Excellent Online

You ever get that feeling? You know, that nerd feeling? The one that happens when you hit play on a record you were expecting to be decent, only to find out that it's BETTER than decent? The feeling that makes your arm hairs stand on end? The reassuring comfort in knowing that your musical taste is FAR superior to most mere mortals? The DISCOVERY of something sonically brilliant?

It happened to me just now.

Rhode Island's THE BROTHER KITE may have just unleashed the album of the year on us. Their self-titled debut record a couple years back was one of the standout releases on the fledgling Claire label (your home for turtleneck-wearing shoegazing fans who still can't accept that Lush broke up.) Their first album was good; I was expecting the same from the follow-up.

See I shouldn't open my mouth about how horrible it is when bands pack it in... I end up with something like this in my inbox:

Updated Friday 8th September, 2006
Yes, it's the end for Arab Strap. After ten years, six studio albums, three live albums and all manner of everything else, we've decided the story should come to a close. There's no animosity, no drama, we simply feel we've run our course and The Last Romance seems to us the most obvious and logical final act of the Arab Strap studio adventure. Everybody likes a happy ending!
We will, of course, be celebrating. Our anniversary compilation, 'Ten Years Of Tears'

It's so nice not to announce another band have split ways and to instead announce that an "old favorite" is back in the running. Macclesfield England's MARION have reformed, written some new material and are strutting their stuff next week at a couple of gigs in London and Manchester. For any of you who weren't familiar with Marion back in the day, not ONLY were they some of the nicest guys to throw off that Britpop scene, they earned kudos from SELECT, Melody Maker and the like at the release of their debut record "This World and Body" and the admiration of Morrissey to boot.

We were saddened a few years ago to read reports of Jaime Harding's drug troubles, but excited to have spied guitarist Phil Cunningham in the lineup with New Order. I'd assumed over the years that no news was bad news, so what a pleasant surprise this is. You can give a listen to a few new demos over at the bands's MySpace or check out the "news" from Tripwire.

(sidenote: Marion came to America once upon a time on a short US tour... must've been February or March 1996? And the band probably had a lil to do with my prescence at Excellent as I met Shane that night backstage at the Metro between sets of Marion and The Rentals. I could get even more personal and explain how I eventually met one of my best friends through an evening spent with Jules, Marion's former-former bassist but I'll save that story for another day.)

We all scream for PRIMAL SCREAM! If you haven't had a chance to check out the new Primal Scream record Riot City Blues, the gang from Scotland are offering up a few live videos for you to peruse on their website. Full songs are up for your listening pleasure as well as videos for "Country Girls" and "Dolls (Sweet Rock and Roll)." Don't forget to take a peek at a few of their performances from T In The Park a few weeks ago.

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."

Muse
July 21, 2006
Soma, San Diego, CA

I've been looking forward to seeing Muse ever since they played Coachella a few years ago. They had two shows in the area, LA's Greek Theatre which is a nice assigned seated outdoor amphitheatre, or San Diego's Soma, a hot dank sweaty general admission venue. Since I've never been to Soma, I opted for the SD show. And as a rule of thumb, general admission is always better then assigned seating, IMO.

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.