The top four tracks from the week of May 31 to June 6.
Good Times – All Time Low
This is quickly becoming the best album All Time Low have put out since So Wrong, It’s Right. This song brings to mind the best of Boys Like Girls and Plain White T’s. They’re really tapping into that pop-rock market that seems to be almost absent from radio right now, save for the indie/electronic influenced bands like Coldplay and Imagine Dragons. Obviously, a song about nostalgia latches onto people with much more ease than a song written about anything else, but again, ATL do it so well. Makes you think about the good times (what a classic line). While I may roll my eyes at the exploitation of teenage nostalgia, this song is genuinely good, and I’m happy for ATL. I hope they get that radio single they want so bad.
RIYL: Boys Like Girls, Plain White T’s, The All American Rejects
13 – LANY
I know, I know. I’ve posted like three LANY songs in the past few months. It just goes to show how hyped I am for this album. These guys are incredibly gifted songwriters, and the hooks get stuck in my head so fast. The la-la-la’s are truly what make this song. The lyrics, the chord progression, and everything else are pretty run of the mill, so you have to dig this band to be into all of that. BUT the bridge la-la’s that follow the guitar lick are awesome, and I think anybody can see that. Lany poised to take over the world. Keep your eyes out.
RIYL: Fickle Friends, The Japanese House, The 1975
No Apologies Feat. Strawberry Girls – Kurt Travis
Back to back Strawberry Girls weeks? Yup. This song is some of the dopest hip-hop/post-hardcore ever. Kurt Travis, the infamous replacement for Jonny Craig in Dance Gavin Dance, proves why he is the superior vocalist. The fact that Strawberry Girls created this hip-hop beat as a three piece instrumental band blows my mind. It’s so good. Travis sounds incredibly good for a white dude trying to rap with flow, and I think he really pulls it off. His crooning calls back to why he got big in the first place, and it’s awesome to hear him combining these two vocal styles for this new project. After he left A Lot Like Birds, I was really nervous that he had lost his way, but this proves he knew better than all of us all along.
RIYL: Jonny Craig, badXchannels, Bad Rabbits
Wasted Youth – Lost in Separation
I’ve never heard this band before this week, but they have a new fan now. They are extremely talented, and show an understanding of how metalcore should be constructed beyond their years. Their first show was last month, and if their live show matches anything close to this recording, I can’t wait until they start touring nationally. In this song, the piano adds a great, subtle element that has been missing in metalcore since Drop Dead Gorgeous. I enjoyed the vocals a bit more on their last single, but the instrumentation in this song is above and beyond. I’m expecting big things from this band.
RIYL: Wage War, Invent Animate, A Feast For Kings
Alastair Heinrichs 