ARTIST: Gnarls Barkley
HOMETOWN: The Internet Los Angeles
ALBUM: The Odd Couple, out April 8

THE BUILD-UP: 12:18 p.m.: An e-mail from "best dj" (a Gmail account with no other identifiers) arrives in the Idolator tips inbox. Subject: NEW GNARLS. Body: A smiley face and an MP3 of "Run."
12:29 p.m. Rolling Stone's blog posts a mini-review of the album. There's no song as indelible as "Crazy," but that's a tough act to follow.
12:30-ish p.m. I listen to the track. It sounds OK. It's no "Crazy," but what is, etc., etc. Also: Is this really a Gnarls song or is someone trying to play a trick on a gullible blogger? Is "best dj" Danger Mouse hiding behind an overly ego-inflated pseudonym? So many questions!
THE DAM BREAK: 3:55 p.m. "best dj" writes again! Subject line: "link"; body: URL of Mission Freak post.
3:56 p.m. Mission Freak gets added to my already out-of-control RSS reader.
5:00-ish p.m.-onward. The Internet goes (predictably?) nuts.
7:10 p.m. RS announces that the album will be called The Odd Couple.
11:00 p.m. The Internet freakout continues, and The Daily Swarm posts its conspiracy theories.
ODDS OF BACKLASH: Nil, unless someone finds out that one of the proprietors of Mission Freak is a friend of some marketing dude at Downtown Records—which might explain their being OK with posting the song, since most music-discovery blogs these days tend to shy away from leaks. (I hadn't heard of the site before yesterday, but apparently it's the blog offshoot for an annual arts festival in Iowa City. Wonder if they're going to manage to snag a big-name headliner this year?)
ARE THEY WORTHY? Yes, although I'm worried that Cee-Lo's album-promotion duties will hinder his path toward becoming the next American Idol.

Justify My Love: New Gnarls Barkley! (Exclusive?!) [Mission Freak]
New Gnarls Barkley: Has the viral marketing campaign begun? [The Daily Swarm]

The Build-Up: Radar picked it up—nice Photoshopping there, guys!—yesterday afternoon, and they even fell for the "Juicy Fruit-dispensing bathroom attendant" detail.
The Dam Break: Perez ran with it last night, and since then, it's been showing up in my RSS feed all over the freakin' place.
Odds Of Truthfulness: Zero. The OC Weekly, no doubt waiting for a call from Efron's legal team, is in full-on damage control mode, sending "it's a joke!!" e-mails to Perezzers and Radar. And so, we are just left to wonder one thing (aside from whether Lil' Wayne does, in fact, have a remix of "What Time Is It" in his vaults somewhere): Is satire dead? And if so, who killed it: Sorta clumsy writers? Nuance-challenged bloggers? Cribs? Or do we all have blood on our desperate-for-"Zac Efron"-related-Google-hits hands?

The Efron Scandal [OC Weekly]
[Zac Efron photo via Getty]

Artist: Chris Brown
Rumor: Because of the lukewarm response to his first single, "Wall To Wall," the R & B singer's forthcoming album, Exclusive, may be scrapped by his label, Zomba.
First mention: That Grape Juice, which had previously broken the news about Mya's album suffering the same fate, posted the rumor on Sunday. The item cited the lackluster chart performance of "Wall To Wall," which leaked in May and is currently at No. 84 on the Billboard Hot 100.
The Build-Up: Vibe Confidential tried to link to the That Grape Juice post in question yesterday, although someone stuck a huge break tag in the middle of the HREF.

The Dam-Break: None, really—probably thanks to the holiday-shortened day and similar rumors about Mario.
Odds Of Truthfulness: We're going to go long on this one and say 10-1. Yes, "Wall To Wall" isn't as instantly grabbable as "Run It!," and it has been hanging in the lower reaches of the Hot 100 for the past four weeks—curiously, though, it's listed on said chart as a digital single, and it doesn't seem to be available on iTunes at present. So while radio response to the song may have been lackluster, the jury's still out on whether or not the sales of the track—and, by at least some extension, the album—will be strong. (As an added note, the obviously-Michael-Jackson-influenced video was only released last week.) The fact that the song leaked nearly two months ago may hurt it, but Zomba may want to rush out a digital single just to make sure that reworking its forthcoming release schedule is worth the extra effort. (As a side note: Did the one-two punch of My December and Curtis being involved in release-date squabbles make album-pushed-back rumors "hip"?)

Chris Brown's New Project In Jeopardy [That Grape Juice, via Vibe Confidential]

Artists: Music journalists and bloggers looking for something to write about in a sorta-slow news cycle.
Project: Lists of "overrated music."
First mention: Ever? Good luck trying to pin it down.
The Build-Up: This most recent bout of idolatry-sabotage was no doubt precipitated by the 40th anniversary of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, what with the piece that sparked it being called "Sgt Pepper Must Die!" (Exclamation point in the original.)

The Dam-Break: Last Friday, the Guardian surveyed a bunch of musicians on their picks for most overrated albums (Billy Childish, the garage-rocker who also penned "We Hate The Fuckin' NME," picked Pepper). Targets included the Arcade Fire's Neon Bible, Tupac Shakur's All Eyez On Me, and Nirvana's Nevermind, which was described by Wayne Coyne as being by "this band that sounds just like Nickelback." Not only did that last zinger rile up the blogs, it inspired a bunch of other hacky listicles, the pinnacle being this MSNBC piece that tried to blame the Doors for Matchbox 20 while actually defending the Oliver Stone movie. Not that we like the Doors, but seriously, come on.
Odds Of Ever Going Away: Are you kidding? On days when there's no Kelly Clarkson drama or new Lil' Wayne freestyles to chat about, bloggers and writers need seemingly endlessly debatable topics like this. (Trust us on this one.)

Artist: 50 Cent
Project: A $400 million windfall from the sale of Glacéau, the company that makes the punch-with-a-kick beverage line Vitamin Water, which counts the 50-branded "Formula 50" among its flavors.
First mention: Coca-Cola announced that it had bought Glacéau for $4.1 billion dollars broke on Friday—the same day the news that 50's forthcoming album Curtis had been pushed back to September (from its original July release date) hit the blogs.
The Build-Up: Shortly after the Curtis news broke, a 50-related item on AllHipHop appeared, and it contained a claim that 50 had little reason to worry; even though his tired sex metaphors weren't catching on with audiences, he was still going to make a lot of money—50 apparently owned a 10% stake in the company, and that he would net a cool $400 million from the deal. The news got picked up by a bunch of news agencies, and news of Curtis' woes seemed less important in the purplish-tinted light of this huge payday.

