Our Post-Grammy Must-Listens

As in Ecclesiastes, so with pop music: there’s nothing really new under the sun. At their best, song-makers ape each other shamelessly (and sometimes litigiously), whether that means chord sequences, beats, melodic figures or even lyrical hooks. Bob Dylan copped Woody Guthrie down to his flow-and-fingerpicking, John Mellencamp did a fairly good Dylan impression and ad infinitum it goes. Oscar Wilde laid it down with pith and vinegar: “Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery that mediocrity can pay to greatness.”

Then again, one is ever astonished how every season reveals yet another tiny twist in pop music’s often repetitive journey. Amy Winehouse was not just a great singer, but a knowing, postmodern nod to soul icons past; Kendrick Lamar’s melding of jazz textures