This week we’ve got a batch of rocking new tracks we recommend for downloading (legally, of course) or streaming to your personal media device.

"Marathon" by Heartless Bastards

These Ohioans start out anything but fast on this song. The sparse guitar and languid bluesy voice of Erika Wennerstrom trickles along until we get to the long splash of cymbals and slow march of the drums. But little by little, it picks up speed, turning into a more of a dirge than a marathon. Don’t get it wrong, the sound is full and accentuates the lyrics. Wennerstrom makes the movements a piece or drama, we’re riding along with her all the way as she sings, “I’m coming home.”

"Call You Mom" by They Might Be Giants

A 30-year career of quirky alternative tunes, TMBG have popped up all over the place, TV and movie theme music, children’s music, creating an online version of “Dial-A-Song,” along with releasing 15 albums since 1986. The duo’s sixteenth, “Nanobots,” is coming in March. This single makes the statement that years of touring and recording and dealing with the business of music hasn’t aged these guys a bit, see the title of this tune for evidence. But this isn’t music intended for children – It’s jangly pop-rock with weird twists and turns. In other words, it’s the same-old-same-old for TMBG - and that’s awesome.

"Back from the Dead" by Adler

For fans of ‘80’s rock, the name of this band may sound familiar. It’s the last name of the former drummer of Guns ‘N’ Roses, Steven Adler. He’s out of celebrity rehab and has cut ties with his GNR cover-band, Adler's Appetite. Now, he pounds skins for this new, original rock band. And it’s a throwback to GNR’s “Appetite for Destruction” days. OK, it doesn’t quite have the swagger of early GNR but it’s not as pretentious as any of Axl Rose’s recent projects. But the six degrees of GNR continue... Slash plays on one of the songs on the Adler album and there are rumors Adler will play some dates with Duff McKagan’s band, Loaded. And when this song kicks in and he starts to pummel his drums, you’ll start to remember what made “Paradise City” such a classic song.

Derrick Bracey, for Weekly Surge