Photo courtesy of The Grammys.

There are 109 categories of nomination for a Grammy this year. I gave them all a brief looking-over, and these are the few that sparked my interest and are therefore most relevant to MuuMuse:

• BRITNEY SPEARS GETS A NOMINATION FOR DANCE RECORD OF THE YEAR WITH “WOMANIZER”! Congrats, B! But there’s a catch–she’s battling MADONNA with “Celebration”! AND THEN IT GETS WORSE AGAIN…Lady Gaga‘s “Poker Face” and David Guetta‘s When Love Takes Over” featuring Kelly Rowland! Eep.

• Speaking of, Lady Gaga’s pulled in SIX nominations, including Record of the Year (“Poker Face”) and Album of the Year (The Fame). While Beyonce proves a worthy opponent with a score of nominations in all the same categories, it’s dark horse Taylor Swift that may pull away from the two pop titans after a wave of post-Kanye guilt washes over the Grammy committee. Muusers, pray for Godga and Beysus to shine through!

• Imogen Heap scores two nominations for Best Pop Instrumental Record (“The Fire”) and quite ironically, Best Engineered Album (despite Ellipse being one of the worst mastering jobs of 2009).

• Kathy Griffin gets another go for her run at winning a Grammy! Suckin’ It for the Holidays has scored a nomination for Best Comedy Album. Competition’s tight, though: She’s up against Stephen Colbert, Patton Oswalt and George Lopez.

• The Yeah Yeah Yeahs have been nominated for Best Alternative Album, though they face an equally up-hill battle: Depeche Mode, David Byrne & Brian Eno, Pheonix and Death Cab for Cutie meet them to the challenge.

• Liza Minnelli‘s Liza’s At The Palace got a nod for Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album! Bitches ain’t got shit on Liza with a Z.

• Kelly Clarkson and Pink are due to duel it out for Best Pop Vocal Album.

• Pet Shop Boys get a Best Electronic Album nomination with Yes! Yes! But they’re facing Lady Gaga! No!

Let’s face it, though: This is the Grammy Awards, an honor that hasn’t been relevant since The Bodyguard. In the end, all of the awards will probably end up going to the fucking Black Eyed Peas.

Photo by Pamela Littky, courtesy of the label.

I am, by no means, a rock music aficionado.

And by “rock,” I mean anything primarily driven by the sound of a guitar. As a friend of mine joked, let’s face it: If it doesn’t have an electronic hand-clap, I’m sort of at a loss.

That isn’t to say that I dislike anything that isn’t easily characterized by how squeaky the synthesizers sound. Take for instance, Tegan and Sara, a band that has always served as a strong exception in my music catalog. Be it their cutting, urgent lyricism or unbelievably catchy choruses, I’ve always had a soft spot for their indie-pop, alt-folk, whatever-you-want-to-call-it sort of sound.

On October 27, the Canadian duo will debut their sixth studio album, Sainthood. Produced by Death Cab For Cutie‘s Chris Walla, the man behind their 2007 release The Con, and Howard Redekopp, the man behind 2004′s So Jealous, the sisters sought to create a sound somewhere in between the two, as suggested by Tegan in an interview with MyMag: “I think the fan favorites in terms of records have been our last two. So we brought in the production teams from both and made a hybrid of sound.”

Photo by Pamela Littky, courtesy of the label.

According to the duo’s press release, the album was “inspired by emotional longing and the quiet actions we hope may be noticed by the objects of our affection. Sainthood is about obsession with romantic ideals.” As a result, the album feels more serious than past efforts. It’s heavier emotionally and musically, utilizing jagged stitches of electronica (as with lead track “Arrow”) and jolting guitar riffs (“Hell”) to characterize the darker themes of the album (at times perhaps even a bit too mired in production).

Still characterized by sharp, repetitive choruses and driving bass lines, Sainthood is purely the stuff of Tegan and Sara, if not a bit more open to experimentation and electronic indulgence: The punk-esque rawk of “Northshore” crashes in unexpectedly seven songs into the album, only to then be contrasted by the chilly, paced rhythm of “Night Watch!”, one of the two songs reportedly written about their parents.

Favorites include “The Ocean,” which tacks together a hastened drum beat with some of the album’s most poignant, breathless lyrics: “Stop crying to the ocean, stop crying over me, stop worrying over nothing, stop worrying over me…So, it’s been so long since you said, ‘Well, I know what I want, and what I want is right here with you.’” It’s affecting, in the same way Tegan and Sara songs always seem to be.

The piano-marked, perhaps even disco-inspired “Alligator” is likewise irresistible; a hypnotizing array of twinkling bells, high hats, and piano chords, and a hint of maraca (my bad–upon further review, that’s just the sound of the high hat!), while “The Cure” and “On Directing” offer nods to classic Tegan & Sara song construction and lyricism: “All I said to you, all I did for you seems so silly to me now,” Tegan fires off before breaking into a lush chant of “Oh, oh oh!” from just above the speakers.

Rounding out the effort is the album’s gorgeous rallying closer, “Someday,” which meshes an overwhelming display of self-assurance in the face of a break-up (“Might do something I’d be proud of someday, mark my words I’m going to be something someday”), resulting in a palpable sense of uncertainty about the future; perhaps even denial (“I don’t want to know that you don’t want me, I don’t want to know what you’d do without me, I don’t want to know what I’ll be without you, I don’t want to know, I don’t want to know.”)

The result–as with the album as a whole–is nothing short of an emotional triumph, standing strong with some of the finer releases of the year.

Tegan and Sara will be playing four special dates at the end of this month (click here to see the dates), as well as embarking on a massive Canadian and US tour for 2010. Click here to check out the announced Canadian dates.

Purchase more from Tegan & Sara on iTunes | MySpace | Official Website

You may know him as the mastermind behind the score of the Tony Award winning musical Spring Awakening. Or, perhaps his name strikes a chord because of his 1996 smash hit single, “Barely Breathing.” Either way, Duncan Sheik is heading back into the spotlight.

Whisper House is Sheik’s first release since 2006–a post-World War II themed tale of one lonely young boy’s melancholic ruminations, lighthouses, and ghostly encounters. As a result, the album’s contents are similarly morbid; a brooding collection of electronica-tinged indie rock mid-tempos and woeful sea shanties that–within the album’s best moments (“We’re Here To Tell You,” “How It Feels”)—plays like a convincing Death Cab For Cutie cover of The Decemberists.

Though the storyline cannot be fully digested by merely listening to the album alone, the vaguely morbid melodies and simple, swaying sounds of each track are nonetheless catchy and enjoyable in their own right. Guest vocalist Holly Brooks adds a touch of whispered innocence into many of the album’s tracks, adding a nice contrast to Sheik’s sung vocals.

However, the music isn’t the only feature worth mentioning here–the album also comes packaged in a gorgeous digipak tri-fold, featuring a water-logged insert doubling as a story book illustration of the album’s plot in the vein of Lemony Snicket‘s A Series of Unfortunate Events.

To celebrate Sheik’s latest, release, MuuMuse is giving away one free copy of Duncan Sheik’s new album, Whisper House!

All you’ve got to do is send an e-mail to muumuse@gmail.com with the subject line “Whisper House” for your chance to win!

Contest ends March 9. The winner will be selected randomly and e-mailed upon being chosen.