12 Bands You Need To Know: AP Editors pick their favorite 100 Bands

You know our cover stars like Issues, Touché Amoré and Real Friends, and you’ve seen the full-page artists like State Champs, Ghost Town and Beartooth, but beyond them, there are 88 more bands who aren’t displayed quite as prominently but who are just as rad. For your discovery pleasure, here are some of the hidden gems we’ve been enjoying from our annual 100 Bands You Need To Know issue that you may have skimmed over.

CRYSTALYNE – Punks Don't Dance

Well, this is clearly not targeted at a mid-20s man, but I can't help myself, just like all the hardcore kids who worship Taylor Swift (I see you.) Crystalyne's “Punks Don't Dance” is more on the Avril Lavigne end of the cute-girls-in-pop spectrum—and not just because they're both Canadians. It's crush (“Favorite band is Green Day?/I like that”) and burn (“She looks like a Pop-Tart/Toast that”) in the catchiest way. — Brian Kraus

DANGEROUS BOYS CLUB (DBC) – “Tranzilvania”

If nü-rave sincerity bastions like Passion Pit and Foster The People are the soundtracks for granola-eaters who want to link arms and skip to the nearest drum circle, Dangerous Boys Club's amalgam of ’80s-imbued synth pop, goth noir and lo-fidelity recording techniques should be playing through the Bluetooth devices of fashionable muggers and their sexy sociopath girlfriends, right before they show up to relieve said neo-hippies of whatever valuables they may have. (Would you expect anything less from a band whose lineage includes screamo progenitors Heroin and goth-punk avatars Antioch Arrow?) Sexier than all those antiseptic bands with (verb) the (noun) names and far uglier than, say, Cold Cave's recent chrome-plated exercises in urgency, DBC are making the dark side even more enticing and opaque. — Jason Pettigrew
 

MELT YOURSELF DOWN – “Fix My Life”

Guitars? Who needs 'em? British punk-jazz sextet Melt Yourself Down are bringing the pan-ethnic party with two sax players, an exuberant vocalist-cum-hypeman and a driven rhythm section, guaranteed to blow the bad vibes out of your life. Listeners with the good sense to back Gogol Bordello's gypsy energy blasts and Flogging Molly's Celtic rave-ups will dig MYD's synergy of New Orleans' party swagger, New York no wave (cf. James Chance And The Contortions who wrote the song the band adopted their name from) and Middle East-flavored phrasing. You don't need to be in the French Quarter, Loisaida or downtown Cairo to fully appreciate MYD's fire—just a great understanding of what “abandon” means. — Jason Pettigrew
 

KNUCKLE PUCK – “No Good”

Chicago natives Knuckle Puck come from the same school of music as the Story So Far and Real Friends, but they’ve got a little more grit to them. Translation: They write impressive pop-punk songs that will leave you feeling nostalgic for high school, summer vacations and driving nowhere with your friends and leave you feeling a little heated and pissed off—especially after listening to “No Good,” where frontman Joe Taylor raggedly sings, “It’s people just like you that make me the pessimist I am.” That’s just aching to be turned into a Tumblr gif. – Brittany Moseley

NIGHT SINS – “Playing Dead”

I discovered this band last year through Youth Code, another of our 100 Bands you should definitely check out, and when I cued up this 2012 song, the then-intern who shared my office raised an eyebrow and quipped, “Getting a little goth over there…” Nah, Bridjet, more than a little goth. I, and Night Sins, were getting a lot goth. For anyone who has ever swooned over ’80s dark wave and wished there were more bands cultivating the sound in modern times, Night Sins are a wish come true—but don’t get too excited. In our 100 Bands blurb, Kyle Kimbal, the man behind the project, said that his desire to progress as an artist could change Night Sins’ sound altogether for their next release. — Cassie Whitt

NO GOOD NEWS – “Empty Shells”

Gloomy teenage grit channeled through the sonic veins of pop-punk can hook and snare on its early-aughts nostalgia alone. Perhaps that’s why it’s 2014, and we’re still listening to/writing about emo bands from Long Island with lyrics like this: “I can’t live like this/Wasting all my time/Saying things will get better/But knowing that’s a lie.” Be sure to only play this one at night, at a bonfire, where the flannel shirts and teenage angst flow like wine. — Matt Crane

NOTHING – “Dig”

This song makes me feel kinda funny, like when we used to climb the rope in gym class. And that little turnaround riff at 1:18? Heaven. — Scott Heisel

PHUTURE DOOM – “Burn The Knowledge”
This electronic black-metal trio are completely shrouded in mystery and occult imagery with barely a trace of a nonfictional backstory, (despite being on Skrillex’s OWSLA Records), leaving them relatively intangible beyond the danceable yet mildly scary music they create. How exciting is it to pretend you live in a world of man-made robot gods awaiting your eventual extermination at their hands (the concept of their self-titled LP), listen to music and not worry about the personal lives of the people behind it? Many would argue it’s a welcome relief. — Cassie Whitt

RADKEY – “Out Here In My Head”

Even though punk never died, this trio of brothers from the middle of nowhere, Missouri, are reviving the genre with a unique blend of fast-paced '70s punk with a dead ringer for Danzig on vocals. If I were writing eBay feedback for this number, I'd say, “A+++++ EXCELLENT SONG WOULD LISTEN AGAIN.” — Scott Heisel

STAGES & STEREOS – “Cool To Be Vain”

While flipping through the vast selection of AP 100 Bands, Stages & Stereos caught my eye with both the Killers and Jimmy Eat World name-checked. Already aware that former Go Radio guitarist Alex Reed is in their ranks, it was finally time to go on a blind date with a new band. Turns out “Cool To Be Vain” does have that flashy Vegas swagger with obvious scene roots. It's like the first time we heard A Lesson In Romantics all over again. —Brian Kraus

TINY MOVING PARTS – “Dakota”

It may come as a surprise to some, but the editorial department does indeed listen to every band that goes into our annual 100 Bands issue. When it came time to listen to Tiny Moving Parts, I knew I’d be voting yes for them as soon as I heard frontman Dylan Mattheisen belt out the opening line to “Dakota”: “I have never felt so scared and sad at the same time.” Mattheisen’s voice lies somewhere between Jordan Dreyer and Max Bemis, his earnest proclamations never coming across as anything but. As the opener from the band’s debut full-length This Couch Is Long And Full Of Friendship, “Dakota” is the first thing many people will hear from Tiny Moving Parts, a band poised to break through but who sound like they’re on the cusp of breaking down. (“I finally will figure out what life truly means when it's all been left behind.”) In a scene full of fast music played very loud (and not always very well) on guitars, it’s refreshing to hear a band that can craft lyrics this moving and play some kickass guitar riffs. – Brittany Moseley

W.C. LINDSAY – “Hum & Roar”

“Hum & Roar” is completely out of left field for this normally synth-glossed rap-dance-punk trio. It’s somber, folky and spliced with an emotive lead moonlighting as Southern twang. “You can breathe fire, and you can breathe flames/But you can’t keep your heart the same,” frontman William Charles Lindsay sings, with the conviction of a Rascal Flatts ballad, over a drummer-boy buildup. Good luck not projecting your failed romances onto this one, guys, even as it uplifts with lovesick uncertainty: “She can breathe fire/She can breathe flames/Hold back your desire.” — Matt Crane