Excellent Online

So you've gathered up your pile of CDs (or playlist of mp3s) of music released in 2005 and are about to sit down to ponder the best and the brightest of the year. Oh where to start? My Blog is Poop offers a music enthusiast a few tips laughs. You could take a peek at a few of the already released lists like Indie Interviews, Large Hearted Boy or Stylus Magazine's top 50 Singles (which is being revealed 10 at a time throughout this week). Perhaps you'd like to know what a few celeb's thought of 2005... how about Shirley Manson of Garbage or Ricky Wilson of the Kaiser Chiefs.

Yeh I know it's not yet Christmas, you think I'm jumping the gun on announcing Valentine's news. Me? Never. SAINT ETIENNE have announced tour dates for the new year (hot on the heels of their new US record label news). They're flying over for a quick US tour to be your valentine. Dates are up on our tour page and the record (with 3 more tracks than the UK release) is due out January 24. Fingers crossed but perhaps on this US tour we could get a few DJ sets from Bob Stanley. (nudge nudge)

So there's news everywhere on the new MORRISSEY record. Well, it's got a title, Ringleader Of The Tormentors, and it's expected out in March. As for the tracklisting and everything else, Morrissey has offered up the details to Billboard. Or you could view the Q & A at the NME. Or you could take a peek at the Questions posed by fans on True-To-You.Net to find out such things like Moz being drawn to people who question authority. Or you could read the book that was reissued last month, Saint Morrissey : A Portrait of This Charming Man by an Alarming Fan. Or you could read the Pitchfork review that compares Jens Lekman to Morrissey, but that last one probably isn't what you're after.

On NPR website, there is a weekly show called All Songs Considered and they have archived several full concerts from artists like Death Cab For Cutie, Secret Machines, My Morning Jacket, White Stripes, Sigur Ros, Interpol and more. I'm listening to the Secret Machines right now and it's stunning. GO NPR!!

Everyone who burns CD's/DVD's always manages to run out of blank discs or cases. For some reason if you buy 100 pack of discs and a 100 pack of cases, they never quite match up. So instead of just handing a buddy a *gasp* naked disc, impress your friends with making a sweet jewel case out of paper. I saw this over on Digg and thought it was kinda funny that someone took the time to actually document the process.

Wowsa. Yep, it's been a good long while since you've seen a column from me, folks. I realized the other day that I think the past five or six columns that I've written for Excellent begin with apologies for not writing more columns... so I'll spare you the apologies this time and just let you know what's been going on - click READ MORE and let's have a chat, shall we?

Probably the coolest thing I've seen all year, this high school band covers a few tracks from DJ SHADOW's debut album, "Endtroducing". The video quality is kinda crappy, but it's streaming so you can't really expect too much. In any case, it's a must see if you even remotely familiar with Shadow.

I was flipping around the schedule for my MythTV machine and found out that FRANZ FERDINAND was playing on the PBS show, Austin City Limits. Looking at their upcoming schedule, they have a bunch of cool acts coming up like PIXIES, WILCO, POLYPHONIC SPREE, THE FLAMING LIPS and the SHINS. Check your local listings...

I get excited when I see the words "Andy Bell" in a news headline. My first thoughts are that Andy Bell has decided to leave Oasis and return to the world of making his own music. This, of course, is never the case and inevitably I click on a link to read some new tidbit about Andy Bell... of Erasure. Then I smack myself in the forehead for even thinking that the world knows the name of the bassist in Oasis despite his previous musical "celebrity" (alright, if you're not following me here, he made up one quarter of influential Oxford band Ride).

So... now the real news here is of course about Andy Bell (of Erasure and the domain andybell.com) and his new solo record. He's like, um, recording again and stuff. Ok, sorry... I just can't fake any enthusiasm here. The whole point of this was obviously that I'm tired of reading the words "Andy Bell" in any music press that has nothing to do with Andy Bell as I know him (ok, well not personally). Oh and there's like a tour, but um... go somewhere else for the dates.

I'm not sure if it's media like The Tipping Point or just the general growth of an indie music voice through blogs and whatnot... but apparently the big names are starting to court the indie sect. The proof? Madonna shows up at MisShapes this past Saturday to throw down her new single. Madonna... at MisShapes. Yes, the legendary NYC club night that generally courts the likes of Pete Wiggs of Saint Etienne, Jarvis Cocker (well DUH) or the boys from Bloc Party.

I'm amused at all the talk of her showing up in the land of hipsters... all the security etc but one thing seems to be missing from the various gossip reports... any information on the new song? Was the point just to stir us up with her appearance or her music?