails, Coldplay, La Roux, Wu-Tang and more. Tracklist/download link after the jump. 01. Eleanor Rigby 02. Hurt 03. Once In A LIfetime 04. Yellow 05. Roses 06. Bulletproof 07. Ice Cream 08. The Man Who Sold the World 09. Pool Shark 10. Bohemian Rap City DOWNLOAD: Jared Evan [...]