Blog: PopMatters

It's that classic biblical tale: little known DJ from suburban Michigan takes on soul god from Motown. And the winner is... In 2007, Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings nabbed it in a hard fought battle. Last year, Raphael Saadiq easily triumphed. And now, ladies and germs, I'm pleased to announce that this year's award for album that sounds most like '60s-era Smokey Robinson goes to a relatively unlikely source: one Mayer Hawthorne, a suburban Michigan DJ whose debut release, A Strange Arrangement, so closely resembles Robinson's early work that it could be easily mistaken for a...