EAR FARM checks in with the Elbo.ws top 10

This is EAR FARM's weekly moment to check in with music blog aggregator Elbo.ws to see what it is all of you guys are listening to and downloading. It's like, I'm checking this stuff out anyway so why not share (and open up) the process with (to) everyone. My comments here are off the top of my head and honest. Disagree with what I've said here? Have something to say? Say it!


Elbo.ws top 10 'hot' artists - 25 September 2006 @ 2:20pm EST

Ben Kweller - was in a band in the '90s called Radish and got far too much press at too young of an age for me to really take him seriously. Ever since I've ignored his music and figured Kweller to be nothing more than a product of hype. Yet, I know a lot of smart music lovers who listen to his stuff. Maybe I'll give his new record a chance? Probably not.

Listen:
"Run" (via Noise For Toaster)

The Postmarks - or, your new favorite blog band if you love Camera Obscura's album Let's Get Out of This Country. I think this song "Goodbye" is pretty great, but then I also think it sounds like a Burt Bacharach song as sung by Hope Sandoval and I love both of those musicians. Now there's a duo that should've gotten together to make a record...I guess it's too late and kinda pointless with The Postmarks set to release an album early next year.

Listen: "Goodbye" (via Musicisnotdead)

Tom Waits - I like the idea of Tom Waits (the bourbon/cigarette/school of hard knocks voice, the blues/jazz influenced style, the atypical path to music legend status) a lot more than I do the execution of his music. Just never find myself wanting to listen to Tom Waits songs. Oh well. Liked him a lot in Coffee and Cigarettes though.

Listen: "Bottom Of The World" (via Stereogum)

Bound Stems - From Chicago, no? That's nice to hear as I don't know of many up and comers from the windy city. I like the potential these guys exhibit and will be interested to see them here at Mercury Lounge in October. Any band that makes pop infused rock while mixing up time signatures is alright by me.

Listen: "Excellent News, Colonel" (via Central Village)

Sufjan Stevens - I can't talk about him anymore. Self imposed. Why? Because I've said too much already? No, because everyone else has. I ask again: does it degrade the value of their work for Woody Allen and Bob Dylan to put out sooo darn many new films and albums? I think so and I think the same is true of Sufjan.

Listen: "Sister Winter" (via Bows + Arrows)

TV on the Radio - Return to Cookie Mountain right now tops my list of best albums released in 2006. I'm not sure where it'll be by the end of this year but it's a record you should check out as soon as you get the chance.

Listen:
"Wolf Like Me" (via Thepunkguy)

Beck - Color me a blasphemer but I've never really liked Beck as much as the rest of you. Mellow Gold was pretty good, back like 50 years ago, but nothing else he's released really did much of anything for me except Sea Change. Problem with that record is that it's just not one you listen to over and over again. Supposedly that's just what all of his other records are good for but to me they're boringus maximus. Okay, maybe not "boring" but it's almost like, if you've heard one Beck song you've heard them all...kinda like with Stevie Wonder. Sure, these guys may be musical geniuses but what have they done for ME lately? We'll see if this new one he's got coming out soon changes my mind.

Listen: "Black Tambourine" (live) (via Berkeley Place)

Yo La Tengo - This is what it says when you try to search for anything relating to Yo La Tengo on Elbows: "Unfortunately, we've been notified that simply searching for posts about new Yo La Tengo album is a crime, so we've been forced to remove the links to the blogs that reviewed and praised the work of this artist." Fine. I won't talk about them then.

Listen: no listen - Yo La Tengo doesn't like you

My Brightest Diamond - Who the...? As much as I'd like to ask if this is some super-group comprised of My Morning Jacket, Bright Eyes, and Neil Diamond, I can't. I do know a tiny bit about this band so let's start there. It's a woman named Shara Worden who's got a hell of a voice and is signed to Asthmatic Kitty. That's all. The rest you'll have to figure out for yourself while I jam out to this Prince cover. Wait, I just listened to it. It's not that much more special than any other coffee shop version of this song you may have heard elsewhere excepting that Shara's voice soars through even the crappiest microphones.

Listen: "When Doves Cry" (via Muzzle Of Bees)

The Killers - Is it cool to like this band? I'm asking honestly, because I have no idea. They sound like they come from the same vapid emptiness which spawned artists such as Coldplay and The Bravery...wait, has anyone seen all three of these bands in the same place at the same time? All I know is that, even though I think they suck big toes, I kinda liked the song "All These Things I've Done" upon first listen. Even so, the new stuff I've heard by them reminds me of a mixture of Meatloaf and Mike + the Mechanics. In case you don't know, that's only appealing if you're a 45 year old balding dude who likes to cling to the past.

Listen: "When You Were Young" (Jacque Lu Cont's Thin White Duke Radio Edit Remix) (via My Old Kentucky Blog)