The Dam-Break: Playahata cocked an eyebrow at this news and rang up Glacéau, who wouldn't confirm or deny 50's stake in the comapny; ProHipHop theorized that the leaking of this news was likely a public relations move that preyed on a somewhat gullible media outlet, a theory that makes sense, given the other bad news 50 had to withstand Friday. Meanwhile, the not-very-reliable gossip site MediaTakeOut claimed to have an interview with an investment banker that called the idea that 50 had a 10% stake "pure fiction."
Odds Of Truthfulness: 15-1. We're sure 50 got a payday from the Glacéau sale, but the "10% stake" figure being thrown around sounds pretty fictional to us, too. The only news we've seen of a Vitamin Water-flavored celebrity windfall that hasn't been attributed to AllHipHop has focused on Mets third baseman/Cassie fan David Wright, whose stake in the company was a mere 0.5%. Well, it's "mere" if you think $20 million is a piddling sum, anyway.

Rumor of 50 Cent's 10% Share in Glaceau Likely PR Move [ProHipHop]

Artists: Kelly Clarkson
Project: A complete revamp of her forthcoming album, My December.
First mention: An April 30 post on the Velvet Rope claiming that label head Clive Davis savaged the first four songs on the album at a corporate conference, asking the crowd, "Remember, we're all family here and this project is worth hundreds of millions of dollars and does this sound like a Number One single to you?"
The Build-Up: A piece running with Davis' displeasure and claiming that Clarkson was completely overhauling the album ran today in the UK newspaper The Daily Star, a Page 3 Girly tabloid that we had never heard of until it was cited in...

The Dam-Break: ...a bunch of blogs that ran with the item, including In Case You Didn't Know, rickey.org, and the always-reliable TMZ. It doesn't look as if any of them tried to further the story, or even think about the fact that the album's first single, "Never Again," has already hit the Billboard 100 and TRL; we're not saying that it's completely unlikely for an on-the-verge-of-release album to be shelved, but it does seem pretty weird for the Kelly backlash to hit so hard at this particular moment. Is this the result of Kelly "crossing" Davis by wanting to strike out in a more rock direction? And why in the world would some British tabloid that doesn't even have a proper Web site be ground zero for a whispering campaign against her?

Kelly Clarkson scraps her new album [Starpulse]

Artist: Sir Salvatore
Hometown: San Francisco
Album: Those Men Are Not Astronauts
First blog mention: A June 29, 2006 show notice on Advance Cassette.
The Build-Up: On April 13, the Italian MP3 blog lazysundays wrote about them; our translation skills are lacking, so we're not sure what exactly they said, aside from coining the (possibly inaccurate) term "newgazers."
The Dam-Break: It came fast: Last Saturday, Quick, Before It Melts followed the next day, calling their sound "lo-fi Strokes-infused." Also that day, It's Hard To Find A Friend was effusive about receiving a "promo e-mail that [he] actually enjoyed" from the band. Posts from Veritas Lux Mea, Lets Sexy Fighting, and Who Needs Radio, among others, followed, and now, the plucky outfit is at No. 2 on the elbo.ws chart, with only Charlotte Gainsbourg in its path.
Odds of Backlash: 4-1.
Are They Worthy?: Sure. "Hooray This Projector," in particular, is a head-bopping piece of indie rock in the second-wave-of-Merge style; also, any band that counts the long-underheralded Polvo in their pantheon of musical heroes is a friend of ours.

Sir Salvatore - Hooray This Projector [MP3, link expired]
Sir Salvatore - Public Key [MP3, link expired]
Sir Salvatore [MySpace]

Artist: Thrushes
Hometown: Baltimore
Album: Sun Come Undone
First blog mention: A December 15 mention on Instrumental Analysis.
The Build-Up: Posts on Milk Milk Lemonade and Covert Curiosity were it, until...
The Dam-Break: ... this week, when the blogs went nuts for Thrushes' shoegazer-in-a-prom-dress track "Heartbeats." It was posted on Coast Is Clear, Largehearted Boy, Veritas Lux Mea, and So ... Where Is Helsinki? on Saturday; Here Comes The Flood, INDIEBLOGHEAVEN, Obscure Sound, and The Muso were among the blogs that followed suit, while Cable And Tweed decided to post "Aidan Quinn" instead.
Odds of Backlash: 5-1. Anyone who has fond memories of 4AD will be all over this.
Are They Worthy?: Yes. "Heartbeats" is simple and stunning, and their credo, according to their MySpace page: "Rock music should be beautiful." Who can argue with that? They might want to call Phil Spector something other than their "patron saint," though.

Thrushes - Heartbeats [MP3, link expired]
Thrushes - Aidan Quinn [MP3, link expired]
Thrushes [MySpace]

Artists: Robert Smith, Ashlee Simpson
Project: A rumored collaboration on Simpson's upcoming album.
First mention: A March 22, 2007 story on Entertainment Weekly's website.
The Build-Up: For whatever reason, NME randomly picked it up this morning—a full week after EW ran it.
The Dam-Break: A few hours later, ripple reports appeared on Stereogum and Pitchfork, the latter of which called the news "perplexing at best, disheartening at worst." And, of course, it's now on every other blog in the world. Unfortunately, none of them picked up on the fact that even EW's Cure-Simpson news-break is merely "reportedly" happening. In summary: No one knows what the hell is going on—or if anything is going on at all.

Artist: YACHT
Hometown: Portland, Ore.
Album: I Believe In You. Your Magic Is Real, out May 8
First blog mention: A bit of May 2005 show promotion from a friend on The Microphones' Livejournal group.
The Build-Up: The beats that YACHT (a.k.a. Jona Bechtolt) supplied for The Blow's lovely Paper Televison got a lot of positive buzz around the time of that record's release; in November, a one-hour set that he curated for French National Radio received blog love from Your Daily Awesome, Slutty Fringe, and Gorilla Vs. Bear, among others.
The Dam-Break: "See A Penny (Pick It Up)" was released to the blogs this week, and Gorilla Vs. Bear got lucky with it on March 23; other heavy hitters in the music-blog world, like largehearted boy, *SIXEYES, extrawack!, Stereogum, and GIMME TINNITUS, followed.
Odds of Backlash: 3-1. The Fader has threatened "Akon-level posting" about him in the near future, so some sort of YACHT-lash is inevitable.
Are They Worthy?: We loved the beats this dude put down for the Blow. But are we the only people who think that "Penny" is really a tweaked-out version of the Rolling Stones' "Miss You" that has a little bit of The Knife's "Heartbeats" mixed in for good measure?

