Vemont Music Update

Time to take another look at what all you crazy mugs are buying and listening to in Vermont these days. Courtesy of Seven Days, here is what the top records sold at the local indie music stores were for the last week:

Buch Spieler - Montpelier

1. Neil Young - Prarie Fire
2. Kanye West - Late Registration
3. Fiona Apple - Extraordinary Machine
4. Patti Casey -- The Edge of Grace
5. Bonnie Rait - Souls Alike
6. Sheryl Crow - Wildflower
7. Bob Dylan - No Direction Home Soundtrack
8. Rolling Stones - Bigger Bang
9. Gorillaz - Demon Days
10. Leo Kotke/Mike Gordon - Sixty-Six Steps

Pure Pop - Burlington

1. Atmosphere - You Can't Imagine How Much Fun We're Having
2. Danger Doom - The Mouse and the Mask
3. Fiona Apple - Extraordinary Machine
4. My Morning Jacket - Z
5. Neil Young - Prarie Fire
6. Damien Marley - Welcome to Jamrock
7. Broken Social Scene - Broken Social Scene
8. Iron & Wine/Calexico - In the Reins
9. Sigur Ros - Takk
10. Wolf Parade - Apologies to Queen Mary

Exile on Main Street - Barre

1. Neil Young - Prarie Fire
2. Bob Dylan - No Direction Home Soundtrack
3. Sevendust - Next
4. Bon Jovi - Have a Nice Day
5. Gary Allan - Tough All Over
6. Switchfoot - Nothing is Sound
7. Herbie Hancock - Possibilities
8. Jack Johnson - In Between Dreams
9. B.B. King & Friends - 80
10. Rolling Stones - 40 Licks

Vermont Book Shop - Middlebury

1. Grace Potter & the Nocturnals
2. Big Joe Burrell - I'm a Lucky So and So...
3. Neil Young - Prarie Fire
4. Patti Casey - The Edge of Grace
5. Dar Williams - My Better Self
6. Nanci Griffith - Hearts in Mind
7. Sinead O'Connor - Throw Down Your Arms
8. Anoushka Shankar - Rise
9. B.B. King & Friends - 80
10. Richard Thompason - Front Parlour Ballads

The last time we looked at these lists, Ween was in every list. Now...nada. They blew through like a rapid moving storm. This week's big winner is Neil Young as he sits in the top five of all four lists and tops two of them. Nobody else sits on more than two lists.

The oddball store this week is Vermont Book Store. Sinead O'Connor? Big Joe Burrell? Dar Williams? Nanci Griffith? Anoushka Shankar? I know they all have 2005 releases but it's still an odd collection of artists to see in the top ten of any record store.

Now, here is the list of the most frequently listened to bands among the members of the Vermont group on Last.FM (we're up to 27 members!):

1. Sigur Rós
2. Belle and Sebastian
3. Broken Social Scene
4. The Decemberists
5. Of Montreal
6. The Velvet Underground
7. Weezer
8. The Clash
9. The Magnetic Fields
10. Death Cab for Cutie

There's still a big disconnect between the lists from the record stores and the list from Last.FM. The only band to find it's way onto any of the lists above and this list is Sigur Rós. The Decemberists, Belle & Sebastian, The Clash and Death Cab for Cutie continue to hold their spots in the top ten since late September though.

In a manner of full disclosure, here is my list from Last.FM during the same time period:

1. The New Year
2. The Light Footwork
3. Palace
4. Serena Maneesh
5. Wolf Parade
6. The Hidden Cameras
7. The Promise Ring
8. Sun Kil Moon
9. Nouvelle Vague
10. Hound Dog Taylor & the House Rockers

If Last.FM captured what you listened to on your iPod, then Wolf Parade would be a lot higher for me. Otherwise, the list is fairly representative.