5 Songs You Need to Hear! Vol. 3

Greetings lovers of new music everywhere! Welcome to the third edition of 5 Songs You Need to Hear. If you are tired of everything you are hearing on the radio and bored with everything already on your iPod/iTunes/iPhone/iDon'tCareAnymore... then this is the blog for you.

You know how this works. I give you 5 Songs You Need to Hear. You listen to them. If you like any of them, you go buy them, then you tell all your friends about them, and support the artists who created them so they can keep on making more great music in the future.

So let's not waste time. Here we go...

1. Back to You - Twin Forks. Another Noisetrade.com discovery. I don't know much about this band except I love this song. Also, they do an amazing cover of Taylor Swift's song Mean. In fact, I actually like that song better than this one even, but I'm saving it for a special covers songs edition.

2. Be My Girl - John & Jacob. One of the catchiest dang songs I've heard in a long time. I absolutely love the chorus of this song. It reminds me of classic Foster & Lloyd. Country but with a Beatlesque sensibility of melody and pop hooks. You will be humming this one the rest of the day whether you want to or not.

3. There's a Rumor - The August Empire. Amazon.com offers a lot of free music if you are willing to take the time to sift through it and find the gems among the rubble. Among the treasures a diligent seeker can find are a set of samplers from a label called Mishara Music. I have all of them and there is some absolutely brilliant music on these singer-songwriter collections. One of my favorites is from a guy-girl duo called The August Empire. This song is beautiful, haunting, flawlessly written and performed. It was featured last year on an episode of NBC's The Night Shift and almost immediately scored them 20,000+ views on their YouTube video. I predict you will buy this song within 24 ours of hearing it. You're welcome.

4. Blackbird Song - Lee Dewyze. OK, if you're a fan of The Walking Dead you probably know this song. What you may not know is who did it. This darkly haunting, gruff-voiced masterpiece is performed by none other than former American Idol winner Lee Dewyze! Yeah, I know, I couldn't believe it either! Regardless of who did it, this song is one of my favorite tracks of the last year.

5. Beneath the Brine - The Family Crest. And now for something completely different.... The Family Crest defy categorization. I think they may have invented their own genre. How do I prepare you for what you are about to hear? Hmmm.... words like epic, majestic, sweeping grandeur all come to mind. Aw, heck, just listen to it yourself and tell me what you would call it. Here's what I can tell you... you will never, ever hear this on the radio or in the mall at Hot Topic. It's far too cool for that.

There you have it, folks. Get busy. You've got work to do. And remember, you don;t have to listen to the crap they tell you to listen to. You have a mind of your own. Now go explore...