Sarah Jaffe isn't the only local receiving national attention this year with year-end nods. In a not very surprising turn, hometown heroes Erykah Badu and Midlake have also received honors around the world.
Now, it may not be news that Erykah Badu is a critical magnet, but it's
still nevertheless very impressive how many lists she's appeared on this year. Her New Amerykah Part II: Return of the Ankh and that album's lead single, "Window Seat," has placed her near the top of multiple year end lists, including ones from MTV, New York Times, AOL, Stereogum, Prefix Magazine, Pitchfork, The Guardian and our friends over at Gorilla vs Bear. Oh, and The Baltimore Sun even gave her a nod for one of the best live shows in the nation -- kind of like us.
But
while Erykah received nods around the nation, Denton's Midlake was able
to find nods around the world with their British-influenced folk-rock.
Critics from The Guardian, Yahoo! and Spinner have placed The Courage of Others on their year-end lists. The UK-based music magazine Mojo went even further, placing that disc at No. 7 on on their year-end list and also placing the disc in which Midlake served as the backing band, John Grant's Queen of Denmark, at No. 1. Impressive stuff, especially when you also factor in the fact that The Independent called Midlake "this year's most intriguing Americana export."
All in all, not a bad selection of year-end nods for our local icons.
