Singles Friday.

With the music industry's inexorable transition to digital and the immediacy of the Internet, what's old is becoming new again as the primary method of music release of the 1950s and 1960s, the single, is becoming the outlet of choice for more and more artists. The only drawback though, for independent artists, is that the single doesn't seem to get as much fanfare as the album as they're mostly released exclusively on a digital basis. This means that niche retailers (i.e., the Not Lames and Kool Kats of the power pop community) usually won't be selling and promoting them, and reviewers and bloggers (like yours truly) often stumble upon them by accident. All of which is a long-winded way to getting around to saying I have some new singles by artists previously reviewed on Absolute Powerpop to share. Here goes:

Rob Laufer-"How I Love You". A sweet love song and a nice tune, not included on his recently released Excruciating Bliss. Check it out at iTunes.

The Bulletproof Vests-"(Don't) Throw My Love Away"/"Shadow Child". Earlier this year, we brought you their debut, and they've followed up with this two-song single in the same vein of the album. They're so old school they've actually released this on a vinyl 45 (on the original lathe from Stax, they claim) as well as digitally. CD Baby | iTunes

Vegas With Randolph-"Some Time to Live". Since we last checked in with this DC-area band last year with their fine debut, they've released an EP (Side Trip) and now this new single. Links here are for their artist pages so you can check out both: CD Baby | iTunes

Khalid Hanifi-"Hog Futures" and "My Latest Trainwreck". Two quality singles from the former Maypops man and solo artist who gave us the excellent Pamplemousse Presse in 2008. CD Baby | iTunes | listen at his official site (with another new track "Shootin' the Breeze")