10 Best Free MP3 Downloads of May

You know that cheery, summery synth-pop sound that Passion Pit are so good at making? It's all over this song by Chicago duo Bestfriends. They say there's a deeper message beneath the groove, but we're too busy dancing to check it out.

These New Jersey rockers bust out some tough licks on 'I'll Be Gone,' and it's probably best you stay out of their way. The song is in and out of there in less than two minutes, kicking up a storm of power guitars, scratchy vocals and rolling drums.

These Brooklyn-based indie rockers got some help on their new album from members of Bon Iver, Sufjan Stevens' producer and Yo La Tengo's mixer. But none of that matters if they didn't have the songs to back up their indie-rock connections. They do.

Thick, muddy production and brooding moodiness are all over 'Closer,' a slow-churning five-minute set piece by Brooklyn one-man band Four Visions (friends and family just call him Daniel Abary or probably just Dan for short). We dig it.

We're guessing bands bristle at being called emo these days, so we won't mention the word. But we will say that the hooky 'This Old Ark' by Baltimore's Have Mercy is stuffed with passionate vocals, stinging guitars and hand claps. Just like emo.

Unlike so many of their Brooklyn peers, Japanther strip their music down to its low-fi, DIY core. They don't fuss over their songs; live shows sound like demos, which sound like their finished records. Got it? Plus, we just love the title of their new record.

These Minneapolis hard rockers claim they wrote 'Get Your Fix' -- a sleazy guitar-powered rocker straight outta the post-GNR era -- for strip clubs. But we think it works just as well without some girl named Madison shaking her naked butt.

These Connecticut-based punks wrap Yeah Yeah Yeahs-style art-rock in a noisy mix of screeching guitars and crashing drums. Plus there's singer Julia Farrar, who injects a bit of '80s goth into her clipped delivery of 'Magnets.' Turn it up.

If you have a song titled 'The Beat Comes,' then the beat better damn well come at some point. And it does, but it's delayed almost a minute on this indie-rock and Britpop hybrid from Snowden. Stick with it -- once the song starts moving, it doesn't stop.

Any band named Wonky Doll and the Echo should have an arsenal of great tunes stockpiled. We can't vouch for the other songs on the Greek group's 'Pleasant Thoughts' album, but the post-punk ambiance of 'The Cut' is pretty cool.