NPR asked a couple musicians, a few reviewers and a smattering of plain old radio listeners to play them songs from artists who they think are under-rated. The 'You Play DJ: Artists' Picks' special from All Songs Considered features picks from Ben Gibbard (Death Cab, Postal Service), Ryan Adams, John Vanderslice and more. The whole experiment turned into a rather decent radio show in the process.

The lovely folks at mundane sounds had a good idea in March. They put up a compilation called Yellow Orange Pink Blue Baby!, a collection of what they call "baby bands," unsigned or unknown groups that they think you should know about. In most cases, I totally agree. I could go through the 13-song comp. song by song, but that would probably be just as tiresome for you to read as it would be for me to compose, so why don't I just hit some of the highlights and a copy of the, um, lowlights.

The Carolines' "Lonely Last Summer" is a great way to start an album. It's light, poppy and engaging, the kind of song that makes you look forward to hearing the rest of the collection. "Belle" by The Nevvers is a decent little song at a little over two and a half minutes, but it's a little hard to wrap your head around the first time I think. There are a lot of tempo changes, and I for one found the singer's voice a little grating at times, but oddly enough it seems to depend on the day...

ORBITAL have announced that their forthcoming "The Blue Album" will be their last. The brothers Hartnoll, once considered to be at the forefront of electronic listening music, have fallen from favor since arguably reaching their zenith with "The Box." Their show at this summer's Glastonbury Festival will be their farewell. NOT a gig to miss, then. As a small tribute, Excellent Radio will be broadcasting non-stop Orbital this weekend.

Are you having a hard time finding the new SUPER FURRY ANIMALS' CD? You aren't the only one. Unfortunately, the company that the Furry's were distributing their new remix album through, 3MV, has gone liquidy (uhh... that'd be bankrupt I suppose). So what happened to all those copies of 'Phantom Phorce'? Who knows. According to the Furry's label, Placid Casual, they'll be sending out new copies to retailers but it'll take a few weeks to get sorted.

I'd tell you how wonderful the release is and all that you're missing out, but along with the other 99% of SFA fans, I haven't been able to find it either. Check back with Placid Casual for more updates...

Note From Shane: Just as a quick postscript on Liz' story, I DO have it, and it's only marginally wonderful. Some of the mixes are spot-on, but others just plink and plonk around willy-nilly. And if you've got the DVD, you've heard most of it already.

Billboard ran an interesting story a few days ago about the new "Chicks With Attitude" tour. The tour (basically a LIZ PHAIR headlining thing with a few openers) is set to hit 18 major US cities from August to September. The strange aspect of this isn't Liz touring in front of a giant Maybelline billboard as much as who the support acts are... NINA PERSSON (yes THAT Nina of the Cardigans), Katy Rose, and Charlotte Martin. A "preview" show will be happening next week in NY's Hudson Theatre. Pardon the skepticism but wouldn't "The Blond Lillith" tour be a better name?

In other road outings, THE CARDIGANS are headed stateside next month and we have the specific dates up on the tour page. Perhaps US fans will finally be able to pick up their latest record before it gets released here (with a bonus DVD) on May 25.

A secret crush turned me onto a fabulous young Swedish band called CORDUROY UTD. last year and I'm glad to let you all know that they have new material out. When I say young... I do mean agewise. Gustav (the impetus behind the band) has been recording for Summersound Recordings (now Labrador) since the age of 15. Mind you, this was a meer 3 years ago. Corduroy Utd. has quickly developed a wonderful garagey vibe that adds to their Swedish pop aesthetic. Their new record, 'Oh Eira' will be released any day now, but fear not... you can already download the new single 'Daddy's Boy' from Labrador.

After a ten year break the original members of AMERICAN MUSIC CLUB have reunited. We quietly posted their recent US tour dates and heard good things from those of you who managed to catch the band live. The best news so far though would be that the band is working on new material. You can listen now to one of the new tracks, "Another Morning", from the forthcoming album. The band will be playing a few shows in the UK later next month.

In a letter to fans today Robert Turner of Black Rebel Motorcycle Club (B.R.M.C.) announced that the band has been in a contract dispute with Virgin Records for the past 6 months. As of a few days ago B.R.M.C. is free from the confines of the Virgin world and label free. They are currently on an extensive US tour with The Rapture. Read More for the text of the letter...

A few reviews for spring from the PopKIDS. These date from January 2002 to March 2004.
All Girl Summer Fun Band - Theme Song
Didi and LaDara are 6.

So we here at Excellent Online try our best to be even-handed and leave any of our particular political leanings at home (as, after all, music is music is music, and is open for folks of ALL persuasions to dig!) That said, we DID want to mention how excited we are about the launch of AIR AMERICA RADIO, the nation's only talk radio network devoted to the liberal agenda. Regardless of your political slant, be happy that we finally now have BOTH sides of the political spectrum represented on our airwaves. Conservatives have Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Michael Reagan, etc... and now liberals have Air America and its wide-ranging cast of air talent, including former SNL writer Al Franken, Public Enemy founder Chuck D., liberal "it" girl Janeane Garofalo, and our good friend, comedian Marc Maron (remember him from our "Flirt!" compilation?) The fledgling network is only available in select markets at this point, but IS available nationally via XM satellite radio, and better yet, is globally streamed from their website, airamericaradio.com.