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…

Formed by producer David Sitek in 2003, TV On The Radio is one of the more unusual acts to emerge from the mid-decade Brooklyn underground boom. Playing intelligent, well-crafted rock that nods to everything from prog to electronica to doo-wop, TV On…

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 …

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…

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…

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 …

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…

One of 2006s most unexpected indie success stories Beirut combines a wide variety of styles from pre-rock pop music and Eastern European gypsy styles to the alternately plaintive and whimsical indie folk of the Decemberists and the lo-fi homemade psy…

A Hamilton Ontario-based electronic pop group Junior Boys began as a duo with its duties split between Jeremy Greenspan and Johnny Dark Influenced by a number of music sectors -- including arty synth pop minimal techno UK garage and contemporary hip-…

Peter Bjorn and John were formed in Stockholm Sweden in 1999 Made up of members Peter Morn on vocals guitar and harmonica Bjrn Yttling on vocals bass vocals and keyboards and John Eriksson on drums percussion and vocals the band is influenced by the …

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…

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…

Yo La Tengo started out in the mid-1980s and became perhaps the ultimate critics' band. Led by former NYC rock journalist Ira Kaplan, they syncretized numerous, often esoteric influences to eventually create a distinctive sound. They started out in h…

The music of Portland OR-based the Village Green harks back to the time of the British Invasion with influences like the Beatles the Kinks from whose song and album The Village Green Preservation Society they got their name and Brit-pop acts like Oas…

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…

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…

Bearing a hyper-stylized and glitzy graphic design sense a pretty and petite Japanese female singer who sings alternately in Japanese and English and a band name with a hint of nod-and-a-wink naughtiness its claimed to be a Tokyo-based slang term tha…