"As long as it’s good, it’s Carlon." That’s the musical philosophy Ryan McGlynn and the rest of New Jersey band Carlon live by. A fitting motto, considering how difficult it is to classify which genre this quartet belongs in. Listening to Carlon, echoes of classic rock, folk, country, western, and even psychedelic influences infuse together to create a truly unique musical experience. Lead guitarist McGlynn shrugs off what sounds like a complex description of Carlon’s sound. "It’s just modern American music," he said. "We each have all our own preferences, psychedelic, rhythmic, folk, rock-based. It all mixes and mashes and different parts poke their heads out in our music."

Carlon’s first full length studio album, Johari Window, incorporates all the aforementioned elements. To save you the Wikipedia search, a Johari window is a psychological exercise used to measure how you see yourself versus how others see you in order to communicate more effectively. "It was appropriate for us, what we were going through together, musically and as people, it’s easier to work when you can communicate with each other and get across an idea musically" said McGlynn of the unusual album title.

The collection of songs on the album represent Carlon’s myriad of musical influences. "Where the Driveway Ends" sounds like it was left off George Harrison’s All Things Must Pass, "Caution" evokes the Plastic Ono Band, and "Red Rover" pulls some inspiration from African folk music. The strongest track from the bunch is "Have a Window", which is simply a refreshing rock song.

Instead of recording Johari Window in the bland environment of a studio, the band chose a different route. Carlon utilized their 20,000 square foot warehouse rehearsal space to record the entire album. McGlynn describes the space as, "the coolest fucking place. It was a fun, happy joyland." The warehouse provided a relaxing atmosphere for the group and because of the size, allowed the guys to play waffle ball games during breaks. "Every instrument we owned was there, it was home for an entire year," said McGlynn.

The album is quite the departure from Carlon’s first EP, Suburban Heel. McGlynn said the group’s first musical effort was them trying to be the White Stripes and that the songs ended up sounding forced. "We felt we had to put some distortion in to get attention. This time we said ‘let’s just do what we do and not push too much for the sake of being heard.’"

Carlon performs Thursday, December 3rd at the Middle East in Cambridge at 9 p.m. Expect to hear tracks from Johari Window (available on iTunes) and brand new songs the band is in the process of writing and recording for the next album.

Both “Rolling Stone” and “Time” magazine have touted The Beatles as the most influential music group of the 20th century. The truth is that every person America hears a Beatles song almost every day, even if they aren’t conscious that the fab four were the ones who penned the tune. In honor of the release of Beatles Rock Band, Blast has put together a list of the 10 Best Beatles Songs of All Time. With 13 albums containing the highest number of Billboard Hot 100 singles in history, picking 10 was like pulling teeth or choosing a favorite child, but we tried our best. Taking from most notable, to critically acclaimed and a smidgen of personal preference here is our list, but don’t hesitate to comment with your own.

10 “" “Let It Be” The title track from the last of the Beatles studio albums. Paul came up with the song after a dream he had a dream about his mother visiting him. Hence “When I find myself in times of trouble, Mother Mary comes to me speaking words of wisdom, “Ëœlet it be’ and in my hour of darkness she is standing right in front of me/”

9 “" “All You Need is Love” Possibly one of the most commercialized songs in the history of the world. Sure, most of the younger generations associate this song with Chevrolet, they still know the words. “All You Need is Love” represents the poppier side of The Beatles catalog but a classic nonetheless and a good message, “There’s nothing you can do, but you can learn how to be you in time. It’s easy. All you need is love, all you need is love. Love, love is all you need.” If only life were really that simple, huh?

8 “" “Yellow Submarine” There might be an argument that this might actually be the worst song The Beatles wrote, but here at Blast we think Paul never got enough credit for writing this. Okay, so it’s on the simple side, and doesn’t really make sense but you can blame the acid for that. “Yellow Submarine” never fails to put us in a good mood thus it makes the list.

7 “" “In My Life” Rumor has it that John Lennon wrote “In My Life” about his childhood after a journalist’s suggestion. Paul added to the song afterward and it became one of the songs they argued over rights to when the band split up in 1970. Despite the controversy over it later, it is lines like “Though I know I’ll never lose affection for people and things that went before, I know I’ll often stop and think about them. In my life I love you more” that put “In My Life” on our list.

6 “" “Helter Skelter” McCartney wanted to experiment with the loudness and symbol sounds on the song after reading a review of a The Who record and wanted to out-do Pete Townsend. As a result “Helter Skelter” became known as one of the greatest guitar pieces in music. The song embodies how The Beatles pioneered new sounds in music with their rabid curiosity and willingness to push “the norm” to new limits.

5 “" “Come Together” “Come Together” is the first song off of 1969′s Abbey Road. Lennon began writing the song as a campaign anthem for Timothy Leary’s California campaign against Ronald Reagan. Lennon was sued by Chuck Berry and his management for stealing lyrics. The court case was settled out of court and Lennon agreed to record three of Morris Levy’s (Berry’s music publisher) on his solo record after the break-up of The Beatles.

4 “" “Yesterday” “Yesterday” is in the Guinness Book of World Records as the most covered song in history “" which means that those of us at Blast are not the only ones that love it. The acoustic ballad shows a softer side of The Beatles. In fact, the recording is a McCartney solo piece of work, accompanied only by a string quartet. Since the song relied so much on just one member of the band, The Beatles were hesitant to release it as a single.

3 “" “Hey Jude” “Hey Jude” was written for John Lennon’s older son Julian by Paul McCartney during his parents’ divorce. Originally recorded at over seven minutes, “Hey Jude” spent nine weeks at number one, which is the longest of any Beatles single. It was also the first single released on Apple Records. The song also appeared as #8 on Rolling Stone’s “500 Greatest Songs” list, which helps us think it deserves to be #3 on our list.

2 “" “Strawberry Fields Forever” The song comes from the fab four’s infamous “psychedelic rock” period “" using a mellotron (a tape recorder flute type instrument) to create the dream-live overtones.. Strawberry Fields refers to a Salvation Army children’s home that Lennon used to play at as a child in Liverpool. Though formally credited to the Lennon/McCartney, most sources credit the song solely to Lennon. Central Park thought enough of the song their Lennon memorial after it, and Blast agrees so much that “Strawberry Fields Forever” ranks in at #2 on our top ten Beatles list.

1 “" “Eleanor Rigby” Fun fact about “Eleanor Rigby” is that none of The Beatles played instruments on it. John Lennon and George Harrison performed back-up vocals but the main instrumentation is a string arrangement played by professional studio musicians. “Eleanor Rigby” is at the top of our list because for Blast it represents the middle of the road between the early Beatles pop stages and their later endeavors into psychedelic rock. “Eleanor Rigby” stands out as a purely classic Beatles song.

By the way: Because of a reporting error, we incorrectly stated that Ringo write “Yellow Submarine.” It was Paul.