What was your summer rock jam? Having trouble coming up with anything? Please humor me for a moment. Imagine that, like me, you are approached by an editor. “Write a top ten list of summer albums that students missed while on vacation,” she will say.
Think to yourself, “Well, what lesser-known bands might have flown under the radar but deserve recognition? There’s “Dark Days/Light Years” by Super Furry Animals, but no, that was released in March, as was Pure Reason Revolution’s “Amor Vincit Omnia.” “Swoon,” by The Silversun Pickups, is gorgeous, but it came out in April. Manchester Orchestra is garnering attention with the release of “Mean Everything to Nothing,” but it, too, is a spring release. Fans of The White Stripes will go gaga over newcomers Band of Skulls, but they dropped their debut “Baby Darling Doll Face Honey” while we were still laboring over English papers and chemistry notes.

So, did anything noteworthy happen over summer break? Or were you, as I was, inundated with Green Day’s “21 Guns” seemingly on repeat? Because Green Day, Kings of Leon, Foo Fighters and Shinedown (whose latest hit, “Sound of Madness,” was released in February) combined for, I suspect, roughly 75% of all new rock on MTV and my local radio station. Now, certainly none of these songs are bad (well, ok, “21 Guns” could use another few chords or maybe better lyrics and perhaps less predictable drum and bass lines…), but the point is that none of these groups should be expected to shoulder the entire burden of fresh summer rock.

We deserve better than four bands, dammit! We deserve better than the Noisettes being the next hot new thing! We deserve better even than Tom Morello and his Street Sweeper Social Club’s stale political rap-rock. And we certainly deserve better than The Fray poorly covering a Kanye West hit that he released himself less than a year ago. For shame, rock and roll, for shame. It must have come as a blessing to DJs everywhere when Michael Jackson died because they had license to play his old songs for weeks while modern rock stagnated.

But have faith, fellow rock fans, for there are lights on the horizon. After all, we came off a strong spring season, and there are bands hard at work now to usher in August right. Why, just yesterday Danish band Mew dropped “No More Stories” in the U.S. If you like dreamy, ambient indie rock, check these guys out.

And finally, the best summer release that no one in this country heard about goes to Australian rockers Karnivool, who, on their album “Sound Awake” (dropped June 5), shred like a more melodic Tool with a few tricks up their sleeves and smart, swelling vocals. They’re certainly the season’s must-have addition to your iTunes library.