Muse – “Madness”: This is new territory for the band. The 2nd Law is likely to be the most polarizing album yet. One friend of mine and (ex)fan of Muse recently said “it’s like Matt Bellamy and I went through a bad breakup.” Madness has a minimalistic vibe not present in The Resistance that sounds like a stripped down “Supermassive Black Hole.” It’s actually not a bad song, but I miss the old, Absolution-era Muse. That said, the guitar-solo toward the end is, in a convoluted way, classic Matt Bellamy. The jury’s still out on this album, folks. Take a listen here.

Capital Cities – “Safe and Sound”: This California alternative dance rock group is creating a buzz with no label support, recently scoring regular rotation on the heralded Alt-Nation channel on Sirius-XM radio. This might be the catchiest context in which I’ve ever heard a trumpet be used effectively. These guys have succeeded in creating a fresh-sounding love song that is club-ready. Look out for these guys, who are about to embark on their first ever European tour.

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PKipkFfxYQ8]

Steven Cooper – “Born to Do”: One gets the vibe that this track is deeply personal for Cooper. The slightly melancholy sample in the background only accentuates the passion of his rapping and the message of the song. It builds on the good elements of “Bigger” and proves that Cooper can hold his own without famous cameos. At some points I get some early TobyMac vibes. This is good, and as long as Cooper continues to grow within his own rapping identity and not conform to demands of the broader industry, he will succeed. I don’t anticipate this being a problem for him, though.

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jwEexKfuSJA]