David E Beats – Strange Sky (Kanye x Florence and the Machine mash-up)
My mind’s failing me on what Florence is getting sampled here, but it goes great with Kanye’s verses from “Touch the Sky”; he dark, electronic synths and rapid-fire beat give the verse a little more energy. David E Beats has been working on mixtapes, freesyles, and demos, and “Strange Sky” is a demo for his upcoming mixtape with fellow mixtape/mash-up artist Terry Urban. Give it a listen here, and stay up with David E Beats on Facebook.

The Rocketboys – The Best
One off The Rocketboys’ new album Build Away, “The Best” is a slice of driving, cathartic indie rock. Lyrically, “The Best” offers an apology towards soured relationships (songwriter Brandon Kinder says it’s about his almost-former bandmates), saying that “These songs are filled with things I didn’t expect/And I know I said somethings I already regret”, but “I wish you the best”. Instead of sorrowful, the song takes a triumphant tone, as the band was able to reform, and that triumph is evident in the music. On “The Best”, The Rocketboys find a happy middle ground between Foster the People’s textured sound, and Funeral-era Arcade Fire jubilance. Help get The Rocketboys to 5k likes on Faceook!

TS and the Past Haunts – Unknown
“Unknown”, the new single off the experimental LA group’s album Gone & Goner, blends early-Sonic Youth noise, jagged and distorted guitar riffs, a lumbering stop-start dynamic. Travis Shettel’s vocals have an almost blusey sneer to them that Heather Heywood gracefully matches. Imagine if The Dead Weather had a hardcore edge to them. Watch the video for “Unknown” on PureVolume, and give TS & the Past Haunts a look on Facebook here.

Aficionado – Empty
Aficionado is a big band. Not just because they used to have 11 members (they’ve worked their way to a reasonable seven). Not just because “Empty” stops for a flute solo at the bridge. No, Aficionado is a big band because everything about them sounds big; from the opening guitar lick to the monster hook on the chorus, Aficionado sound fit to share the stage with Mixtapes, another group that swings for the fences. There’s also something very 90’s alt. rock about “Empty”, which matches wild instrumentation, likeable slacker-dude vocals, and mean pop hooks–like a less tightly-wound Grouplove. Aficionado has an EP out on Sept. 25th, and you can stream “Empty” at Filter‘s site, then check Aficionado on Facebook.

Diemonds – Livin’ Tonight
Sometimes you just need a loud, throwback rock song. And when that doesn’t do it, you reach for something like Diemonds, a band so committed to the idea of big time rock and roll that they named their band Diemonds. And it’s played straight in the most awesome way; “Livin’ Tonight” pulls no punches with its balls to the wall energy and quick fingered shredding. Their album The Bad Pack drops on October 2nd, but you can check their website here.

And that’s it for this edition of On the Radar, check back for the next one in a few weeks!