- BAYSIDE – Killing Time — New York pop-punk/heavy-melodic-emo veterans knock out their best full-length thus far, in what should be a make or break defining moment. So catchy it hurts.

- DARKEST HOUR – The Human Romance — Still trying to wrap my head around this one, but it’s definitely good, and I think a step the band needed to take to stay relevant as its run approaches or tops 15 years. Plus, it reminds me of (good) IN FLAMES, which is never a band thing.

- RED CITY RADIO – The Dangers of Standing Still –Paper + Plastick has put out an unbelievable amount of titles in its brief history, but only a few of them have received prolonged national attention. Here’s to guessing that this will be another added to that list. Fast, aggressive rootsy punk rock with soaring melodies and hyperactive drumming. GASLIGHT ANTHEM meets STRIKE ANYWHERE?

- TERA MELOS – Zoo Weather — Quirkier than anything mentioned above… noisy, synth heavy post-punk that sounds the kind of arrival music we’d hear from an alien spacecraft.

- TAHITI 80 – The Past, The Present & The Possible — Highly infectious dance-pop-rock from France. Have only given this one listen so far, but it did remind me to break out Fosbury, which the band released in the US in 2006 on the late Militia Group Records.