Here are the nominees for the dance/electronic categories:
Best Dance Recording
Goldfrapp - "Rocket"
La Roux - "In for the Kill"
Lady Gaga - "Dance in the Dark"
Rihanna - "Only Girl (In the World)"
Robyn - "Dancing On My Own"
Because of the nature of the Grammy nominations and selections, when a dance category is absent of anything that is totally off the wall or inappropriate, I consider it a good year. Looking at Best Dance Recording, the nominees are all major label artists with international stories who achieved at least some modicum of commercial success this year. The shocking absence of strong releases from indie labels like Nervous, Ultra and Robbins stands out like a sore thumb (deadmau5, Edward Maya and Armin van Buuren come immediately to mind.) Also missing is "I Like That" by Static Revenger and Richard Vission featuring Luciana and "Happiness" by Alexis Jordan, but that might be a bit nitpicky. Looking at what made it, it's surprising that "In for the Kill" was selected as the single for La Roux since it was commercially released in April 2009 (outside the elgibility deadline) and "Bulletproof" was the runaway hit that crossed them over and critically acclaimed. "Dance in the Dark" is another surprising choice as it really wasn't a single that made any impact - I guess having the word "dance" in the title qualifies it as "Best Dance Recording." Some will argue that the Rihanna record is a pop record and not a dance record, but the original version is house tempo and received club play before it was remixed. While I would love to see Robyn win this award, I won't be disappointed when Rihanna wins it (logic is that the three Cherrytree artists will split the Interscope mass vote canceling them out.)
Best Electronic/Dance Album
BT - These Hopeful Machines
The Chemical Brothers - Further
Goldfrapp - Headfirst
Groove Armada - Black Light
La Roux - La Roux
Five solid albums by five solid electronic music artists. Not much to say here, except that deadmau5' For Lack of A Better Name, Kylie Minogue's Aphrodite, and Scissor Sisters' Night Work belong here as well. Otherwise, the nominations are well deserved.
Best Remixed Recording, Non-Classical
Nadia Ali - "Fantasy" (Morgan Page Remix)
Andy Caldwell featuring Gram'ma Funk - "Funk Nasty" (Wolfgang Gartner Remix Edit)
Sergio Mendes - "Orpheus (Quiet Carnival)" (Funk Generation Mix - Mike Rizzo)
Madonna - "Revolver" (David Guetta One Love Club Remix)
The Temper Trap - "Sweet Disposition" (Axwell & Dirty South Remix)
Here's where the real fun starts as the Remixed Recording category is always a headscratcher. First the obvious, the Andy Caldwell record was commercially released in September 2008 and the Temper Trap record was released in July 2009. Per wikipedia (since I can't find it on grammy.com), "the eligibility period for the 2011 Grammy Awards is September 1, 2009 to September 30, 2010." With that said, we got a motley and almost random selection of nominees. Morgan Page had a big year with an album release and several strong productions. While his remix of "Fantasy" didn't cause much fanfare in club land, Nadia Ali is beloved for her distinctive voice and the remix was quite good. I am quite excited that Wolfgang Gartner got a much deserved nomination as he does incredibly solid productions, the choice of this 2008 release seems quite random. Filling the slot for commercial remixer on an obscure record (last year filled by Dave Aude,) there is Mike Rizzo on the Sergio Mendes record which seems to have received the nomination because of industry love for the legendary artist rather than any resemblance to relevance in the electronic music world. Is it possible to have a year of dance grammy noms without at least one Madonna? Maybe that's harsh, but David Guetta definitely deserves the nom for transforming what is arguably Madonna's worst ever single into something dancefloor worthy. The Axwell & Dirty South remix of Temper Trap is definitely legitimate as it did break through this year - the release date eligibilty is my only question. As this is a year that saw a lot of major r&b and hip hop artists make their way onto the dancefloor, its odd that none were represented here - maybe something like the Almighty remix of Usher's "OMG"? Seeing as this category can be voted on by everyone, this is probably a toss up to the most recognizable names - being Sergio Mendes and Madonna.
