Most blogged artists: Phoenix, Joanna Newsom, These New Puritans

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On February 2, the most blogged artist according to The Hype Machine is French alternative rock band Phoenix, whose Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix won a Grammy for Best Alternative Album on January 31. In second and third place are Baltimore indie duo Beach House and Brooklyn experimental rock band Yeasayer.

Music bloggers are also currently sharing the MP3 of Joanna Newsom's "81," from the singer/harpist's triple-CD album Have One On Me (due out February 23). Newsom's 2006 album Ys was a favorite with critics and made "best of the decade" lists in the US, the UK, Germany, and Spain. Music blog Kickin' the Peanuts (kickinthepeanuts.com) reviews, "the new track is absolutely lovely, a sparse & spare ditty w/ only her beautiful harp... & we're completely feeling it."

These New Puritans, another frequently blogged artist of the moment, is a British art rock band that recently released its second studio album Hidden in the UK (out March 2 in the US). The band recently released the song "Orion" as a single, and many bloggers are passing around the MP3. Prefix Magazine (www.prefixmag.com) writes, "These New Puritans' sophomore album, Hidden, takes the wiry post-punk of their debut and blows it up to epic sizes." The magazine calls "Orion" "a booming track that sounds like it was written with the final battle from Conan the Barbarian in mind."

The 10 most blogged artists on The Hype Machine on February 2 at 10:00 AM GMT:

• Phoenix 
• Beach House 
• Yeasayer 
• Lali Puna 
• Caribou 
• The XX
• Four Tet
• Joanna Newsom
• The Tallest Man On Earth
• These New Puritans

Launched in 2005, The Hype Machine aggregates information from more than 1,000 music blogs worldwide. Known for identifying up-and-coming artists, the site enables music fans to easily find out what music is hot in the blogosphere and to instantly hear and buy MP3s.

http://hypem.com