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I got a call from my bank today because they wanted me to confirm that the debit from my account for the pledge was legitimate. Any other pledgers might want to keep an eye and an ear out for similar contact, particularly those not from the UK. Edit: And the goal has now been officially met!

Nice little two-page article in The Times. Here's some scans. Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4

Really rude, Ryan.

Angel Olsen's LP was released in September, but it totally snuck up on me over the past few days and I'm absolutely loving it. Here's a couple of songs: sxkosKmPwLc Though truth be told I think I prefer her EP from 2010: Wl72ARbdzDM

We don't know this, though, since we don't know the percentages. My assumption, personally, is that Tate absolutely crushed everyone else in Week 2, and the fear of him walking it is what pushed them into revealing the votes. But this week, he and Carly Rose were very close in the vote.

It is a really cool theme idea, but I think it would be meaningless on the UK version since it's so completely producer-driven.

Bella was amazing this week! Her best since auditions at least, maybe even better than that!

Pretty lengthy clips of the studio performances: WfIuscb1UTs Pledgers will get the full versions.

Also, the pledge receipt says "Janet Devlin has pledged to fulfill all exclusives by 15 April, 2013 unless otherwise stated." The gap makes sense, after the drive ends it'll take time to get all the more intensive rewards prepped and sent out.

PledgeMusic campaign for the album is up.

Like, every chosen one that would be ill-suited to an uptempo ever? James Arthur did it just this past week on XF UK.

Aaaaaaaaa.

It's brilliant isn't it. The followup single is even better in my opinion: Album in just a couple weeks now! Based on those two tracks, I could easily see it as my album of the year.

In case anyone doesn't know yet, anyone worldwide can vote for contestants on Facebook: ht tps://www.facebook.com/thexfactoraustralia/app_102818363206654 (still can't post a link quite yet...) Voting opens at or around 12:30 pm (UK) / 7:30 am (eastern US) on Mondays, and closes around 3:00 am Tuesday (UK) / 10:00 pm Monday (eastern US). So just check it Monday afternoons if you're interested. Edit: Looks like it's showing on Tuesday/Wednesday next week instead...

Just checked out a few songs by each of the nominees, definitely going to dig deeper into Lianne La Havas, Django Django, and Alt-J. Might do the same for Jessie ware, Ben Howard, and Field Music. Not sure if my taste is shifting or if it's just an anomaly of a list but I've found a lot more to like about this list than in previous years.