YACHT - See A Penny, Pick It Up [MP3, link expired]
YACHT [MySpace]
[Photo via Your Daily Awesome]

Artist: Electric Soft Parade
Hometown: Brighton, U.K.
Album: No Need To Be Down-Hearted, out April 24th.
First blog mention: A Feb. 17th, 2006 MP3 post on Wiredset.
The Build-Up: Last May, a handful of sites (including sixeyes and You Ain't No Picasso) wrote about the group's 2005 Human Body EP. After that, Electric Soft Parade received only a handful of mentions until...
The Dam-Break: Down-Hearted's "If That's The Case, I Don't Know" started was included on a SXSW sampler in February; shortly thereafter, it wound up on a slew of sites, including Music Of The Moment and fingertips. Last week, a pile-on of ESP love resulted in the band landing on Elbo.ws' "What's Hot?" artists list.
Odds of Backlash: 6-1. There are so many British guitar bands nowadays, it's impossible one of them to become big enough to warrant a full-on backlash.
Are They Worthy?: Yep. ESP has struggled for years to make it in America, and while Down-Hearted isn't as strong as the group's 2001 Holes In The Wall, it's about time that brothers Alex and Thomas White get some big-ups. A brief career-recap follows:

The Electric Soft Parade - If That's The Case, Then I Don't Know [MP3, link expired]
The Electric Soft Parade - Bruxellisation [MP3, link expired]
The Electric Soft Parade - Empty At The End [MP3, link expired]
The Electric Soft Parade [MySpace]

Welcome to another edition of Track Marks, in which your Idolators perform an autopsy on the latest band burning up the MP3-blogger charts.

Artist: Illinois
Hometown: Bucks County, Pa.
Album: What The Hell Do I Know? EP, released earlier this month
First blog mention: A Nov. 1, 2006 entry on Exitfare.
The Build-Up: In February, Ace Fu released a handful of free MP3s into the blogosphere—a tactic the label used last fall to build up steam for Annuals, and one that no doubt helped Illinois earn write-ups on the likes of Where Is Helsinki? and Wolf Notes.
The Dam-Break: March 12th kicked off a week-long rally, with Illinois garnering mentions on Muzak for Cybernetics, Side One: Track One and Some Velvet Blog; as of this morning, the group sits on both the "Hot Artists" and "Hot Tracks" lists on Elbo.ws.
Odds of Backlash: 5-1. We're still about one year (or one huge-breaking artist) away from an anti-Pennsylvania backlash.
Are They Worthy?: Let's take those two give-away tracks to task: "Alone Again" is a dark lament with a haunting "ba-ba-ba-bah" refrain, while "Screendoor" is typically pleasant—but hardly socks-knocking—backyard indie-pop. So we'll split the difference, and wait for the LP.

Illinois - Alone Again [MP3, link expired]
Illinois - Screendoor [MP3, link expired]
Illinois [MySpace]

Artist: Justice
Hometown: Paris, France
Album: As-yet-untitled debut, due this summer
First blog mention: An August 19th, 2005 mention on 20 Jazz Funk Greats
The Build-Up: Thanks to the duo's remixes of songs by the likes of Franz Ferdinand and Britney Spears, Justice have been Hype Machine mainstays for the past few years, with mentions on Fluxblog, You Can Call Me Betty and Musicisnotdead, among others. And their profile got a big bump when "We Are Your Friends"—a collaboration with Brit rockers Simian—won a trophy at the MTV Europe Music Awards, prompting Kanye West to make a headlines-spurring rush to the stage.
The Dam-Break: Earlier this week, Discobelle.net posted an MP3 of the cheery "D.A.N.C.E.," which has since been picked up by Gorilla vs. Bear and B-Town Hit Parade, and now sits at No. 1 on the Hype Machine's popular-tracks list.
Odds of Backlash: 3-1. No matter how good they get, they're still French. Plus, judging by this photo, one of these guys might actually be Jeff Lynne.
Are They Worthy?: So far. "D.A.N.C.E." is part 3-2-1 Contact, part Studio 54, and their remix of Britney's "Me Against The Music" is far better than the original (faint praise there, but still).

Justice - D.A.N.C.E. [MP3, link expired]
Britney Spears feat. Madonna - Me Against The Music (Justice Remix [MP3, link expired]
Justice [MySpace]

Artist: The Morning Benders
Hometown: Bay Area
Album: Boarded Doors
First blog mention: An April 2006 shoutout from My Old Kentucky Blog.
The Build-Up: The Morning Benders' sun-kissed music proved to be an ideal match for I Guess I'm Floating and Shake Your Fist, both of which posted MP3s from the band last summer.
The Dam-Break: The Indie Surfer Blog opened the door with a mention of Boarded Doors on Feb. 21, and that opened the floodgates, with blogs from stereogum to berkeleyplace to Said The Gramophone quickly following suit. Since then, they've garnered even more mentions, including shout-outs from HearYa and the fine Ladies And Gentlemen We Are Sitting Here Listening To This Recording
Odds of Backlash: 5-1. They've built up a nice blog following over the past year, and their laid-back melodies are nigh-impossible to resist.
Are They Worthy?: Not only is "Damnit Anna" a sweet, breezy indiepop track with a slight country twang, the Morning Benders' Web site goes out of its way to individually thank the MP3 blogs that brought it to this very page. And if nothing else, their combination of manners and hummability together goes a long way in our book.

The Morning Benders - Grain Of Salt [MP3, link expired]
The Morning Benders - Damnit Anna [MP3, link expired]
The Morning Benders [Official site]

Artist: Sister Vanilla
Hometown: UK/LA
Album: Little Pop Rock, out April 3
First blog mention: A Sept. 17, 2005, mention of a compilation contribution by This Is The Last...
The Build-Up: A split single in the fall of 2005 garnered mentions from Green Pea-Ness and One Louder, among others; docophenhagen wondered when Little would be coming out last April.
The Dam-Break: A flurry of posts this week, including raves from 3hive, Villains Always Blink, Untouched By Work Or Duty, and EAR FARM.
Odds of Backlash: 9-1. Why such a long shot? Well, Sister Vanilla is basically Linda Reid and her brothers Jim and William—you know, the guys from the Jesus and Mary Chain. So unless the brothers really screw up their Coachella performance, the goodwill should keep flowing from the music-blog world.
Are They Worthy?: Yes—but you had to figure that we'd love any band that added surly female vocals to the hazy, drugged-up guitar mix that the Jesus and Mary Chain is best known for.

Sister Vanilla - Jamcolas [MP3, link expired]
Sister Vanilla - Can't Stop The Rock [MP3, link expired]
Sister Vanilla [MySpace]

Welcome to another edition of Track Marks, in which your Idolators perform an autopsy on the latest band burning up the MP3-blogger charts.

