World Cup? Bah.

While everyone is watching Portugal vs Cote d'Ivoire, I'm sat here in front of my laptop, eyes glued to keanemusic.com's live blog from Camden's Roundhouse.

So what's exciting in the world of music today? My answer would be Mt. Desolation and Brandon Flowers.

Mt. Desolation is a side project of Keane members Tim Rice-Oxley and Jesse Quin (who is actually not an *official* member, but I don't really care because I love him to bits and pieces). According to their official website/blog, they are an alt-country band, which features a list of amazing talents such as John Roderick, Tom Hobden of Noah and the Whale, and even Ronnie Vannucci Jr. of The Killers! They recently played their first ever gig at the Luminaire in London. They played 11 (?) songs, all of which had never been heard by anyone before! Just a few days after, they posted a thank you note on their website, along with a link to a free download for their song "State Of Our Affairs".

Brandon Flowers. Sounds familiar? He's the voice and the brains of The Killers. After they announced their 'indefinite hiatus', Brandon quickly took over the spotlight by letting the world know that he is going solo. No, The Killers have not disbanded, it's just a side project - much like Mt. Desolation - Brandon started to keep himself busy during his band's hiatus. His upcoming album is called Flamingo, and it features Stuart Price and Jenny Lewis of Rilo Kiley. Head over to Brandon Flowers' official website to listen to "Crossfire".

According to a fan who's been to a recent Keane gig, Tim Rice-Oxley said that Mt. Desolation's upcoming album will be released this September. No definite date has been given for Flamingo's release yet. I think I read on YouTube someone said that it will be released later this month (which is highly unlikely if you ask me!), while a friend of mine (who is a huge Brandon Flowers fan) told me a September release is possible.