alt-J-Left Hand Free

English rockers alt-J drop their new single "Left Hand Free." alt-J experienced huge success back in 2012 with their debut album An Awesome Wave. Their sound combined some electronic production, awesome instrumentals, and completely incoherent vocals. When asked about their new single, alt-J said that "Left Hand Free" would be "too normal", as their label was concerned that their last release "Hunger of The Pines" was not a big enough single. While not as abstract as some of their other music, it's still far from normal, infused with their ridiculous lyrics and the "unique" organ solo. Look for alt-J's new album This Is All Yours September 22.

Catfish and the Bottlemen-Kathleen

As is with most good rock bands nowadays, Catfish and the Bottlemen are a new group out of the UK. The beginning of "Kathleen" sounds like the usual catchy alternative verse, but the band quickly changes pace when they enter the chorus. The lead singer's voice gets deeper and the instrumentals follow with heavy percussion. It's this part of their sound that gets me excited for what they'll release in the future. For more Catfish and The Bottlemen, download their debut EP Kathleen and the Other Three on iTunes now.

RDGLDGRN-Robots

The multicolored trio comes out with their first single since their 2013 debut RDGLDGRN EP. "Robots" demonstrates their signature style of combining upbeat instrumentals and both rapping and singing.

Dirty Heads-Sound of Change

Another single off of Dirty Heads' upcoming album, Sound of Change is an anthem for this summer. With an uplifting chorus and some good verses by Dirty J and Duddy B, the eponymous track has me even more excited for the group's third studio album. Look out for Sound of Change on July 8 and download the single on iTunes now.

Dirty Heads-My Sweet Summer

SoCal band Dirty Heads are back with their new single "My Sweet Summer." The track is off their upcoming album Sound of Change, out July 8. "My Sweet Summer" seems to show DH reverting back to their old style, circa-Any Port In The Storm, a little more punk-infused reggae than Cabin In The Sea.

Street Joy-Same As Me

LA alternative band Street Joy releases their third single "Same As Me". The smooth jam shows the band's instrumental talent and the lead singer's perfect alternative rock voice.

Sticky Fingers-Gold Snafu

Melbourne band Sticky Fingers is back with their best song yet, "Gold Snafu." The upbeat track starts off with some flute and goes into a repetitive lick. The lead singer creates a great melody, though, which sounds like something from Smash Mouth circa 1997 until the song breaks into a mixture of little girls singing, an increase in instruments, and some awesome harmonizing.

Ziggy Marley-I Don't Wanna Live On Mars

When I first heard this track I realized how long it had been since I had found a good Reggae-Rock track. 2 year ago, this was all I listened to. Bands like The Dirty Heads, Ballyhoo, Passafire, and Slightly Stoopid were my life. Of course, I saw this song because I had already loved Ziggy Marley, too. "I Don't Wanna Live On Mars" has the perfect combination of electric guitar and good vibe reggae sounds.

Meg Myers-Go

Meg Myers drops a new single from her upcoming EP Make A Shadow. The song features some awesome instrumental work, including a great guitar riff and some great drum work. Look for the new album February 11.

George Ezra-Cassy O'

Bristol singer-songwriter George Ezra releases his new single "Cassey O'" from his upcoming album of the same name, out March 16. The track showcases the musician's signature deep vocals that were first heard on his 2013 EP Did You Hear The Rain? that included the hit "Budapest."

John Butler Trio-Blame It On Me

Finally, I found some rock. As I have ranted about plenty of times before, Rock n Roll is a fastest dying genre, and it's a tragedy. However, I seem to have found something pretty close to it today. The John Butler Trio, who plan to release their album Flesh & Blood on Feb. 4th, dropped the first single "Blame It On Me." The track features a smooth guitar riff and John Butler's vocals create a positively bluegrass vibe.

