8. “Lights Out” by Bishop Allen

Trivia time: OkCupid was founded by the same folks who started SparkNotes. Totally irrelevant until you realize that one of those guys, Christian Rudder, is a founding member of Bishop Allen. Then it starts to make sense why the Brooklyn-based band writes about the oft-overused topic of romance with a distinctively literate spin that is actually digestible for those of us less suited for pseudointellectual hipsterisms. Still, you probably haven’t heard of them because the group of Harvard grads disappeared from the music scene for five years, only finally making a comeback last summer with “Lights Out.” This time, Bishop Allen threw out the ukulele, although the instrument brought them recognition with the 2007 hit “Click, Click, Click” and made the electric guitar groove to beachy tunes. Encapsulating the band’s usual catchiness and incorporating a new carefree attitude, the appropriately titled lead single “Start Again” marks what the new Bishop Allen has become. All we can hope is that they won’t ever stop.

– Jacqueline Kim, A&E Editor