In much the same way that Jos Gonzlez is from Sweden and not Spain Paolo Nutini is not a smooth Italian pop star but a soul-influenced adult alternative singer and songwriter from the exceedingly not continental town of Paisley Scotland Raised in a m…

Musically minimalistic and visually outrageous, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs were at the center of the revival of post-punk and garage rock that made New York City a rock & roll hotspot again in the early 2000s. After the success of the Strokes, the trio (led…

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…

Hailing from Portland, Oregon, the Decemberists burst onto the indie-rock scene in the early 2000s, weaving complex, literary narratives (courtesy of singer/songwriter Colin Meloy) through layers of chiming, acoustic-based folk-rock. Meloy's literary…

Taking his stage name from what he thought his great-great-grandfathers was called actually it was Granville Fisher Littleton Gran Bel Fisher moved from his hometown of Sabina OH to Cincinnati as a teenager to attend the performing arts school there …

West Coast indie rock collective the Coral Sea blends the lush orchestral side of 60s pop with the modern sensibilities of neo-psychedelic outfits like Mercury Rev Sparklehorse and Secret Machines Formed in Santa Barbara CA around the talents of sing…

Born in Eugene OR singersongwriter Mat Kearney began his musical career at California State University Chico where he studied literature and played on the soccer team After completing his junior year Kearney went to Nashville with friend and producer…

In late 2003 things picked up rapidly and a bit weirdly for folkie Alexi Murdoch Moving to balmy Los Angeles from Scotland in the late 90s Murdoch let the sleepy weepy UK folk sound seep into indie and lo-fi influences But he never did much with his …

This five-piece combo led by Ben Ottewel sure doesn't come across as a British band. Moreover, Gomez's blues-based music sounds quintessentially American, albeit filtered through a modern, beat-oriented prism. When their 1998 debut album, BRING IT ON…

Although they hail from Texas Voxtrots animated indie pop easily receives comparisons to Belle Sebastian and similar European groups In between studying in Scotland frontman Ramesh Srivastava founded the project and soon decided to pursue the band f…

Ray LaMontagne was born in New Hampshire but as he put it his family was just passing through His parents split up shortly after his birth and his mother began a pattern of moving her six children wherever she could find employment and housing which …

b. 27 July 1975, New Jersey, USA. This roots rock singer-songwriter and guitarist was one of the most unexpected commercial successes of the new millennium, breaking into the US charts in 2001 on the back of extensive live work and word-of-mouth sale…