Recomendations: "Summer Rocks (with Pop)!"

by: Carlos Figueroa

Well, as if the title didn't make it obvious, I would like to recommend some bands which in my opinion embody all what summer should be about: fun, sun, friends, and adventure. By saying this I make rather obvious that this bands will all be leaning more to the poppy side of rock and will likely be a bit more mainstream, but that doesn't take the awesomeness out of them does it? To start off, I will tell you something weird I noticed while selecting this bands: most are signed into Fueled by Ramen and most are in the pop/punk rock scene. Very coincidental, huh?

For starters we have Disco Curtis, a band who's image SCREAMS pop (to a point that is reminiscent of the 90's boy bands as the Backstreet Boys or N'Sync-- talk about bubblegum pop), but deliver a solid pop rock/punk pop performance. Apparently they are some kind of frustrated pop stars: their lyrics are quite... pop and they have a cover of Lady GaGa's hit debut single, "Just Dance" (which sounds very good in fact). Their debut album, titled Play with Fire Get Burned, has quite good songs (although for those who search for Shakespearean masterpieces in the lyrics... you won't find them here) such as "Ashley", "Surprise Me", and "Alone and Loving It".

Now, one of my favorites in this set, the Frenchie band, Phoenix. Now this band has had about three albums published before their latest (and for all the ignorants-- debut) album, Wolfang Amadeus Phoenix, which is probably the band's worldwide breakthrough album (*Pop Culture Invasion: this is just the case as Owl City's success with their chart-topping "Fireflies"*), probably because this album is influenced more by pop than their previous albums. Out of the album, the two tracks that are best are "Lisztomania"  and "1901", which are amazing tracks, with heavy keyboards, blatant choruses, addictive vocals, and pure chords and beats. Other tracks such as "Girlfriend" and "Lasso" are amazing too.

Be prepared for the next entry of the Summer Rocks recommendations, "Summer Rocks (with the Heart)!" Hoped you liked it; keep on rocking summer out!