Artist: The Bird & The Bee
Hometown: Los Angeles
Album: The Bird & The Bee
First blog mention: A July 21, 2006 mention on Loudersoft.
The Build-Up: A slow-but-steady trickle of mentions last year, including raves on Rock Insider, Howard Who?, and Each Note Secure.
The Dam-Break: Blue Note released The Bird & The Bee in late January, which no doubt helped the album flood the blogozone throughout February (it helps that bandmates Inara George and Greg Kurstin have both built up solo-career followings of their own).
Odds of Backlash: 3-1. In addition to all the online love, the duo has also received plenty of attention from big-name magazines, which can only lead to a closing-credit slot on ABC's Brothers & Sisters, and thus immediate over-exposure.
Are They Worthy?: There's no avoiding the fact that TB&TB make the kind of wisp-pop that usually drives us crazy. But while the album can play it way too cloy at times ("Fucking Boyfriend"), there are just enough genuinely pretty ditties—such as "I Hate Camera," and "La La La," below—to balance things out.

The Bird & The Bee - I Hate Camera [MP3, link expired]
The Bird & The Bee - La La La [MP3, link expired]
The Bird & The Bee - Fucking Boyfriend [MP3, link expired]
The Bird & The Bee [MySpace]

Welcome to another edition of Track Marks, in which your Idolators perform an autopsy on the latest band burning up the MP3-blogger charts.

Artist: Loney, Dear
Hometown: Stockholm
Album: Loney, Noir, out today
First blog mention: A concert review (in Swedish) by Jullans.
The Build-Up: The English-language music blogs started to get excited about Loney, Dear last month; Little Elpees, Invisible Limb, Captain's Dead all mentioned them favorably, as did heavy hitters 3hive.
The Dam-Break: Just in time for Loney, Noir's release, mentions of Loney, Dear have picked up, with posts at Pop Tarts Suck Toasted, Indiefolkforever, HearYa, and DoCopenhagen, as well as an interview with Lunapark6.
Odds of Backlash: 3-1. Not only is Loney, Dear a Swedish outfit that creates pretty, handclap-accented pop, the band's MySpace page says that Emil Svanagen, the band's mastermind, is planning to shut down his entire music-making operation by New Year's Eve 2009, which almost makes him impenetrable to blogospheric eye-rolling.
Is He Worthy?: Blame it on our avowed weakness for orchestral Swedish indiepop, but we're pretty into this album—although it'll probably get lost among our ever-growing collection of such records within the next six months. That, of course, makes the expiration-date idea even more shrewd.

Loney, Dear - Dear John [MP3, link expired]
Loney, Dear - Hard Days [MP3, link expired]
Loney, Dear [Official site]

Artist: Andrew Bird
Hometown: Chicago
Album: Armchair Apocrypha, due March 30
First blog mention: Since this 33-year-old singer-songwriter has been around for years, you'd need a far-reaching archive to find his first blog burst. So instead let's just guess that during a 6/12/98 Prodigy message-board post, someone mentioned his old band, Andrew Bird's Bowl Of Fire.
The Build-Up: Last fall, a string of Bird posts appeared on sites such as Both Sides Of The Mouth, Under the Rotunda, and Lost In Your Inbox.
The Dam-Break: After Apocrypha leaked in full last week, Bird shot near the top of the elbo.ws "Hot Artists" chart, while his "Heretics" single has been steadily climbing the popular-tracks lists on both elbo.ws and the Hype Machine. And just about all of the big sites—including Stereogum, I Guess I'm Floating, and Gorilla vs. Bear—have gone ga-ga over him.
Odds of Backlash: 6-1. They love him now, but what will they think when one of his songs winds up on the Weeds season premiere?
Is He Worthy?: Yep. Armchair will no doubt be the background music for many a tasteful yup-rock get-together, but it's start-to-finish lovely, and features some of the best whistling solos since that Peter, Bjorn and John album.

Andrew Bird - Heretics [MP3, link expired]
Andrew Bird [MySpace]

Artist: Buildings Breeding
Hometown: Davis, California
Album: Buildings Breeding, out Tuesday
First blog mention: An April 2006 post on C and C Blog Factory that was the result of a MySpace friend request.
The Build-Up: There wasn't much of one, save another MySpace-occasioned post on Music Ramen earlier this month.
The Dam-Break: In the last week, Cable and Tweed, Hellthy Music, and Hot Stof were among the blogs whose posts helped land Buildings Breeding in the elbo.ws top 10; fellow Californian INDIEBLOGHEAVEN was so excited about the Davis residents, he went into a Golden State frenzy.
Odds of Backlash: 9-1. Who can hate on a band that started out as a phony MySpace act, then eventually turned into the real thing?
Are They Worthy?: If you like the sleepy melodies, whispery vocals and shimmering guitars of mid-'90s indiepop, then yes. (Expect them to release an EP on Slumberland Records any day now.)

Buildings Breeding - Polish Barely Holds [MP3, link expired]
Buildings Breeding - Stars Are Smitten [MP3, link expired]
Buildings Breeding [MySpace]

Artist: Bedroom Eyes
Hometown: Östersund, Sweden
Album: Embrace In Stereo EP
First blog mention: A Nov. 15, 2006, post on Milk Milk Lemonade that compared the band to It's A Shame About Ray-era Lemonheads.
The Build-Up: The Milk Milk Lemonade post was quickly followed by mentions on Indie MP3, Bedroom, and Hot Stof.
The Dam-Break: Now that bloggers' desks are clear of year-end recaps, they're getting back to posting new music; in the past 10 days, 10 blogs have posted tracks from Embrace In Stereo, including The Yellow Stereo and who killed the mixtape? "Dancing Under Influence" is now in the top 10 of the elbo.ws chart, and "Motorcycle Daydream" isn't far behind.
Odds of Backlash: 6-1. The EP's been out since September (forever in Internet time), so someone will probably try and be the first on their block to act all contrarian.
Are They Worthy?: Yes. Chalk it up to our soft spot for Swedish pop, but how can you not appreciate a band that name-checks Ricky Gervais andNick Drake in its lyrics? Not to mention that "Dancing Under Influence" isn't one of the brightest pop songs we've heard in a while. It has all the essentials—handclaps, background choruses of "ahhs," a dueling-banjos intro—and a raucous beat. The other songs on the EP bear out Bedroom Eyes' potential, too, with "Motorcycle Daydream" and "Blueprint For Departure" taking their cues from the prime mid-'80s era of indiepop, then adding some trumpet flourishes.

