Brian Aubert guitarvocals Nikki Monninger bass Christopher Guanlao drums and Joe Lester keyboards comprise the swarthy indie rock stylings of Silversun Pickups The quartets textured melodies capture the hypnotic dream pop threads of My Bloody Valenti…

With her omnivorous musical tastes and cheeky attitude London-based pop singersongwriter Lily Allen made a name for herself almost as soon as she released her demos on the Internet The daughter of comedian Keith Allen Lily spent most of her childhood…

One of the most celebrated new bands of 2004, the Arcade Fire came out of Montreal's vibrant music scene with a melancholic, cinematic sound equally redolent of '80s heroes like the Cure and Echo & the Bunnymen and latter-day orchestral-rockers Mercu…

Torontos quirky high-energy indie rockers Tokyo Police Club feature vocalistbassist Dave Monks keyboardistvocalist Graham Wright guitaristpercussionist Josh Hook and drummerpercussionist Greg Alsop The band formed in the wake of the breakup of the fo…

In the late 1990s, the Albuquerque indie-rock band Flake Music morphed into the Shins, led by vocalist-guitarist James Mercer. Upon the release of 2001's OH, INVERTED WORLD, the Shins garnered a landslide of critical acclaim with their amiable, 1960…

Fullerton CAs Cold War Kids make music with roots that go deep and wide embracing influences as diverse as Bob Dylan Billie Holiday Jeff Buckley and the Velvet Underground Matt Aveiro Matt Maust Jonnie Russell and Nathan Willett began crafting their …

Although Of Montreal come from Athens, Georgia, USA, the band's sound is unmistakably rooted in the mid-60s psychedelic era of UK pop, with obvious nods to the Beatles and the Kinks. Formed in the mid-90s, Of Montreal have often been compared to othe…

Playing smartly crafted indie-pop that is instantly accessible yet defies easy categorization, Brooklyn, NY's Clap Your Hands Say Yeah took the music world by storm in 2005 on the strength of a single self-released album. Seemingly overnight, the ban…

Much can be said about Amy Winehouse one of the UKs flagship vocalists during the 2000s The British press and tabloids seemed to focus on her rowdy behavior and heavy alcohol consumption but fans and critics alike embraced her rugged charm and brash …

Led by producer and DFA records honcho James Murphy, LCD Soundsystem helped bring indie rock to the dancefloor. As the flagship band of the early-2000s dance-punk craze, LCD Soundsystem mixed a punk edge with classic disco and house grooves, creating…

U.K. dance-rock outfit Bloc Party stormed both sides of the pond in 2005 with the release of its debut full-length SILENT ALARM. Mixing airtight dance-floor rhythms with smart guitar-driven melodies and a hipster aesthetic, Bloc Party set itself apar…

The Kooks formed in 2004 while all four members were attending the Brighton Institute for Modern Music, the rock school set up by Bruce Dickinson of Iron Maiden. Paying homage to their influences, the group displayed an accessible (and bankable) mix …

Seattle WAs Band of Horses plays dense aching mid-tempo indie rock reminiscent of Neil Young Crazy Horse Formed in 2004 by multi-instrumentalists Ben Bridwell and Matthew Brooke out of the ashes of former incarnation Carissas Wierd the group caught …

b. Moscow, Russia. Piano balladeer Spektor lived in Russia, Austria and Italy prior to moving with her family to the Bronx, New York City, at the age of nine. Her parents' musical training - her mother was employed as a music historian and her father…

While Hot Chip were one of many bands from the early 2000s to have adopted an electro-pop sound, they stand apart from the pack both for their melodicism and for their fully live, band-oriented approach to the genre. Shortly after emerging from their…

The music of Scottish indie pop outfit Camera Obscura distinctly recalls two rather different popular musical styles, notably "shoegazer" alt-rock from the early 90s, and Burt Bacharach's lush brand of 60s pop. The band was formed in the mid-90s, whe…

Beck Hansen, the quintessential California slacker, came up among the lo-fi ranks, pushing a blend of country blues, Dylan-inspired wordplay, punk, and hip-hop. His straight-out-of-the-gate 1994 smash, "Loser," made him a star seemingly overnight. Su…

The U.K. music scene is notorious for launching previously unknown bands to the heights of stardom on word-of-mouth gossip and music-press hype alone. Arctic Monkeys took that phenomenon to an entirely new level when they sold 110,000 copies of their…