Most blogged artists: Kanye West, Belle and Sebastian, The Drums

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Rapper Kanye West moves into first place as the most blogged artist according to The Hype Machine, September 23. Warpaint and The Radio Dept. are in second and third positions, while British band Belle and Sebastian and Brooklyn's The Drums enter the top ten.

Pop darlings Belle and Sebastian are back in the blogs after a reported leak of their upcoming album, Write About Love, set to be officially released on October 11 in most countries and October 12 in North America. "Unfortunately for the band [the album] leaked," writes JP's Blog (http://jpsblog.net). "What is most disappointing about the album is not the quality, the songwriting and instrumentation are still there, it's the fact that they haven't really progressed or tried anything drastic on the album." Pigeons and Planes (http://pigeonsandplanes.com) reviews: "This is going to be the perfect autumn album - thick socks and light sweater music."

Brooklyn band The Drums (now a threesome after the recent departure of guitarist Adam Kessler) was last in the blogs after releasing a cover of Arcade Fire's "We Used to Wait." Now the indie artists have a slew of downloads circulating on the web, including the new track "Down By the Water." "Some of their singles are simply other-worldly good, while others tend towards 'meh,'" writes music blogger YVYNVY (http://yvynyl.tumblr.com), adding that the new single "falls squarely in the former category" as "holy pop perfection."

The 10 most blogged artists on The Hype Machine on September 23 at 10:00am GMT:

Kanye West (+2)
Warpaint (unchanged)
The Radio Dept. (-2)
Twin Sister (+5)
The Fresh and Onlys (+2)
Chromeo (-2)
Blackbird Blackbird (-2)
The Drums (re-entry)
Belle and Sebastian (re-entry)
Deerhunter (unchanged)

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