Bedroom Eyes - Dancing Under Influence [MP3, link expired]
Bedroom Eyes - Motorcycle Daydream [MP3, link expired]Bedroom Eyes [MySpace]

Welcome to another edition of Track Marks, in which your Idolators perform an autopsy on the latest band burning up the MP3-blogger charts.

Artist: Fujiya & Miyagi
Hometown: Brighton, UK
Album: Transparent Things, which collects previously released EPs, came out in the UK in May; it will be released in the US next month.
First blog mention: Cracking unlixes' top 20 list in July of '05.
The Build-Up: Pitchers Of Silence posted a couple of tracks in April, and Fluo Kids told its readers to get ahead of their hype a month later. The Mark Out and silence is a rhythm too followed suit in June.
The Dam-Break: "Ankle Injuries" has garnered a slew of blog mentions in the last week, and among them were comparisons to Zooropa-era U2 and David Bowie. The song is currently sitting at No. 3 on the elbo.ws chart.
Odds of Backlash: 7-2. Fujiya & Miyagi's whisper-electro sound is intriguing at first, but on their longer tracks, the charm starts to wear a little thin about four minutes in.
Are They Worthy?: Sort of—"Collarbone" sounds a bit like warmed-over DFA to us, and it's probably not surprising that "Ankle Injuries" lyrics, which revolve around a kid finding a porno while heading to school, would result in the song getting noticed by the blogger hordes. One thing we are sure of: F & M's songs make for decent background music while we attempt to tidy up the Idolator flophouse.

Fujiya & Miyagi - Collarbone [MP3, link expired]
Fujiya & Miyagi - Ankle Injuries [MP3, link expired]
Fujiya & Miyagi [MySpace]

Artist: Robbers On High Street
Hometown: New York, NY
Album: The Fatalist EP (New Line)
First blog mention: An April '04 post on Drive A Faster Car.
The Build-Up: indie don't dance and The Rich Girls Are Weeping took note of the Robbers last spring, while Both Sides Of the Mouth and Music Glob covered them in August.
The Dam-Break: "The Fatalist," the title song from the Robbers' new digital-only EP, was released to MP3 blogs about 12 days ago, if this Information Leafblower post is any indication; posts featuring "The Fatalist" followed from Hobby Box, out the other..., I Rock Cleveland, and about 10 other blogs. The song is currently sitting at No. 2 on the elbo.ws chart.
Odds of Backlash: 4-1; already, commenters on some blogs are bristling at the Robbers' indie-by-numbers sound.
Are They Worthy?: The Robbers aren't much to write home about—they seem to have derived a lot of their musical template from a circa-2004 NME stash. But we're very impressed by their label's ability to dispense a single MP3 and have it work magic around the blogosphere; hey, it even worked with us, even if we're pretty lukewarm about their sound.

Robbers On High Street - The Fatalist [MP3, link expired]
Robbers On High Street [MySpace]

Artist: Prototypes
Hometown: Paris, France
Album: Prototypes
First blog mention: A May '06 concert listing on Rock Insider.
The Build-Up: From May through July, this Francophone trio got a ton of blog love, including raves on Fluxblog, Planeta Pop, Said the Gramophone, Gorilla Vs. Bear, and You Ain't No Picasso.
The Dam-Break: Just in time for bloggers to polish their "best of '06" lists, Prototypes' label, Minty Fresh, posted a free five-track EP that rekindled the Prototypes-adoring fire in heavy hitters Gorilla Vs. Bear and You Ain't No Picasso.
Odds of Backlash: 6-1. They have a lead singer who looks like Karen O and they aren't afraid to have a song title that translates, roughly, to "Dance On The Shit"—what's not to love?
Are They Worthy?: Sure. "Un Gars Fragile" may be a direct rip-off of "Girl U Want" by Devo, but there are about 3,344 worse bands to emulate out there. Prototypes are punchy and fun, and lord knows that the indie-rock world needs a little more of that in these mewlier-than-ever days.

Prototypes - Je Ne Te Connais Pas [MP3, link expired]
Prototypes - Un Gars Fragile [MP3, link expired]
Prototypes [MySpace]

Welcome to another edition of Track Marks, in which your Idolators perform an autopsy on the latest MP3-blog sensation.

Artist: Matt & Kim
Hometown: Brooklyn, NY
Album: Matt & Kim (IHEARTCOMIX)
First blog mention: A May 2005 post on SUCKA PANTS.
The Build-Up: In the past year and a half, this keyed-up pop duo received sporadic mentions on sites like Popsheep, You Ain't No Picasso, and Both Sides Of The Mouth.
The Dam-Break: A steady stream of mentions in October and November helped the band land on elbo.ws' "Hot Artists" top 10 list.
Odds of Backlash: 6-1. Those mariachi hats may look like press-photo hijinks, but they're actually a shield from criticism: Nobody makes fun of mariachi hats.
Are They Worthy?: Yes they are! Though they may be! Too upbeat! For! Some! Of! You!

Matt & Kim - Yea Yeah [MP3, link expired]
Matt & Kim - No More Long Years [MP3, link expired]
Matt & Kim [Official Site]

Artist: Plastic Little
Hometown: Philadelphia
Album: She's Mature, out this week
First blog mention: A June 28, 2005 mention on 20 Jazz Funk Greats.
The Build-Up: Over the summer, this gonzo hip-hop combo's "The Jump Off"—and its Diplo-produced remix—started to gain traction on the blogs, including Music (for Robots), So Much Silence, and Analog Giant.
The Dam-Break: Well, it hasn't quite happened yet. But yesterday, Gorilla vs. Bear posted "Crambodia," which features a cameo from Ghostface. And considering that anything Ghostface-related tends to ping around the blogosphere, we predict it will be on the Hype Machine's Top 25 by the end of the week.
Odds of Backlash: Even. They're a tongue-in-cheek rap group that employs several honkies. Do you think anyone's going to take them seriously?
Are They Worthy?: Yep. Anybody who hears "The Jump Off" and "Crambodia" will be hard-pressed to argue that these guys are a mere novelty act. Plastic Little may be winking so hard that their eyes are glued shut—and we're wary of them turning into 2 Skinnee J's—but we'll take their goofy rap over 75 percent of the "real" rap out there nowadays.

Plastic Little - The Jump Off (Diplo Remix) [MP3, link removed]
Plastic Little - Crambodia [MP3, link removed]

Welcome to another edition of Track Marks, where your Idolators perform an autopsy on the latest MP3-blog sensation.

