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…

In 2002, Interpol helped lead the charge of New York bands influenced by the post-punk and new wave sounds of the early 1980s. With Cure-like moody guitar and synth riffs and dour, Ian Curtis-style vocals, they conjured up a dark but infectious sound…

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…

Equally influenced by the artier rock of the 1990s (Radiohead, Jeff Buckley) and the '70s (Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd), Muse emerged as one of the more grandiose progenitors of latter-day Britpop. Their 1999 debut album SHOWBIZ, produced by John Leckie…

An indie/garage supergroup consisting of two members of Toledo's Greenhorns, Motor City power-pop songsmith Brendan Benson and the inimitable Jack White, the Raconteurs play a fairly straightforward version of classic rock that contains hints of the …

One of many young U.K. bands to grab the spotlight in the mid 2000s, the Kaiser Chiefs play catchy, madcap Brit Pop, perfect for a Saturday night out. Unlike their peers on the scene, the Kaiser Chiefs have a goofy charm that plays off the styles and…

Los Angeles DJs Justin Warfield and Adam Adam 12 Bravin formed the moody Joy Division-inspired She Wants Revenge in 2003 A fortuitous combination of word of mouth industry connections and airplay on Sirius Satellite Radio and West Coast airwave giant…

Glasgow-via-Belfast indie-rock ensemble Snow Patrol have played everything from shambolic noise-pop a la Pavement, to a slightly droney post-rock in the vein of Mogwai, to epic lovelorn anthems modeled after Coldplay. While the band's influences are …

Brooklyn-based indie rock trio We Are Scientists formed in 2000 around the talents of guitaristlead vocalist Keith Murray bass player Chris Cain and drummer Michael Tapper After building a small but devoted following through their epic live shows and…

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…

There was no shortage of new post-punk inspired outfits emerging in the early 2000's. However, Scottish band Franz Ferdinand had a slightly different take on things, bearing the marked influence of countrymen Josef K and Orange Juice as well as usual…

Gnarls Barkley is the remarkable collaboration between DJ/producer/mash-up king Danger Mouse and psychedelic soul crooner/MC Cee-Lo, of the Atlanta hip-hop group Goodie Mob. Both refreshingly outre and delightfully accessible in the manner of Outkast…

Though a batch of 1980s-New Wave-inspired bands started making noise in the early 2000s, it wasn't until the Killers' 2004 debut album HOT FUSS that the style really broke through to the mainstream. Heavily indebted to the likes of the Smiths, Psyche…

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 …

Few rock singers of the 90s were as original and instantly unforgettable as Thom Yorke as his band Radiohead became one of the biggest bands of the 21st century after making a career out of specializing in challenging and unpredictable rock Born Octo…

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…

England's Hard-Fi have a unique approach to making the punky version of Britpop so ubiquitous in the early 2000s. Embracing new technology--from the standpoint of efficiency as opposed to experimentation--and the music that has grown out of it, Hard-…

British trio Keane, who trade in the sort of grandiose, melancholy Britpop that was the chief domain of Coldplay for much of the early 2000s, broke big with their 2004 debut album, HOPES AND FEARS. While many hear the band's sound as yet another wate…

Formed in the Pacific Northwest during the late 1990s, Death Cab for Cutie deals in guitar rock that is informed by a striking sensitivity. Led by singer/guitarist Benjamin Gibbard, the group straddles the line between indie and emo rock, earning the…

Like so many underground NYC rock bands, the Strokes first generated publicity in the U.K., though it didn't take long for their no-frills sound to catch on at home. Paying homage to their influences, the group purveys a mix of Velvet Underground/New…