Rocky Loves Emily – “Secrets Don’t Make Friends”: This band is out to get fans of All Time Low, etc excited for the summer and music elitists indulging their inner guilty pleasure of cheesy pop punk. This song is anything but hard-hitting, but I challenge you to try to get this out of your head, even if you hate it. I bet you can’t. This will appeal to people in the same way that Family Force 5 does – they’re so bad they’re good. And there’s definitely nothing wrong with that!
Family Force 5 – “Zombie”: This song comes out upon the sudden announcement of the III.IV EP. This is better than anything I’ve heard off of III thus far, and it hearkens back to their Business Up Front… days. Lots of crunk here, and not nearly as repetitive as “Get On Outta Here”, the previous single chosen for airplay on RadioU. Also, the Christian metaphors are obvious here, just pay attention to the lyrics!
Deadwood Floats – “The Colours I Earned”: The Columbus, OH indie folk group has this new single online for free, as their first preview of what’s to come after their critically acclaimed but not widely received Provence EP. Watch out Fleet Foxes. A lot of instrumentation is crammed into this song, but it doesn’t feel overdone. Rather, it kind of meanders in a pleasant way. The singing and harmonizing is reminiscent of something you would hear from The Head and the Heart. Given that The Head and the Heart is selling out clubs with only one major release under their belt, I would keep an eye on this band.
Owl City feat. Mark Hoppus (Blink 182) – “Dementia”: Wow, if you had told me last year (or even last week) that Adam Young would partner with Mark Hoppus I would have thought you were nuts. This track does work though! It’s not really the Eurodance style recently predicted for the next Owl City record, but instead is a more straightforward pop-rock song with some intermittent synths. It retains the trademark Owl City cheer, and oddly enough Hoppus’ voice (even if a bit auto tuned) fits the track.