Artist: Via Audio
Hometown: Brooklyn, NY, via Boston
Album: Say Something, 2006
First blog mention: A track posted to Sixeyes in April.
The Build-Up: Mentions over the summer from Ear Farm and 5 Acts, then radio silence until October, when Largehearted Boy included them in his "Daily Download" section.
The Dam-Break: CMJ gave Via Audio's blog profile a boost; the band played two shows during the festival, as well as a post-party in Connecticut, and, in a pretty ingenious move, they sent tracks out to bloggers around the time of the festival. That led to a mini-explosion of raves for the indie-pop outfit, and many of them—like The Yellow Stereo's mention—name-checked the band's fans in Death Cab For Cutie and Spoon. "We Can Be Good" and "Modern Day Saint" are sitting in the elbo.ws top 10.
Odds of Backlash: 6-1. Having your album produced by a member of Spoon = a good way to get people listening.
Are They Worthy?: We're usually wary of anyone who trumpets their Berklee pedigree, Brendon Small excepted. Thankfully, Via Audio don't go the arpeggios-and-pentatonics route; unfortunately, their sleepy, electro-tinged pop songs aren't much to rave about, although we do dig the dark, echoing coda at the end of "Developing Active People."

Via Audio - We Can Be Good [MP3, link expired]
Via Audio - Developing Active People [MP3, link expired]
VIA AUDIO LOVES YOU <3 <3 <3 [Official site]

Welcome to another edition of Track Marks, where your Idolators perform an autopsy on the latest MP3-blog sensation.

Artist: Memphis
Hometown: Vancouver, British Columbia
Album: A Little Place In The Wilderness, 2006
First online mention (according to searches on the Hype Machine and Elbo.ws): A write-up in April of last year on on Each Note Secure.
The Build-Up: The duo's second album, Wilderness was released back in August—but only in Canada. So it took a while for Memphis to gain momentum here, with the only early mentions on i (heart music) and You Ain't No Picasso.
The Dam-Break: On Nov. 5th, FreeIndie.com posted five tracks from the record, which helped land the group on elbo.ws' "Hot Artists" list. Judging by this photo, the guys couldn't be more pleased.
Odds of Backlash: 7-1. We've said it once, we've said it a hundred times: Everything from Canada gets a pass.
Are They Worthy?: In addition to having a name that's straight out of a Vonnegut novel, singer Torquil Campbell is also part of Stars, one of our top 50 Canadian indie-pop bands of the last few years. And since Memphis sounds like a slightly less tortured version of Stars, well..."We like!" (LOL @ Borat reference!!)

Memphis - I'll Do Whatever You Want [MP3, link expired]
Memphis -A Little Place In The Wilderness [MP3, link expired]
Memphis [MySpace]

Welcome to another edition of Track Marks, where your Idolators perform an autopsy on the latest MP3-blog sensation. Today, we look at the Swedish electro duo The Knife, whose Google Blogsearch results have been off the charts in the wake of their American live debut.

Artist: The Knife
Hometown: Stockholm, Sweden
Album: Silent Shout, 2006
First online mention: Back in 2003, Matthew Perpetua at Fluxblog talked about how he "couldn't get enough" of the band's breakthrough single "Heartbeats."
The Build-Up: Silent Shout was originally released in April, and it appeared on a handful of half-year best-ofs in the summer. Since then, they've been a pretty steady presence on both the Hype Machine and elbo.ws.
The Dam-Break: The Knife played four U.S. shows this week, and the write-ups were pretty much rhapsodic across the board; Fluxblog, Stereogum, The Merry Swankster, and a bunch of other people who were in town for CMJ attended the pair of NYC shows, while marathonpacks hit the band's LA appearance.
Odds of Backlash: 9-1, although the Sheila E. comparison floated on Rob Harvilla's Village Voice blog entry could be a harbinger of the dismissals they'll see in the coming months.
Are They Worthy?: For the first time in the history of Track Marks, we can pretty much answer this question with an unequivocal "yes." The chilly, arresting Silent Shout is one of our favorite records of the year, and the Knife's NYC show was, in fact, that good; their projection-filled staging and masking, both physical and aural, of themselves to the audience turned the concept of "live performance" on its head in a breathtaking way.

The Knife - Like A Pen [MP3, link expired]
The Knife - One Hit [MP3, link expired]
The Knife [Official site]

Welcome to another edition of Track Marks, where your Idolators perform an autopsy on the latest MP3-blog sensation.

Artist: 120 Days
Hometown: Kristiansund, Norway
Album: 120 Days (Vice)
First online mention (according to searches on The Hype Machine and Elbo.ws): Even though these Norwegian rockers got some blogger love a few years back (when they were called the Beautiful People), the first 120 Days nod was an August 9th reference on for the eardrums.
The Build-Up: A slow response at first, but September found the band popping up a new site every few days, including Bhlogiston, Crackers United, and Largehearted Boy. In late September, Vice Records' MP3 blog hosted a copy of Lansing-Dreiden's remix of " Come Out (Come Down, Fade Out, Be Gone)," which soond found itself on elbo.ws' Top 25 ranking.
The Dam-Break: Last week's enthusiastic write-up in the Village Voice's "Status Ain't Hood" column.
Odds of Backlash: 8-1. How could anyone be mean to them? They look so sad and Scandinavian!
Are They Worthy?: Though they might overreach a bit—not every song has to be written for a laser show, guys—but your Idolators love old-school urgent British post-punk and old Neu! albums, so we're in. That said, they may want to trim back the fat a bit; with two songs that hover around the ten-minute mark, 120 Days may start writing songs that actually last 120 Days.

120 Days - Come Out (Come Down, Fade Out, Be Gone) [MP3, link expired]
120 Days - Be Mine [MP3, link expired]
120 Dayse [MySpace]

Welcome to another edition of Track Marks, where your Idolators perform an autopsy on the latest MP3-blog sensation. This week, we're going to look at White Whale, a Kansas-based outfit that counts among its members alumni of Butterglory and the Get Up Kids.

Artist: White Whale
Hometown: Lawrence, Kan.
Album: WWI (Merge)
First online mention (according to searches on The Hype Machine and Elbo.ws): An Arcade Fire-referencing mention on Music For Robots from Feb. 22.
The Build-Up: There was a flurry of White Whale-hyping posts back in June, when promo copies of WWI were mailed out; My Old Kentucky Blog, Good Hodgkins, and I Rock Cleveland were among the bloggers dropping name-checks and MP3s. A few more raves surfaced around WWI's July 25 release date.
The Dam-Break: If elbo.ws statistics are anything to go by, White Whale will be in high demand at CMJ this week. Brooklyn Vegan has posted an interview and an MP3 in anticipation of White Whale's BV showcase appearance on Saturday, and Pop Tarts Suck Toasted has also name-checked White Whale in its festival picks.
Odds of Backlash: 6-1.
Are They Worthy?: Any band containing an ex-member of Butterglory garners our interest, and White Whale's powerful, straightforward rock is tinged with enough sea-shanty oomph to keep things interesting. Although we have to be honest: We don't really hear the Arcade Fire comparisons, unless you count the fact that the two bands a) share a label and b) play rock music that actually has a pulse.

