Woohoo! Excellent's favorite Danes are finally heading back stateside for a full US tour (ok, well MY favorite Danes). Who are we talking about? Well MEW of course! Since this will mark the first time I'll be able to see their now legendary performance live show, I must wax poetic for a few minutes.

Who are mew? A Danish four three piece who stole my heart years ago with their amazing record Frengers. They followed up their first International release with And The Glass Handed Kites, a prog-rock masterpiece that has earned glowing reviews everywhere they turn. They will be striking out across North American soon with Kasabian so get your tickets now!

ps. For the next two weeks only you can buy the new Mew record from iTunes for only $6.99!

After being hotly touted as the Next Big Thing, Sweden's CONCRETES have parted ways with lead singer Victoria Bergsman, who has left the band for a solo career. This takes the band down to the duo of Lisa Milberg (drums / vocals) and Maria Eriksson (guitar / vocals), who claim via their website that the Concretes will continue without Bergsman. Whether that means drafting a new lead singer or not is unclear. As their site says, "Life goes on. We are working on new stuff and so is Victoria. We wish her the best of luck."

Summer anthems are popping up left and right and already starting to pop up when we're caught singing in the shower. (I'm still in shock over the fact that I LOVE the new Justin Timberlake single. I'm awaiting the 4 Horsemen of the Apocalypse as I type.) Anyways, one of the BEST classic summer songs this year is the new RAZORLIGHT tune, "In the Morning." It's already all over the British airwaves, and it's coming to the US soon (though the American release of the record has been delayed until 8/22.) Anyways, in case you haven't heard it, you can peep the track right here.

Razorlight - In the Morning.mp3

Well, this week we've learned that THE KILLERS have produced at least 39 seconds of follow-up to their stunning debut. Released pretty much to every music magazine and website under the sun today, you can now hear ALMOST enough of a song to ascertain a verse and a chorus. Frankly, we'd have preferred the whole song, but hey, beggars can't be choosers. One of the easiest places to hear it is via MuchMusic's website. Check all 39 seconds of it out.

I still don't quite know WHY I'm horribly sad at the passing of Syd Barrett today at age 60. The Pink Floyd founder helped to create one of the best debut albums in history, then pretty much imploded in a whirlwind of drugs, psychosis, and a couple of the most deranged solo albums ever committed to vinyl. Maybe I'm sad because of the lost potential. Barrett was either a musical genius or a magical fluke - all we have are a handful of songs as proof, and it's not enough. Had he held it together, perhaps he could've been TRULY great. Who knows, though? Maybe they'll go into his room and find 20 years worth of musical epics lurking in the closet. No one knows - and that was part of Barrett's magic. We idolize him and his mysterious flaws the same way we idolize J.D. Salinger. Barrett was an intense flame who burned out WAY before his time -- and then truly was never to be heard from again. Did drugs destroy Barrett? Or was the influence of drugs what made his tiny body of work so brilliant in the first place? Regardless, his limited but vital contributions to the music world made psychedelic music what it is today... and every time you hear a band like Spiritualized... or the Flaming Lips... or Neutral Milk Hotel... you'll realize that Barrett's crazy diamond WILL shine on for years and years to come. And there's no better legacy than that. RIP Syd.

We KNEW it was too good to be true. Yesterday we reported on an unconfirmed posting to the Elephant 6 Forums by Jeff Mangum, him of NEUTRAL MILK HOTEL potentially alluding to new recordings and a possible new NMH record.

No dice.

