One of the key artists of the folktronica movement, Kieran Hebden, aka Four Tet, mixes samples of jazz, acoustic, and psychedelic music with mid-tempo techno and hip-hop beats to create a uniquely warm and organic form of electronica. 2003's ROUNDS i…

b. Scott Herren, Atlanta, Georgia, USA. Producer Herren creates the most incredible of musics under the Prefuse 73 moniker, drawing on hip-hop's restless range and electronica's pioneering legacy. Although he says his impetus to record music was Mich…

Although they describe their modus operandi as prosaically as "We do one layer of keyboards, then another, then another', French artists Anthony Gonzalez and Nicolas Fromageau create a music that is momentous and epic enough to suggest otherworldly, …

In the first half of the 2000s, Canadian bands like Godspeed You Black Emperor, Arcade Fire, and the Stills began taking the indie-rock world by storm. While they didn't break through to the mainstream, Broken Social Scene nevertheless joined those r…

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…

As a young boy growing up in Cornwall, England, Richard James made his first music by banging found objects together. Whether he's working under the moniker Aphex Twin, Polygon Window, or AFX, James has continued to experiment with sound in increasin…

Originally a hardcore punk outfit formed in Munich, Germany by Mecki Messerschmidt (drums), Markus Acher (vocals, guitar) and Micha Acher (bass), Notwist first came to prominence when, in 1989, they submitted a demo recording of their song, "I Don't …

Taking their name from the organization that produced lo-fi, arty films that influenced their early sensibilities, this Scottish electronic duo made big waves with their 1998 album MUSIC HAS THE RIGHT TO CHILDREN. They combined '80s-influenced synth-…

Although My Bloody Valentine formed in 1984, their renowned sound didn't coalesce until four years later, with the album ISN'T ANYTHING. Initially a revved-up rock band that featured core members Kevin Shields and Colm O'Ciosoig, MBV truly came into…

Seemingly every year since 1963, a singer-songwriter is heralded as "the next Dylan." It's a tough title to live up to, but since his 2000 debut, singer/songerwriter Sufjan Stevens has certainly traveled the musical highways of Dylan's Old Weird Amer…

The Animal Collective won over a sizable audience in the mid 2000s despite its seemingly inaccessible brand of fractured, experimental folk. Although the Brooklyn-based Collective's music isn't exactly mainstream and can, at times, be quite difficult…

Formed in 1996, and hailing from Scotland, Belle & Sebastian are a musical collective with a penchant for ellipticism, declining to have their pictures on album covers or in the press, shying away from interviews, and never listing their individual n…

Athens, GA's Neutral Milk Hotel were one the key bands in the late-1990s Elephant Six Collective--a loose configuration of bands that often shared members and played an indie-rock update of 1960s psychedelic pop. The band, led by mastermind Jeff Mang…

The Microphones was the alias of Anacortes WA-based lo-fi psych-pop mastermind Phil Elvrum also known for his work as a member of K Records bands D and Old Time Relijun Following a series of cassettes on the local Knw-Yr-Own label including Wires and…

Radiohead burst onto the Britpop scene in the early 1990s with a clamorous, post-U2 take on guitar rock, buoyed by the hit "Creep." They subsequently developed their songwriting and production skills on THE BENDS and achieved iconic status with their…

Scottish ensemble Arab Strap are one of the few U.K. indie-rock acts to have embraced the American slowcore genre pioneered by bands like Slint and Codeine. The band's wry low-key dirges concern the cornerstones of the working-class malaise: sex, dru…

Indie rockers with a sound that pays homage to classic power pop and New Wave, the Canadian band the New Pornographers made a major impact with their 2000 debut album, MASS ROMANTIC. Something of an indie supergroup, the band includes members of Zump…

Iron & Wine is the artistic alias of Florida singer/songwriter Sam Beam, who crafts delicate songs full of poetic lyrics and simple, haunting melodies. Beam delivers his tunes in a hushed, Nick Drake-like voice and frames them with spare, mostly acou…