The Parlor Mob

I remember when I first found The Parlor Mob I was dumbfounded it took me so long. It was the beginning of last year and I had given up my desperate search for good Rock, which is impossible to find. Even though I mostly listen to Rap now, it upsets me that Rock is fading away so fast, it's dying. In fact, the reason I listen to Rap so much now is because it's so easy to find and it comes out so often. Whenever I go under the the Top Rock Songs/Albums section in iTunes it makes me want to cry. It's filled with weird screamo bands and AC/DC, Journey, and Aerosmith songs that have been discounted to $0.69, which don't get me wrong, are great bands, but how could they still possibly be on the top of the charts? The reason I still listen to Fall Out Boy is because they are one of the few bands that still have multiple vocalists, drums, a bass, and heavy amounts of electric guitar. However, that doesn't mean I hate where Rock is going. Alternative bands like The White Stripes, Arctic Monkeys, AWOLNATION, Imagine Dragons, Muse, fun, etc. are changing the way the genre sounds, and not in a bad way. But I still miss that sound. My Chemical Romance was pretty close, the lyrics could get pretty emo and punk at times, but the sound was undeniably Rock. Unfortunately, they broke up this summer. Switchfoot made some great Rock, but if you listened to their new EP, you can see they abandoned that sound for the growing alternative craze, but I digress.

I found The Parlor Mob when I was looking under the almost always disappointing iTunes Rock section. They had won the Rock Album of The Year (iTunes gives awards?) for Dogs. I found it interesting that the band that won was a group I had never heard of, but they had every right to win the accolade. When I clicked on their single from the album, "Into The Sun", it was like a breath of fresh air. The singer, Mark Melicia, was the first thing I noticed. The vocals weren't whiny like Patrick Stump's (Fall Out Boy), nor gravelly like the vocalists of Hard Rock bands like Avenged Sevenfold or Disturbed, they were the voice of a goddamn angel. Then there's the two guitarists David James Rosen and Paul Ritchie, who can create sick riffs and awesome solos, or slow it down. Add that to Anthony Chick's bass and Sam Bey's drumming, and you've got the formula for a true, pure Rock band. 

Panic! At The Disco-Too Weird To Live, Too Rare To Die

Panic! At The Disco and Fall Out Boy are two bands that have always held a lot of resonance with me. They were the first bands that I actually followed and they were the reason I started looking into music in the first place. When my brother, sister, and I would ride in the car, we could never agree on the music to listen too, and we would always eventually land on one of these two bands. I've followed their music ever since and liked all of it. Too Weird To Live, Too Rare To Die is no exception.

The band's sound has changed a lot over the years. After Ryan Ross (Backup Vocalist) and Jon Walker (Bassist) left the group in 2009, Panic didn't release another album for 3 years, and when they did it was obvious that they were not the same band, and that they had matured into a much less chaotic and punk-rock sound. The new album focuses on a much more electronic sound and some autotune that, for the most part, actually works. The new sound is a welcome change. If you're one of those people who have already decided that you hate Panic! At The Disco, you should still give this album a chance, they sound way different than you may remember. Too Weird To Live, Too Rare To Die is streaming on Youtube and will be officially released on Oct. 8.

Album Stream Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tGE381tbQa8&list=PLTM1QGY6CxK8oJQRCxjVt0N-yio0Ltimd

I Fight Dragons

I Fight Dragons have been my favorite rock band discovery this year. I saw them for the first time on Kickstarter when they were promoting their next album. As soon as I listened to their music, I was instantly hooked and made a $20 pledge on their Kickstarter. The Chicago-based indie band perfectly fuses guitar, drums, and bass with 8-bit sounds. It gives them a very unique and awesome sound called Chiptune. If you like Weezer, you should definitely check them out.

Album Download Link: http://www.ifightdragons.com/emailsignup.html

N.E.R.D.-Rock Star

While N.E.R.D. and Pharrell were huge at a time, they seem to have been forgotten. I don't know a single kid my age who knows N.E.R.D, because they broke up right around when my generation was becoming old enough to actually do music research on their own. So in case you missed it, too...