Itty Bitty Mohawk: 2006 Grammy's Best Electronic/Dance Albums
You probably have some questions. Like, why the 2006 Grammys? That was (gulp) twenty years ago. Well, I learned something kinda interesting. In 2005, the Grammys introduced the “Best Dance/Electronic Album” category. The first set of nominations included the likes of The Crystal Method and The Prodigy, with the award going to Basement Jaxx’s Kish Kash. No offence to them (I don’t know who Basement Jaxx is), but the category would go on to be more impressive in its second year.
Five legends. LCD Soundsystem was the newcomer. Daft Punk, The Chemical Brothers, and Fatboy Slim are 90s legends. Finally, there was Kraftwerk, who basically invented the genre. All five entered the ring with their albums. I still find it crazy to see all of them coexisting. Having Kraftwerk and Daft Punk in one category is like if The Beatles were still together while Nirvana was dominating the music landscape. So with this, I’m going to go through and talk about each one, because I think it is such an interesting batch of albums.
Minimum-Maximum by Kraftwerk: For a band that is as innovative as Kraftwerk, this is actually the second time they would get nominated for a Grammy(the first being in 1982). Though, this is the most straightforward out of these records. It’s just a live album. A pretty good live album. It honestly serves as a good entry point into Kraftwerk’s discography since it bounces around from all their records. It’s a good encapsulation of thirty years of their legacy, offering remixes of their biggest moments. While it’s nothing completely fresh, I still enjoy the novelty of them sitting at the table with the ones they inspired. They didn’t win, but years later, The Grammys would award the group with the well deserved “Lifetime Achievement Award.”
Palookaville by Fatboy Slim: I like Fatboy Slim. This is the only one of these that I didn’t know anything about, though. But, I’ll be kinder than the critic reviews in saying this album is fine. Like, I think this is mostly nominated because of the name behind it. One of the things about this era is that Big Beat was on its last legs, and Fatboy Slim was one of the poster children for the genre. This record went more relaxed and polished, and despite being nominated, critics really didn’t care for this one. While I like some of the songs on here(Wonderful Night, El Bebe Masoquista, and North West Three), the whole piece isn’t really a memorable set of tracks. Even though it was underwhelming with critics and the charts, the Funk Soul Brother doesn’t take it too hard. In an interview with the Guardian, he said, “I was quite happy to take my foot off the gas for a bit.” At that point, it seems like he wasn’t invested in reinventing the wheel. He was putting on so many live shows and doing side-projects that he could shrug off everything having to do with this album.
Human After All by Daft Punk: Out of all of these, this is the most controversial. Yeah, while it’s nominated for an award, this is a “You love it or hate it album.” Even as a Daft Punk diehard who likes this record, it’s my least favorite out of their main four(I do know a few people who have it as their favorite). After the polished and transcendent Discovery, no one expected this record to be their next move. What they delivered was some minimalistic electronic garage metal literally made in six weeks. While there are a few classic tracks like Robot Rock and Technologic, it didn’t really do well critically. People straight up thought the robots were done for. They would then go on a legendary tour, drop a killer live album (that won a Grammy a few years later), and go on from there. But because of HAA’s rough production and repetitive song structures, the album sounded like they were just playing at some guy's house. Speaking of…
LCD Soundsystem(Self-Titled): HERE COMES A NEW CHALLENGER!!!! Well, at least new in 2005. After putting out songs like Losing My Edge, James Murphy released the first full-length album as LCD Soundsystem, fully pushing forward with the electro garage rock sound. While I love the album that actually won, this might be my favorite of the category. From Daft Punk Is Playing At My House and onward, Murphy’s attitude backed by punk and disco is so infectious. This might not be my favorite from the band, but it still feels very timeless. It’s a little bit of a shame that they’ve never won the category at all.
Push The Button by The Chemical Brothers[Winner!]: Along with Fatboy Slim, The Chemical Brothers were the other poster children of the Big Beat sound. Unlike him though, the bros came out pretty much unscathed as the genre faded away. With Push The Button, it was the fifth album on an insane winning streak of classics. Galvanize is the iconic track of the album(I hear it pop up all the time still), but there’s bangers like Believe, Hold Tight London, Giant, and plenty more. I think what makes everything better is how cohesive everything is, each song flowing into the next. I still think it holds up very well. It’s also very apparent that the Grammys love these guys like I do, because over the category’s history, they have more wins than anyone else.
This is going to sound a bit hypocritical since I just spent a whole article on the Grammys, but I don’t really care for the Grammys, or any award show for that matter. But, like I said earlier, I just find it fascinating that there was one year where these five major electronic titans were all running against each other. Especially because they were all in different parts of their careers. Also, I’ll find almost any excuse to celebrate and obsess over these five.