Most blogged artists: Phoenix, Yeasayer, Major Lazer

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On February 3, the most blogged artists according to The Hype Machine are French alternative rock band Phoenix, Brooklyn experimental rock band Yeasayer, and Baltimore indie duo Beach House. Other talked-about artists of the moment include Major Lazer, the British collaborative music project founded just a year ago.

Phoenix has been a music-blog staple for some time know, earning widespread recognition for the 2009 album Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix, which topped critics' "best of 2009" lists and earned a Grammy Award on January 31 for Best Alternative album. Bloggers are using the Grammy news as an opportunity to share MP3s of their favorite Phoenix tracks, plus remixes of the band by Delphic, Memory Tapes, and others.

Bloggers are also sharing Major Lazer and Elephant Man's cover of Beyoncé's "Halo," which won the singer one of six Grammy Awards. "Diplo of Major Lazer felt it should have gone to the ML version," says Pitchfork Magazine (pitchfork.com/forecast), "which he put up on his Twitter. The production is a grittier, more concise equivalent of the original, featuring Elephant Man turning in a throaty vocal performance that is surprisingly true toBeyonce's vocal line."

Major Lazer - DJ/producers Diplo and Switch - released its debut album, Guns Don't Kill People... Lazers Do, in late June 2009. On January 22, the duo announced plans to tour the US in March and April, beginning with an appearance at the Ultra Music Festival in Miami and ending at theCoachella Festival in Indio, California.

The 10 most blogged artists on The Hype Machine on February 3 at 10:00 AM GMT:

• Phoenix
• Yeasayer
• Beach House
• Major Lazer
• Four Tet
• Lali Puna
• The XX
• These New Puritans
• Caribou 
• JJ

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