SOUND BITES

  In a curious twist of fate, JEFF The Brotherhood's eighth album was delayed by two weeks on account of the band being dropped by Warner Bros. What's curious about it is that the record was finished and ready to go; most of the work was done save for a little promotional consideration. Listening to the record, I have to wonder what made Warner lose hope; it's as if they got a cut on their hand and chose to amputate rather than buy some antiseptic.  Wasted on the Dream  is packed with thick riffs and fist pumping rhythms, just like fans are used to. There are even a few radio-ready singles here;  Coat Check Girl  sounds like the kind of sugary concession tune a band writes after being told by their label to do something catchy (but I'm not sneering at it, because it works as advertised). Then, there's the crunchy/sweet  In My Dreams , featuring a refreshing guest vocal by Best Coast's Bethany Cosentino, which could have easily gone top ten if this were 1995...

It's a testament to the volume of quality music that's still being produced in 2012 that a mere fifty songs didn't cover all that I wanted to give credit to. While the ten songs contained in this post aren't as mind blowing (to me, anyway) as those that got their own little spotlight, there are nonetheless some definite gems worthy of your attention. When it comes down to it, this post is proof that there were at least sixty artists who released tunes I dug this year, which tells me that either there's still plenty of life in rock music or that I am a total rock music whore. Could be both.

POSSIBLE SPOILER ALERT: May contain Album Of The Year.

Daniel Britt (of Spoon) and Dan Boeckner (of Wolf Parade & Handsome Furs) have spent their entire careers perfecting their respective brands of off-kilter pop/rock, so when it was announced that they'd be joining forces you can imagine this writer's excitement. As we gear up for the August 28 release of full-length A Thing Called The Divine Fits , they've started rolling out tracks.  Start with the Boeckner-led, synth-infused My Love Is Real :