PITCHFORK spoke with Apples in Stereo frontman and Elephant 6 kingpin Robert Schneider, who confirms that the mystery post in the forums was NOT Mangum, but an elaborate hoax. Schneider posted the following on the E6Townhall forums today:

"dear friends--

i had not commented on this thread because i wanted to hear back from jeff mangum directly about it-- i sent jeff an email quoting the initial post on this thread yesterday, and he just replied:

'hello robert-i am sorry to inform you that this is not my post. could you please inform the good people on the e6 list that this is not my writing? thank you robert. much love-j'

this came directly to my email from jeff's email account-- the post attributed to him is 100% FALSO, sorry to bear the disappointing news-- it was a very beautifully written fake post!

you are all beautiful and brilliant kids, it would do the whole world a great deal of good if you took all this great energy and excitementyou have been passing around here, rolled it up with your anger and disappointment into a big wonderful pissed-off ball, and recorded a bunch of kickass songs!!! please go right now and make something special, do something great, retaliate against the mediocrity that engulfs us!!

don't just do it for me, or jeff, or elephant 6 (although it would please us all immensely) do it because the world needs it!!

love,
robert schneider"

Ergo, for all we know, the eccentric genius is STILL missing in action, or at clown college, or a born-again Christian, or hosting weird radio shows in small towns, or whatever rumour you'd like to believe.

All this proves, Jeff, is that people would REALLY like to hear more from you at some point. Whaddaya say?

Okay, people, it's time to start scanning the skies for 4 mean-lookin' dudes on horses -- it's apocalypse time.

Two bands come to mind when you complete this sentence: "You'll know it's the end of the world when __________ puts out a new record."

One is, of course, My Bloody Valentine. But it's okay, Kevin Shields, we've enjoyed the decade wait. Let's try for two, eh?

However, the OTHER group we thought we'd never hear from again might be ready to make noise again. Last night, a long-winded post was made to the Elephant 6 Forums. Attributed simply to "Jeff," the post spoke of new music and possibly even a tour.

Could this possibly really truly be Jeff Mangum of NEUTRAL MILK HOTEL? After wowing the entire free world with the stellar album, "In the Aeroplane Over the Sea," Mangum basically disappeared. While his friends were surely still in touch, the internet was rife with rumours like the one that said the eccentric musician had joined a traveling circus.

Ah, fame.

It can turn the best of men into whimpering, whiny, drug-addled tabloid fodder in no time. It takes a certain breed of person to suffer fame and survive with their wits intact... even more so if your fame happens overnight. Some people can hack it; others get out while the gettin's good.

Which brings us to Andy Nicholson, who has quit ARCTIC MONKEYS at the zenith of their debut record success. The bass player had actually been MIA for a bit, absent from the band's recent US tour due to what was announced at the time as "fatigue."

Today the band announced via their website that Andy's departure is permanent:

"We are sad to tell everyone that Andy is no longer with the band. Nick OâEUR(TM)Malley, who stood in for Andy while he was absent from the recent tour of North America, shall carry on playing bass for the remaining shows this summer. We have been mates with Andy for a long time and have been through some amazing things together that no one can take away. We all wish Andy the very best. -Alex, Jamie and Matt."

It's the end of an era, today. Heck, it's the end of about 5 eras, as today the BBC has cancelled "Top of the Pops."

The infamously cheezy UK chart music showcase show, which debuted some 42 years ago, will be no more later this summer.

In its seemingly infinite run, TOTP has seen everyone from the Beatles to Nirvana grace its stage, and was frequently mocked for encouraging featured artists to lip sync and mime to backing tapes. While the show eventually allowed artists to perform live, it was still a pretty corny affair -- and some bands used their TOTP appearances to mock the format.

Who could forget Nirvana's first TOTP appearance, with Cobain singing "Smells Like Teen Spirit" about 2 registers lower than the recorded version? How about the KLF bringing out assortments of druids, spaceships, and Tammy Wynette? Or the slew of various alt/punk bands who would trash the set and themselves before being perfunctorily dismissed?

Or just recently, when The Magic Numbers were set to perform... until, that is, a presenter cracked a fat joke at their expense, which sent the band storming out of the studio.

As cheezy as it is, we're sad to see TOTP go. It's more than a show, it's a cultural icon. Here's hoping it never gets lost to the sands of time. DVD retrospective, anyone?

In the latest Matador newsletter they break the details of the new Yo La Tengo album. It's due September 12th and will be called, 'I Am Not Afraid of You and I Will Beat Your Ass'. Read on for the full details...