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…

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…

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…

Kori Gardner keyboardvocals and Jason Hammel drumsvocals were both playing guitar and singing in the Kansas music metropolis of Lawrence before forming the Mates of State in 1997 With their dual vocal harmonies and minimal pop appeal Omnibus Records …

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…

The Australian indie pop octet Architecture in Helsinki hails from Fitzroy Melbourne and counts multi-instrumentalists Cameron Bird James Cecil Gus Franklin Isobel Knowles Jamie Mildren Sam Perry Tara Shackell and Kellie Sutherland among its ranks Th…

Rilo Kiley is a pop four-piece formed in Los Angeles in the late 1990s by Blake Sennett and former child actress Jenny Lewis. The band plays an effortless brand of sing-song pop/rock shot through with hints of Americana and songbook stylings. After s…

Mirah pronounced mear-rah -- full name Mirah Yom Tov Zeitlyn -- was born on her mothers kitchen table The daughter of artistic parents the singersongwriter had a passion for music from early childhood While fronting the jazz band the Hot Set in Olymp…

The mastermind of the Magnetic Fields is Stephin Merritt, an urbane songwriter with a scathing wit, equally influenced by the Pet Shop Boys and Stephen Sondheim. Since 1991, Merritt has married sophisticated wordplay with elegant melodies and (partic…

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…

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…

Yet another promising Canadian indie rock band Montreal-via-British Columbias Unicorns began in the late 90s when high-school friends Nick Neil Diamonds and Alden Ginger began crafting their roundabout lo-fi but distinctly catchy music Cheap keyboard…

As Portland pop quartet the All Girl Summer Fun Band proclaim in their aptly-titled Theme Song Theyre nothing big But theyre nothing small Just four best friends that youd like to call With Kathy Kim Arirak and Jen When you hear their songs Youl…

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…

Indie singer-songwriter Chan Marshall somewhat reluctantly began recording under the name Cat Power in the mid-1990s. Often withdrawn and always unapologetically eccentric, Marshall nonetheless managed to win over a steadily growing following, thanks…

The Stockholm-based pop collective the Concretes were formed in 1995 by vocalist Victoria Bergsman guitarist Maria Eriksson and drummer Lisa Milberg over the course of three years they added guitarist Markus bassist Martin Hansson organist Per Nystro…

Combining the influences of new wave, post-punk, and lo-fi, Washington's Modest Mouse spent the second half of the 1990s becoming one of the most renowned indie-rock bands in America. Though often tagged an emo group, Modest Mouse transcends sub-genr…

The Mountain Goats is essentially lo-fi singer-songwriter John Darnielle. Originally recording crude homemade tapes for obscure independent labels in the early 1990s, Mountain Goats records have seen increased fidelity and a maturing of songcraft and…

This San Francisco, California, USA-based alt-pop outfit was formed in 1996 by guitarist/singer-songwriter Miles Kurosky and his former work colleague Bill Swan (guitar/vocals). The pair had not gelled as workmates but when Kurosky was looking to rec…