White Whale - Nine Good Fingers [MP3, link expired]
White Whale - We're Just Temporary, Ma'am [MP3, link expired]
White Whale [MySpace]

Artist: Benjy Ferree
Hometown: Washington, D.C.
Album: Leaving The Nest, due Nov. 7th
First online mention (according to searches on The Hype Machine and Elbo.ws): A March 2 post on S K A T T E R B R A I N
The Build-Up: After a months-long absence from the blogosphere, Ferree got a mention on Yeti Don't Dance in August, followed by a nod on My Old Kentucky Blog.
The Dam-Break: Look for it to start any second now: Domino Records just started sending out MP3s of the tracks to bloggers yesterday, resulting in thumbs-up posts from I Rock Cleveland, Puddlegum, and, again, Yeti Don't Dance.
Odds of Backlash: 10 to 1. It's hard to diss someone whose name you can't even pronounce.
Are They Worthy?: To be honest, Leaving The Nest sat at the bottom of our "Need to listen to" pile for a good month—mostly because we took one look at Ferree's press photo and assumed he was another WGWP (White Guy WIth Problems). And while Nest has its share of should-be mopy moments, Ferree has a way of making even the most jaunty moments sound dark. That said, there is whistling. Consider yourself warned.

Benjy Ferree - In The Countryside [MP3, link expired]
Benjy Ferree - Private Honeymoon [MP3, link expired]
Benjy Ferree [MySpace]

Welcome to another edition of Track Marks, in which your Idolators perform an autopsy on the latest whisper-down-the-lane Internet-sensation of the moment. Today's entry:

Artist: Malajube
Hometown: Montreal
Album: Trompe-L'oeil
First online mention (according to searches on The Hype Machine and Elbo.ws): A March 28th mention on myselfmyself.
The Build-Up: A few posts pop up sporadically in the spring on sites like ELECTRIC SOUND BASEMENT, DoCopenhagen, and Mystery and Misery. After Stereogum praised the band's "dreamy soundscapes, indie-ska, and Brian May-styled solos" in an August 21 "Band To Watch" post, more sites picked up on the group's MP3s.
The Dam-Break: Yesterday's 8.2 review in Pitchfork, which praises the group's ability to create "a ghostly box step where funereal arpeggios twist into bass-driven helixes of weird falsetto harmonies." At least, we think that's praise.
Odds of Backlash: 6 to 1. Nobody in the indie-rock realm is quite ready to hate on Canada—especially not French-speaking Canada. That said, we would like to heartily smack at least 3/4 of the band's press photo.
Are They Worthy?: We could do without the aforementioned "indie-ska" elements, but we are digging two of the album's other stand-out tracks.

Malajube - Le Métronome [MP3, link expired]
Malajube - Monogamie [MP3, link expired]
Malajube [MySpace]

Welcome to another edition of Track Marks, in which your Idolators perform an autopsy on the latest whisper-down-the-lane Internet-sensation of the moment. Today's entry:

Artist: Klaxons
Hometown: London, UK
Album: Xan Valleys EP, due out tomorrow
First online mention (according to The Hype Machine): A February 28th post on 20 jazz funk greats.
The Build-Up: Beginning in mid-May, a steady trickle of Kalxons mentions hit the blogosphere, including posts on Rock Insider, headphone sex and Meaning You Can Memorize. It helped that the British band was receiving the usual blinded-by-love boosterism from the NME, and that that their small output of singles spawned numerous remixes.
The Dam-Break: Last week's NME cover story solidified the growing affection for this dance-rock troupe, dubbing them "New Rave." We won't be using that term ever again.
Odds of Backlash: 3 to 1. Anything beloved the British music mags is virtually guaranteed to be recognized, embraced and then kicked to the curb—all within the same three-week span.
Are They Worthy?: That all depends: Do you need another dance-rock band in your life? We're gonna take a wait-and-see approach with these guys, especially since the only song we really dig is the remix below.

Klaxons - The Bouncer [MP3, link expired]
Klaxons - Gravity's Rainbow (Van She Remix) [MP3, link expired]
Klaxons [MySpace]

Welcome to another edition of Track Marks, in which your Idolators perform an autopsy on the latest whisper-down-the-lane Internet-sensation of the moment. Today's entry:

Artist: Can Joann
Hometown: Chapel Hill, N.C.
Album: Hurt People Hurt People, available now
First online mention (according to searches on Elbo.ws and The Hype Machine): A May 5 post on The Oak Room.
The Build-Up: Not much until last month, when Veritas Lux Mea posted three MP3s; that day, three more sites worked up entries on the band, and the blogrolling commenced
The Dam-Break: Today's elbo.ws Top 10 list includes three Can Joann tracks, with "Indecision's Way" on the No. 1 spot. Considering that Sufjan and the Hold Steady round out the top three, that's a big accomplishment, even in our tiny, tiny music-nerd world.
Odds of Backlash: 10 to 1. Since the blogosphere is overseen by thirtysomethings who grew up on Superchunk, anything from Chapel Hill gets a pass.
Are They Worthy? Ennnh. While we like "Sympathetic Thrill" (below), we're not entirely sure what makes these guys stand out in a field of 3,000 other indie guitar-rock bands. What are we missing? This is charming, sure—but is it really let's-go-apeshit charming, or are things just slow right now?

Can Joann - Sympathetic Thrill [MP3, link expired]
Can Joann - Lady Luck [MP3, link expired]
Can Joann [MySpace]

Welcome to another edition of Track Marks, in which your Idolators perform an autopsy on the latest whisper-down-the-lane Internet-sensation of the moment. Today's entry:

Artist: Lindsey Buckingham
Hometown: Brentwood, Ca.
Album: Under The Skin, available now
First online mention (according to searches on Elbo.ws and The Hype Machine): Long-time Mac addict Stereogum posted a handful of tracks on Aug. 11th.
The Build-Up: Actually, there was no build-up—and this is where the major-label publicity system fails: While copies of Under The Skin went out two months ago, they were insanely over-watermarked, thus preventing any sort of MP3 momentum. A handful of sites, including Swoon and Jefitoblog, praised the record, but we think WB blew it by not testing the waters by leaking a few more tracks. Especially since, as the LA Times pointed out, Skin fits in nicely with the current yup-rock indie movement.
The Dam-Break: Still waiting for the dam to break.
Odds of Backlash: Zilch. Heck, this thing's so low-profile, there's not even odds of a lash.
Is He Worthy? Yep. Even though we're tired to death of mopey white boys, Skin is a great record, one with a lot of dark turns, and absolutely no misfires. We're guessing that Stevie must have loaned LB one of her dreamcatchers.

