BEST ALTERNATIVE MUSIC ALBUM
The Car
ARCTIC MONKEYS
After venturing to space on the heady lunar concept album Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino, a nominee in this category in 2019, the English quartet returned to Earth on 2022’s The Car. But interstellar travel can change a band. A far cry from the brash rock with which they made their name, Arctic Monkeys’ seventh studio album builds on Tranquility Base’s comparatively sedate fusion of art-rock, lounge-pop and orchestral strings for another nuanced, cinematic gem that’s marked by the dark and brooding intensity of standouts like “Sculptures of Anything Goes.”
the record BOYGENIUS
When Phoebe Bridgers, Lucy Dacus and Julien Baker, three of indie-rock’s most exciting young voices, convened for a six-song EP in 2018, it seemed like a one-off. Then, each with another solo album under their belts (including Bridgers’ Punisher, nominated in this category in 2021), the trio regrouped for this outstanding set, a polished collection of folk- and emo-tinged rock that immediately stands among each respective member’s best work — partly because of the music at hand and partly because of the palpable camaraderie that permeates the album’s every note.
Did You Know That There’s a Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd
LANA DEL REY
The enigmatic musician embraced the songwriting technique of “automatic singing,” improvising over accompaniments in the moment and then refining the results later, for her ninth and most personal studio album. “At first, I was so uncomfortable,” she told Billboard in February. “Then, by the grace of God, I just felt completely unburdened.” But while the subject matter represents a departure for Del Rey, the music — much of it again created in tandem with longtime collaborator Jack Antonoff, along with a supporting cast including Father John Misty and Jon Batiste — is another substantial helping of her elegant, elegiac art-pop.
Cracker Island GORILLAZ
The alt-rock institution’s eighth studio album is a vibrant and eclectic summit of some of music’s leading minds, from Stevie Nicks to Bad Bunny to Tame Impala, who unite with Gorillaz mastermind Damon Albarn on the psychedelic and funky match-made-in-heaven highlight “New Gold.” It’s the type of guest list that could overshadow the material itself in the wrong hands, but Albarn and superproducer Greg Kurstin provide a sonic cohesion for the 10-song set. Should Gorillaz triumph, it’ll mark Albarn’s second Grammys win — and first in nearly two decades.
I Inside the Old Year Dying
PJ HARVEY
A five-time nominee in this category, the groundbreaking singer-songwriter continues to seek the first Grammy of her storied career. Inspired by Harvey’s 2022 epic poem, Orlam, a magical realist story set in England’s West Country and rendered in Dorset vernacular, I Inside the Old Year Dying is similarly experimental, a collection of knotty, heavily improvised pieces created with collaborators Flood and John Parish. The riveting result, laden with bass clarinet, trombone, field recordings and other unexpected sonic ingredients, immediately joins Harvey’s most memorable work — no small accomplishment for the prolific, creative musician.