Something dark and immense haunts the pop that Ben Heywood (Summer Darling) masters on his new release Skills for the Long Emergency under the name Heywood. From the depths of a post rock, shoegaze haze, Heywood will just as readily produce mind-melting noise as it will dive into an obscure, dream-like melody.

To me, being an indie music fan is all about being an explorer, discovering new and untapped realms of audio heaven. One of my favorite things to experience is to stumble upon something astonishing in all its brilliance. An artist I didn’t know. An album that blows my mind. Or a single song that simply appears out of nowhere. I have no clue how Siskiyou‘s “Always Awake” found its way onto my laptop, but boy am I glad it did.

“Television Youth” blends power pop, garage rock and fuzzy punk for a fun — playful, even — sound that reminds me a bit of the early works by The Thermals. The band is Sonic Avenues, the latest addition to Dirtnap Records. They are four Montreal natives (you can just barely hear that French Canadian accent in the vocals… just) that produce loud, raucous, exhilarating music that simply begs to be heard.

On their 2008 debut, Freedom Wind, The Explorers Club likened their pop music to classics. The harmonies were what did it; saturated in layers and filled with male-on-male falsetto, that album had Pet Sounds written all over it. Nearly four years later, the band has returned with a new EP called The Californian Suite — very Beach Boys-esque, too — and with it, those to-die-for harmonies.

The great thing about Summer Fiction is that their songs are so, well, summery. Indie pop music is the sort that so often remains unchanged, boundaries un-pushed, and you get a little of that here. But rather than being a hindrance, it’s comforting. “By The Sea” blends soothing male and female vocals with plenty of hooks, a soft guitar strum and catchy bass line, and a playful drum rhythm.

“We Were Wild” by Today The Moon, Tomorrow The Sun is a track like Arcade Fire’s “Wake Up”. It defies all you thought you knew about rock music, takes things in a completely different direction than expected — a direction much more anthemic and epic. Today The Moon, Tomorrow The Sun draws from an insurmountable realm of influence.

FensePost is excited to debut “Sitting On The Edge” off Blue Skies For Black Hearts‘ LP Embracing The Modern Age. The song continues the band’s penchant for classic pop sounds backed by glorious pop-rock guitar hooks, loud drums and late 60s to early 70s-style pop vocals filtered through a haze of 90s indie rock. “Sitting On The Edge” features all of these, blending together elements of The Kinks, Phil Spector and Teenage Fanclub into one blissful, fun pop mess.

I thought Lost Lander‘s “Cold Feet” sounded familiar. The song appeared on this year’s PDX Pop Now! compilation. But there’s more. Lost Lander is the new band of Matt Sheehy and Brent Knopf (Ramona Falls, Menomena). “Cold Feet” has the sound f Knopf’s other band and his prior band, though a bit more restrained and calculated. Lots of vocal harmonies, precise percussion and intense instrumentation.

Acid House Kings are a favorite in the indie pop world. Their songs are some of the most upbeat, perfect pop you can find anywhere. To continue their excellence in everything pop, the band has teamed up with Television Personalities’ front-man Dan Treacy who lends vocals on Music Sound Better With You track “Heaven Knows I Miss Him Now”. Texas Bob of TV Personalities also lends his expertise on guitar.

It’s all coming back completely full circle.  Folk music proves itself time and time again to be one of the truest influences in the musical world.  A touch of Americana blended with a grave sense of indie rock realism rarely turns out badly.  And in the case of Jesse Payne‘s latest album Buffalo and it’s kick off single “Take Me”, we might have possibly found the closest thing to perfection. With a sound that is just a little bit country, and a little bit folk n’ roll, Payne is a truly …