Lindsey Buckingham - Not Too Late [MP3, link expired]
LIndsey Buckingham - Show You How [MP3, link expired]
Lindsey Buckingham [Official site]

1. The Gossip - Standing In The Way Of Control (Soulwax Edit) [kissatlanta]
2. Can Joann - Indecision's Way [Quick, Before It Melts]
3. The Big Sleep - Murder [Brooklyn Vegan]
4. The Postmarks - Goodbye [Just Pretend]

What's Hot > Top Tracks [elbo.ws]
Popular Blog Tracks [Hype Machine]

1. Tom Waits - Bottom of the World [Add Some Soul]
2. Bound Stems - Andover [thus spake drake]
3. Prince & The NPG - Whole Lotta Love [Here Comes The Flood]
4. Klaxons - Atlantis to Interzone [disco-not-disco]
5. The Album Leaf - Always for You [Dirty Bronson]

What's Hot > Top Tracks [elbo.ws]
Popular Blog Tracks [Hype Machine]

Artist: "Weird Al" Yankovic
Hometown: Lynnwood, California
Album: Straight Outta Lynnwood, due Sept. 26
First online mention: As an artist with his very own USENET newsgroup, "Weird Al" has been talked about on the Internet since its pre-picture Dark Ages. (There's a Wiki devoted to Al's work, too.)
The Build-Up: Buzz about Straight Outta Lynnwood started back in June, when Al used his Web site to let fans know that Al's James Blunt parody "You're Pitiful" was being held from the album by Atlantic Records' legal department. Blunt apparently loved the song, though, and Al was given clearance to stream it from his MySpace page. An anti-RIAA ditty, "Don't Download This Song," premiered on Al's site in August.
The Dam-Break: Last week, someone leaked the video for "White and Nerdy"—a parody of Chamillionaire's "Ridin'" that namechecks Wikipedia, Klingon, and other cultural trappings of the white nerd—online, and it was quickly picked up by bloggers around the globe. (Perhaps they felt they could relate.) AOL canceled its premiere of the video after seeing that it was streaming all over the place. Even the cool kids got in on the act: Stereogum posted "White and Nerdy" on Monday, and followed up with a link to Al's latest polka parody a day later.
Odds of Backlash: 35 to 1. Even Chamillionaire is thrilled with "White and Nerdy"—he told MTV News that Al had great flow, and that being parodied was "really an honor." (We bet Coolio is kicking himself for getting annoyed about "Amish Paradise" right now.) For more evidence, check this amazingly pro-Al Best Week Ever thread.
Is He Worthy? When you have Chamillionaire complimenting the way you rap, you definitely reach "worthy" status. Still, the wildfire response to "White and Nerdy" caught us off-guard at first, until we realized that it's the first live-action video of his to debut in the YouTube era. And there are two other factors at work that we can see: First, the clip has a lot of references that are pitched right to people who spend their days sitting in front of a computer (check out the Star Wars Kid bit!). Second, we're going to take a chance and assume that a good chunk of the 25-to-34-year-old blogging demographic cut its satirical teeth on Al parodies like "Like A Surgeon" and "I Lost On Jeopardy." What happens when you combine those two conditions? Linkage from all over.

And really, how can you not root for someone who sees the blinding absurdity in R. Kelly's serial song poem "Trapped in the Closet"—and raises it by turning it into an 11-minute song about two people going to the drive-thru for some burgers? We can't wait to see the video for that one.

"Weird Al" Yankovic - Trapped at the Drive-Thru [MP3, link expired]
Weird Al [MySpace]
Weird Al Wiki [wikia.com]

Artist: Annuals
Hometown: Raleigh, North Carolina
Album: Be He Me, due out Oct. 17th
First online mention (according to searches on Elbo.ws and The Hype Machine): Vinyl Mine, which notes the band's "Arcade-Fire-with-electronics" sound back on February 25th, and also kicks up the still-running discussion on the hotness of keyboardist Anna Spence, above.
The Build-Up: With the exception of a rave on The Oak Room, the blogosphere remains pretty quiet throughout the spring (though there are a few mentions of the similarly titled Band of Annuals). But then comes a July 17 post on postcore.com, claiming that Pitchfork is about to annoint Annuals as its next big phenom; indeed, the next day finds an MP3 post on the 'Fork, noting that the band sounds like "some fantasy hybrid of Animal Collective, the Arcade Fire, and Broken Social Scene."
The Dam-Break: Shortly after the Pitchfork write-up, a slew of enthusiastic endorsements appear, including more than 30 mentions of the band in August alone (wisely, label Ace-Fu posts the best three songs from the record on its Web site). Many entries compare the band to the Arcade Fire and/or the Flaming Lips, which are also mentioned at the very top of the band's recently updated press release. The leaked Annuals tracks have been lodged in Elbo.ws' Top 20 list ever since, getting an extra bump after last week's NYC shows.
Odds of Backlash: 5 to 1. The "I was there first!" group normally would turn against these guys in a manner of months, but they're likely going to keep their mouths shut for a while, in the hopes of holding an awkward conversation with Spence at Waterloo Records during next year's SXSW.
Are They Worthy? As much as we'd love to cynically attribute Annuals' success to shrewd web savvy and blogger hysterics, Be He Me is actually pretty great. It reminds us of some other grandiose alt-rock bands. If only we could remember their names.

Annuals - Brother [MP3, link expired]
Annuals - Dry Clothes [MP3, link expired]
Annuals [MySpace site]

Have you ever wondered how certain acts manage to go from complete obscurity to moderate obscurity in just a matter of weeks? Are you curious as to how a small cabal of twentysomething white guys dictates the tastes of the entire indie-rock population? Do you like jokey, lazily researched charticles? If so, then you'll love Track Marks, in which we perform an autopsy on the latest whisper-down-the-lane band du jour.

After the jump, we break down the Internet-aided ascent of Portland trio Stars of Track and Field, which floated to the upper regions of the elbo.ws chart this week.

Artist: Stars of Track and Field
Hometown: Portland, Oregon
Album: Centuries Before Love and War, available only on iTunes
First online mention: A since-deleted post from Fresno Famous touting a July '05 show at Club Fred.
The Build-Up: Posts about the Stars were intermittent between July and the late winter, but the momentum started growing around the time they played