Daytona :: "The Road"

Daytona, a New York three-piece, head relentlessly south on latest single, "The Road." With poly-rhythms in guitar loops and the lightly break-beat drums, "The Road" chases some of the Local Natives/Foreign Born/Lord Huron world-pop end of the independent rock pool. "The Road" recalls the melody of Talking Heads "Nothing But Flowers" so much that you can almost hear Byrne moaning "You got it, you got it" at the edges. The tropical-pop ode is surely reverence, or a bit of accidental genre derivation. Daytona's "The Road" is quite excellent in its own right, an irrepressible bit of pop to warm the corners.

Flyte :: "Over and Out"

There is an implied irony when your band name is Flyte and your first proper single is called "Over and Out". True to form, the Police and Talking Heads cribbing band fills "Over and Out" with flight imagery, a syncopated strum pattern chirping from the background. It's a breezy and satisfying summer single, the chorus sailing upwards on the back of silky harmony and the unfolding-ribbon-of-good-times aesthetic that denies the very existence of melancholy. The melody echos Maxine Nightengale's "Right Back Where We Started From" but this signifer - the disco tradition - is almost entirely hidden behind a satisfying series of New Wave footnotes. "Over and Out" represents a promising debut from this four-piece, a band bent on discussing elevation, both theirs and yours.