Excellent Online

So I'm taking the plunge at writing a new column for Excellent. Hopefully I can make this bit of my indiepop world a regular addition to the website.

Let's face it, it may be April but this spring's indiepop releases are looking a little bleak thus far. There is something ridiculously mundane about watching a pile of dirt bloom into beautiful daffodils that makes me want to hear jangley guitars. My attempts at finding THE janglepop release of this spring have been fruitless so far. There have been numerous rock or electronic albums to perk up my ears, but my headphones are severely lacking jangle. Because of this I'm going to glance back to last fall for inspiration. There were two grossly undervalued discs that came out this past autumn that offer us a glimpse into the seemingly happy world of indiepop...

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.

Well, MORRISSEY has emerged from his years of media silence (seven to be exact) and gone into overdrive. Let's see now, he's headlining Lollapalooza, curating the Meltdown Festival, playing shows in the UK and US, stealing the headling slots on SEVERAL UK fesivals and yes... FINALLY releasing that new record. As previously reported 'You Are The Quarry' will hit record store shelves on May 18. So what does the tracklisting look like?

HOWIE DAY is one of the most acclaimed singer-songwriters of the past few years. We've even touted his releases here at Excellent. And while he may sing poetic odes to love, apparantly you'd better reciprocate his feelings or wrath the Wrath of Howie. The singer was arrested yesterday in Madison, WI and charged with misdemeanor counts of criminal damage to property and disorderly conduct. Apparantly Day had invited a couple of female fans back to his tourbus for a "meet-n-greet" of a different nature... and, when one of the women refused his advances, Day decided the best course of action would be to lock the woman in the bathroom of the tourbus. When her friend tried to call the police on her cell phone, Day grabbed the phone from her and smashed it. Day was released from jail after posting bond - he's due back in court in early April. Maybe there'll be a nice song written about this once it's all over... though we can't figure out anything to rhyme with "disorderly conduct"...

It's been rumored for some weeks but we finally have confirmation that LOLLAPALOOZA will be changing to a 2-date format in each US city they visit on this year's tour. Organizers have finally agreed that to hold a one day festival is simply not giving the kids the best of the festival scene. The announced lineup so far has taken a far more eclectic direction than last year's festival with a few of the acts announced so far being: MORRISSEY, THE FLAMING LIPS, STRING CHEESE INCIDENT, LE TIGRE, BLACK REBEL MOTORCYCLE CLUB, MODEST MOUSE and THE FIRE THEFT. There have been rumors floating about with names like Gomez, The Polyphonic Spree and Sonic Youth to soon be added to the list of confirmed artists. Keep your fingers crossed as the festival this year is shaping up to be a far more diverse event than last year's Jane's Addiction reunion.

Stephin Merritt might be one of the busiest songwriters in indie music. A successful movie soundtrack now under his belt, Stephin has finished up work on a new MAGNETIC FIELDS album, "i". Since he is always a man of themes, apparently all 14 tracks on the new record start with "i". The new release will be available on May 4 through Nonesuch.

Stephin has also collaborated with director Chen Shi-Zheng for their second project together. The opera, "Peach Blossom Fan", will be premiering on April 9th in Los Angeles. As if all of this wasn't enough... The Magnetic Fields are going out on tour. It will be a quick jaunt through the US stopping in Philly, Western Mass., NYC, Boston, Minneapolis and cummulating with 3(!) shows in Chicago.

THE POLYPHONIC SPREE's new album, Together We're Heavy, is scheduled to be released on July 13, 2004 and will contain 10 new "sections". At the moment they're scheduled for an April 21 performance on Jay Leno while touring with DAVID BOWIE. No matter what you think of their first album, everyone needs to see the 'Spree live at least once. So if you're heading to the David Bowie show, make sure you get there on time to catch 'em. Click on 'read more' for the full tracklisting.

There was a blurb in the London tabloid, The Sun, yesterday that mentioned a possible VERVE compilation to be released this fall. NME confirmed the story today and narrowed down the release date to October of this year. This is all according to a spokesperson for Richard Ashcroft. The tracklisting hasn't been confirmed but I'm a huge Verve fan (having run the Verve Universe site for nine years) and have compiled my "dream" compilation below...

SWERVEDRIVER's drummer Jez did a recent interview on Glamorama and pretty much said that Swervedriver is no more. The lead singer, Adam Franklin, always seems to dodge the question and leaves the door open to more Swervedriver records in the future. But in true Swervedriver style, Jez didn't quite put the nail in the coffin when he said, "I'd never say never." It's a great interview with Mike Kegler (the interviewer) asking if there's a possibility of a Swerve box set ala the recent Ride reissues plus a decent history of the band's constant record label problems. I used to run the official site, swervie.com, but now it just redirects to the wonderful www.swervedriver.com

J.J. JACKSON, one of the original MTV VJ's, died tonight of an apparant heart attack while driving home from dinner. We don't know our history THAT well, but we're pretty sure this could be the first death among former full time MTV jocks. All of us at Excellent Online are saddened by Jackson's passing, and harken back to a time when the only thing complicated about life was figuring out how to get home from school fast enough to watch MTV. Among the many memories, Jackson DID leave us one distinct legacy: He was the very first host of 120 Minutes, MTV's Sunday night alternative music show that usually ended up being the best two hours of our week. We'll miss ya, J.J.