My Old Kentucky Blog founder, Craig “Dodge” Lile, has launched a new site featuring exclusive performances from groups such as Dr Dog, The Spinto Band and Bon Iver.

After recording audio from more than 80 performances at Pendleton Heights High School, Dodge and high school radio station general manager and teacher, Jeff DuPont, with the video expertise of Tim Wilsbach began recording both audio and video. A few weeks back, they started making it available via LaundroMatinee.com. It has a very personal feel to it and is definitely worth checking out. Their Bon Iver session can be seen here.

Over the past week, music bloggers using Google’s Blogger.com have been complaining that their posts are being removed without their consent. While Blogger allows users to quickly toss up a site, seasoned writers often graduate to a more robust software package such WordPress.

It seems as though this recent censorship is convincing more and more Blogger users to jump ship. This week, veteran music bloggers, Quick Before it Melts and The Music Slut have made the jump, not only to WordPress, but to their own domain names. (congrats to them)

With Blogger removing more and more posts daily, how long will it be before more music (and other) blogs move to WordPress? If you have a story about Google censoring your posts, leave it in the comments. If you’re switching to WordPress, check the Elbows Music Blogger community here to get started or start a new discussion if you need help.

Kanye West has been hogging the Elbows’ Hot Artist chart since shortly after the MTV VMA’s when tracks from his upcoming album, 808s & Heartbreak, started leaking like Valerie Plame’s whereabouts. As much as we love us some Kanye, there’s got to be more, right?

The fact is, the entire list has stood somewhat stagnant with Radiohead and MGMT occupying their assumed positions in the top five. The new Oasis release, Dig Out Your Soul, has secured them a top spot as did the Department of Eagles with their debut, In Ear Park.

If you only follow the top artists, you might be surprised to notice that some other, non-Kanye items might be of interest:

5. Wassup 2008
The guys that appeared in those annoying Budweiser commercials from 1999 – 2002 are back with political / social commentary.

4. CMJ 2008 Recap
Last week was the 2008 CMJ Music Festival in NYC.  A ton of shows took place and a lot of bloggers are buzzing about their experiences, posting pics and reviews of new bands.

3. M.I.A. to release new EP
The thought-to-be-retiring, recently knocked-up summer superstar, M.I.A., announced that she will be releasing a three song EP including a remix of Boyz featuring Jay-Z.

2. Bloc Party’s Intimacy Gets Physical
For those of you (myself included) who purchased Bloc Party‘s Intimacy in digital format, this might not seem like that big of a deal at first glance. However, if your album art has been a black square that says Intimacy in it, you can now grab the official album art from iTunes (or Amazon). Also, there are some bonus tracks floating around.

1. Q-Tip is Back
Blogs have been buzzing lately about Q-Tip’s first album in 6 years and first official release since 1999‘s Amplified. The word is that The Renaissance is more sing-songy than rap, but there hasn’t been a lack of praise.

Welcome to the reincarnation of the Elbows Blog. This time, we’re going to attempt to focus on what’s happening in the music blog community with a little chatter about new features on Elbows mixed in.

Our posts here will be at our discretion. If you wish to follow every word of the Music Blogosphere, see the Elbows main page here or visit the Elbows Music Blogger Community for discussions.

We hope you enjoy and, as always, if you have tips or feedback, please message us at info@elbo.ws