The linup for Coachella was announced today and it's full of surprises and the usual reunions.  Jaz-Z is headlining Friday which is pretty non-Coachella-like and surprising.  He's headlining with LCD Soundsystem and Them Crooked Vultures (the rock supergroup consisting of John Paul Jones [Led Zepplin], Dave Grohl [Nirvana], and Josh Homme [Queens of the Stoneage]).  Other Friday highlights are a reunited Public Image Limited, Echo & the Bunnymen, Grizzly Bear, She & Him, and Grace Jones (?!?!).

Saturday is headlined by Muse, Faith No More and Tiesto.  And also has MGMT, Hot Chip, Devo, Coheed and Cambria, 2ManyDJ's, Z-Trip, the XX, Mew, Raveonettes, Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros, Camera Obscura, and a bunch of other little bands that I have yet to discover.

Sunday is headlined by ORBITAL!  Okay, not really, but they are the headliners in my mind.  Gorillaz, Pavement and Thom York take the top three spots.  You also have Phoenix, Spoon, Sly and the Family Stone (?!?), Yo La Tengo and about two dozen bands to round out the lineup.

This looks like a good year.  I was looking to cut a day or so out of the lineup to save some money but there are some great "must-see" bands on each day.  After last year I was questioning if I should go again and it looks like I'm going to be sweating along with the rest of you out in the desert for one more year.

I'm too tired to write a real review and it's already hard enough to talk about a DJ set because when you boil it down, it's just a dude playing records. Granted, this "dude" is the legendary Phil Hartnoll from Orbital and the records were all stored in a PowerBook, but it's still just a DJ set. So instead of actually writing anything, I just posted an IM conversation that I had with fellow Excellent Online contributor, Brian. Enjoy.

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.

Orbital will release their latest album, The Altogether on a DVD and each track will have their own unique visuals. According to NME, "The DVD, which is recorded in surround sound, will have a series of menus, which allow users to, amongst other things, uncover hidden or alternate versions of tracks."

The DVD will be release on August 27th, the tracklisting is behind the "Read More" link. Tension - Director: Giles Thacker

Orbital, Leftfield, and Asian Dub Foundation will be contributing new music to The Beach sountrack. Moby will include a remix of Blur's 'On Your Own' and as reported earlier, New Order will include their first new track in over six years, 'Brutal'. The soundtrack will be released February 8th on London Records.

Let's not beat around the bush here. Out of the multitudes of electronic acts out there, out of the countless dance acts out there, out of the prime few "say you don't love them and you get stares of pity" groups of musicians out there, ORBITAL are easily one of the most amusing. It's not often that there has been such a difference between Reputation and Actual Quality. There are reasons for this. Come on, take a gander

Tour news: LOVE AND ROCKETS are set to embark on a series of U.S. dates in December. Looking ahead to next summer, a couple of interesting rumors are already surfacing, including another "Big Rewind" style tour, this time featuring THE GO-GO'S and HOWARD JONES and the possibility of a electronia tour featuring ORBITAL and UNDERWORLD.