Music update, March 2014.

I’m in Florida this week, trying to skirt the weather and see some prospects, with posts filed so far on the Astros and the Tigers and Pirates.

I thought the year got off to a poor start for new music, but the pace picked up very quickly in February and I felt like I had to post something before the sheer volume of new tracks worth discussing overwhelmed me. The songs here aren’t listed in any order, and as usual, I’ve thrown the tracks available on Spotify into a playlist.

* I reviewed the self-titled debut album by Drenge in October, but it’s still not out in the U.S. They did release a digital single with two of the album’s better tracks, “Bloodsports / Dogmeat,” in January, so that’s something. “Bloodsports” was my favorite song from the album and was #14 on my ranking of the top 100 songs of 2013.

On to truly new stuff…

* Favorite song so far this year is a toss-up between “Out of the Black” by Royal Blood and “Queen Of Hearts” by Darlia, both British acts that combine hard rock and alternative sounds but with very different results. Royal Blood are a two-piece act, guitar and drum, with a lot of both of them, bringing a menacing, harsh approach that here is driven by an off-beat riff that opens the song, followed by a deep plunging chord that takes forever to come back up for air. Darlia mines more commercial territory, earning some Nirvana comparisons but with a far more melodic and less dissonant approach than Cobain’s best moments.

* Manchester Orchestra’s new single, “Top Notch,” isn’t too far behind, with enormous, bottomless chords that fill the speakers with walls of desperation, giving way to Andy Hull’s similarly despairing vocals. When these guys are at their best, they manage to convey hopelessness without sacrificing melody. Their new album comes out April 1st, which is a huge day for new releases, bringing new full-length discs from Cloud Nothings, Band of Skulls, and Kaiser Chiefs.

* Dum Dum Girls’ “Rimbaud Eyes” has my favorite song title of the year, albeit from a band with maybe the worst band name I’ve heard since Night Terrors of 1927. Arthur Rimbaud was a French poet and famous libertine who, per Wikipedia, was described by a friend as having eyes “pale blue irradiated with dark blue—the loveliest eyes I’ve seen.” The double-D girls – that can’t be an intended double entendre, can it? – borrowed all of the lyrics to this ethereal, new-New Wave song from Rimbaud’s poems as well.

* Primal Scream – “It’s Alright, It’s OK.” The Screamers have been churning out the same songs for nigh on twenty years now, but to their credit, when they nail one, as they did here and with their first hit single, the Rolling Stones knockoff hit “Rocks,” it’s incredibly hooky. The lyrics here are dopey, but good luck evading the big hooks in the chorus. (The album was released in 2013, if you’re one of those people who absolutely has to correct these things if I don’t mention them.)

* Big Data – “Dangerous.” I think half of this duo went to my alma mater, but there’s no favoritism here. This bouncy electro-pop song is all over alternative radio, but for me this is a pop hit through and through, nothing “alternative” other than the fact that it hasn’t crossed over yet. (By the way, I’m amused by the sudden reapperance of The 1975’s “Chocolate” on pop radio and Sirius XM’s The Pulse, which I predicted last April.)

* White Lies – “There Goes Our Love Again.” I whiffed on this one; the album came out in August, the single a few months after, and I just flat-out missed it, hearing it for the first time in late January. If you like Joy Division, or their illegitimate love child with Depeche Mode known as Interpol, you’ll like White Lies.

* Waylayers – “Magnets.” They call their music “widescreen indie-pop” and I have no idea what that means. Their newest single is “Medicine,” but this track, first released in 2012 and released again on an EP in the fall which means it’ll be released for a third time whenever Waylayers put out a full album, is their best so far. It’s synth-pop, like an upbeat, sharper Coldplay song, not least because of the similarity between their vocalist and Chris Martin.

* High Highs – “A Real Hero.” I’m not sure we needed yet another cover of College’s modest hit from the soundtrack to the movie Drive, but High Highs does a solid job. It’s a bonus track on their new album, Open Season.

* Broken Bells – “After the Disco.” The new album is fine, good, maybe a 55, but I can’t say it’s blown me away so far. The first single, “Holding on for Life,” #65 on my list of the top 2013 songs, and this track are the two standouts for me through a couple of listens.

* Hospitality – “I Miss Your Bones.” Now this is an alternative act, minimalist, like someone tried to take the Dogme 95 principles and apply them to music. Everything sounds spare, and while the album as a whole tends toward more somber pieces, the raw energy of this lead single, which has gotten some airplay on XMU, stands out.

* Prides – “The Seeds You Sow.” I don’t know how much attention this Glaswegian trio will get here, but this rousing synth-heavy stomper should be a big hit. It’s not on Spotify nor is it out yet in the U.S. but you can hear the song on their site. If you’re in the UK, the band’s EP, called The Seeds You Sow EP, is already out.

* Kaiser Chiefs – “Coming Home.” Best song the band, which seemed lost at sea a few years ago, has put out since 2007’s “Ruby.” The song isn’t on Spotify yet, but the album (as mentioned above) comes out on April 1st.

* Sir Sly – “Gold.” Kind of a cousin to Cage the Elephant, with the vocalist’s odd intonation and the bombastic chorus and final bridge. I can’t say I love the piano line’s similarity to the fake piano line in Linkin Park’s “In the End.”

* Dr. Dog – “Broken Heart.” And another act that seems to draw some inspiration from Cage, with the deliberate sloppiness of a jam band, like they’re just having too good of a time to make sure everyone is playing the same song.

* Foster the People – “Coming of Age.” I was surprised by this, the lead single from the band’s upcoming album Supermodel, because it’s so … conventional. “Coming of Age” is a quality pop single, but there’s nothing we haven’t heard before in here, and it’s less daring than “Helena Beat” or “Don’t Stop,” neither of which was groundbreaking but at least brought some new textures. Hey, at least it’s better than the Damn Yankees song.

* Yellow Ostrich – “Shades.” Saw these guys two years ago in Tempe when they opened for Of Monsters & Men, and it seems like their sound has matured substantially since the album on which they were touring in 2012. The hooks are stronger, the production is cleaner, and the balance here on “Shades” between the big guitar riff and the vocals is spot on.

* Bestfriends – “Lakeshore” and “The Way I Feel.” The first song isn’t out anywhere yet, but I received both on a promotional sampler; these guys could be the next electro-pop breakthrough act, along the lines of Foster the People and Passion Pit, right down to the falsettos and occasional guitar line to break up all the synthesizers.

* And hot off the presses, Lykke Li’s “Love Me Like I’m Not Made of Stone,” just released on March 4th. I’m not even sure what I think of it yet, other than it’s so stark it feels soul-bearing.