Ahh... God, I love it when so much fantastic news and music spews forth that it's tough to keep up with the news.

First off, there's lots of news involving sonic terrorist bravecaptain, otherwise known in a former life as Martin Carr of the Boo Radleys. If you haven't been paying attention all year, Brave Sir Melton has been releasing an mp3 singles club throughout 2005. Every month, a new track has shown up at the Captain's website available for inexpensive download (1 pound per track.) And it's well worth the investment, if you ask us.

It's also well worth the investment if you ask the Captain himself... as he's just announced a pretty cool deal. If you have downloaded all 12 of the 2005 Singles-of-the-Month by January 15th, 2006, you'll get sent COMPLETELY FREE a limited edition CD of bravecaptain's 'Eyeless in Canton' session for BBC Radio Wales. No charges, not even shipping. The 'Eyeless in Canton' session is a 24-minute mix featuring the likes of the Human League, Kool Keith, Akira the Don, Blondie & MF Doom alongside special mixes of tracks from the new bravecaptain album, 'Distractions'.

That enough good news for you? PSHAW. Let's talk about the new bravecaptain album, "Distractions," released on January 30th. We've been lucky enough to hear an advance copy, and it's definitely the most mature, sonically evolved bravecaptain record yet. Here's the best part: In an attempt to expand the bravecaptain fanbase across the world, "Distractions" will NOT be coming out on Martin's most recent label, Wichita. In fact, "Distractions" will NOT be coming on any label period. Starting on Mon., Jan. 30, you can simply log onto bravecaptain.co.uk and download it COMPLETELY FOR FREE. That's right, Martin's GIVING us his new record FREE OF CHARGE!!!

Think that's enough Boo Radleys news to keep you going? Hardly. Now you need to go to www.paperlung.com. PAPERLUNG is Sice's new band. That's right, the voice of the Boos is back after nearly a decade with a new project. There are 3 downloadable demos that are everything you'd want this band to sound like and then some.

Talk about one great Christmas.

bravecaptain website: bravecaptain.co.uk
bravecaptain on MySpace: myspace.com/bravecaptain

Paperlung website: www.paperlung.com
Paperlung on MySpace: myspace.com/paperlung

By now you should know that a certain fella named MARTIN CARR, who was once in THE BOO RADLEYS, has a new project called BRAVE CAPTAIN, and has just released one heck of a debut record. What you might NOT know is that now he's chatting with YOU... Thursday night... over at INSOUND. The chat starts at 9 p.m. EST, 2 a.m. GMT - and you should go.

Wichita Recordings currently has available several sound clips from BRAVE CAPTAIN, otherwise known as our favorite ex-Boo Radley MARTIN CARR. According to Wichita's website, the first material from Carr's new outfit is expected this July. Read all about Carr and the fledgling label's activities via their website, www.wichita-recordings.com

Twas a sad day indeed last year when the announcement came to us that the Boo Radleys were packing it in. One of the last shining stars of the fading Creation Records roster, the Boos spent most of the 90's proving to us time and again that great music can push the envelope of creativity AND still come from the heart namely, the heart of guitarist and songwriter Martin Carr.

Well, the Boos may be gone, but Carr's far from history. Reinventing himself under the guise of Brave Captain, he's about to release his first new material since the breakup of the band. The 6-track mini-album, "The Fingertip Saint Sessions Volume 1" is due August 14 on Carr's newfound label, Wichita Recordings (formed by former Creation exec Dick Green and Carr's best friend, Mark Bowen.) All six tracks were recorded with the help of SFA and Gorky's producer Gorwel Owen, and the two are almost wholly responsible for every lick of music on the record - and that includes Carr's first stab at lead vocals.

Martin's been a supporter and acquaintance of Excellent Online for years, and we're pleased and proud to have been given the opportunity to conduct an interview with him just two weeks before the release of the new record.

Interview by Shane Brown

The first new material from MARTIN CARR since the demise of the Boo Radleys is now set to emerge on August 30th. The track, "The Monk Jumps Over the Wall," is to be included on a new compilation, "The Carve-Up," created by NME's Keith Cameron. Though reported elsewhere as being the debut performance of Martin's new project, Brave Captain, the track is actually a home recording of a demo cut by Carr around the time of the last Boo Radleys album, "Kingsize." We'll have ALL the details on Carr's new band as details become more and more available.

There's a bevy of studio activity afoot right now. Here's a look at some of the bands in the creative process as we speak:

MANSUN have begun work on their third album, the follow-up to "Six," which was just released in the U.S. this week. Initial reports indicate the band's heading for a more straight-forward approach with this one.

THE CHARLATANS have completed construction of their new personal studio, and are hard at work on their first album to be recorded since the untimely death of keyboardist Rob Collins. Expect an August release, we're told.

There's an interesting auction going on this week at Interactive Collector (http://www.icollector.com) It's called HITS UNDER THE HAMMER, and it's a charity auction of autographed/hand-written lyrics to benefit the Nordoff-Robbins Trust. Among the auctioned items, which are available for bids online, are the original working lyric sheets of "Wake Up Boo!", a lawn chair with the lyrics of "Sit Down" scrawled across it by Tim Booth, as well as lyric sheets from Supergrass, The Cure, and many others.

A slight addendum to the BOO RADLEYS break-up. The following message was sent to the Boo Radleys Message Board (www.boardhost.com/boards/ workshy) today from Boo guitarist/songwriter Martin Carr:

Otherwise known as BLACK FRIDAY, with the news that THE BOO RADLEYS have split up. The following message, from Boo guitarist and songwriter Martin Carr, appeared on the band's message board earlier today:

THE BOO RADLEYS have found a new home in the U.S. on Never Records. Their latest album "Kingsize" is set to be released by the fine folks at Never in late January.