Rocky relationships make for good songs. We’ve known this since, well, songs were invented, and Mwahaha adds another with vocal assistance from tUnE-yArDs (aka Merrill Garbus) on “Love.” Avoiding the predictably quiet acoustic guitar route, Mwahaha’s song goes for heavy synth lines, tweaked vocals and even a ripper of a guitar solo. The band’s self-titled debut comes December 6.

Bowling Green, KY band Sleeper Agent really has the pop-rock thing on lockdown. The group’s debut, Celabrasion, which came out earlier this year via Mom+Pop, is a happy-go-lucky collection of catchy alt-rock numbers that require repeat listens. It’s hard to pick a favorite track, but “Get Burned” has an infectiously bounding chorus and urgent stomp that propels the dueling vocals from singers Alex Kandel and Tony Smith. Really, that’s just a convoluted way of saying it’s fun.

These days are days in the sun for the spick-span semi-famous with AOL-parental-filter smiles and for PR speak that reassures us we’re better off connected even though the fact we can’t stand each other has never been clearer. That in mind, it’s heartening to know that there are moments when pop music still seems prepared to engage with the occult. I mean, this When Saints Go Machine remix of Planningtorock’s “Living It Out” is more ghostly than chart, but still: there are serious melodies here, even if they’re scrambled into spectral versions of themselves over a club beat that’s just a little too weird for the club. This truly magnificent remix is one of a number on Planningtorock’s new EP for DFA, which has the original version of “Living It Out” as its centerpiece. Get it now.