 | | Phantogram is an electronic rock duo from upstate New York whose music incorporates psychedelic pop vocals, J Dilla-style hip-hop beats, and shoegazing sensibility. |
 | | Cults' twinkling experimental pop arrived in a shroud of mystery early in 2010, when the group posted three songs on their Bandcamp page. |
 | | Indie rock trio Foster the People make atmospheric, psychedelic, and dance-oriented pop. Formed in Los Angeles in 2009, the band features keyboardist/guitarist/vocalist Mark Foster, bassist Cubbie Fink, and drummer Mark Pontius. |
 | | Mixing electronic polish with guitar-driven hooks à la Phoenix and the Postal Service, Bangor and Donaghadee, Northern Ireland's Two Door Cinema Club feature singer/guitarist/programmer Alex Trimble, guitarist/singer Sam Halliday, and bassist/singer Kevin Baird. |
 | | After the San Diego-based emo outfit Noise Ratchet called it quits in 2004, co-founders Jon Jameson (bass) and Brandon Young (drums) decided to ditch their punk-influenced sound for something more rootsy. |
 | | Noah and the Whale became a leading light in the British folk scene with the release of 2008's Peaceful, the World Lays Me Down, their popular debut that cracked the U. |
 | | Songwriter/producer Derek Miller and vocalist Alexis Krauss comprise Sleigh Bells, an experimental pop duo that began earning its first fans after a breakout performance at the 2009 CMJ Festival. |
 | | Led by songwriter Michael Fitzpatrick, Fitz & the Tantrums brew up a retro sound inspired by Motown and Stax Records. |
 | | Standing firmly on the middle ground between the quirky, staccato attack of Modest Mouse and the spirited, arena-ready roar of Arcade Fire, Los Angeles-based indie rock outfit Grouplove came to fruition in the late 2000s around the talents of Hannah Hooper, Christian Zucconi, Sean Gadd, Ryan Rabin, and Andrew Wessen. |
 | | An unlikely but undeniably catchy mix of Factory Records-style indie and '50s-inspired melodies, the Drums have roots that can be traced to the childhood friendship of Jonathan Pierce and Jacob Graham. |
 | | In 2003, Frenchmen Anthony Gonzalez and Nicolas Fromageau enjoyed international acclaim for the album Dead Cities, Red Seas & Lost Ghosts, a luscious blend of shoegaze aesthetics, ambient pop, and progressive textures. |
 | | Infectious London-based indie rock outfit the Vaccines formed in the late 2000s around the talents of Justin Young (vocals, guitar), Árni Hjörvar (bass), Freddie Cowan (guitar), and Pete Robertson (drums). |
 | | The Swedish indie pop artist Lykke Li Zachrisson (better known as Lykke Li) grabbed the attention of international bloggers in the early 2000s with a handful of catchy, retro-chic singles made available on her MySpace profile. |
 | | Mixing the grand-scale guitar attack of Sonic Youth and My Bloody Valentine with a melodic sense and lyrical perspective that recalls Bob Dylan roaring down Highway 61, Philadelphia's the War on Drugs are the creation of a pair of Dylan fans, Adam Granduciel and Kurt Vile, who met at a party in 2003. |
 | | A combination of indie rock muscle and theatrical, unapologetic bombast turned Arcade Fire into indie royalty in the early 2000s. |
 | | Playing dance-oriented music with the feel of indie pop but the insistent pulse of disco, Friendly Fires hail from St. |
 | | Justin Vernon began recording under the nom de band Bon Iver following the breakup of DeYarmond Edison, an indie folk group similar in tone and manner to Iron & Wine, Little Wings, and -- to a certain extent -- Bonnie "Prince" Billy. |
 | | A lo-fi electro-pop group from Worcester, Massachusetts, Dom are led by a guy named Dom, who prefers not to divulge his last name. |
 | | New Zealand indie electronic ensemble the Naked and Famous make driving, melodic pop with an '80s post-punk influence. |
 | | It’s too facile to call the Black Keys counterparts of the White Stripes: they share several surface similarities -- their names are color-coded, they hail from the Midwest, they’re guitar-and-drum blues-rock duos -- but the Black Keys are their own distinct thing, a tougher, rougher rock band with a purist streak that never surfaces in the Stripes. |
 | | There has to be some credit given for this band's name alone -- co-founder John Gourley once explained it as an attempt to create a demi-mythic entity bigger than the individual members. |
 | | Ernest Greene had been involved in a number of musical endeavors by the time he started putting together a series of recordings as Washed Out. |
 | | The handclapping indie pop of Freelance Whales was born on the streets and subways of New York City after the band's formation in Queens at the end of 2008. |
 | | One of 2006's 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 to the lo-fi, homemade psychedelic experimentation of Neutral Milk Hotel. |
 | | An enticing blend of indie pop hooks and crisp electronic beats in the style first perfected by Saint Etienne's Foxbase Alpha, Little Dragon are a showcase for Swedish-Japanese singer Yukimi Nagano, a mainstay of the European downtempo and lounge scenes. |
 | | New York-based musicians Alex Naidus (bass), Kip Berman (guitar/vocals), Kurt Feldman (drums), and Peggy Wang-East (keyboards/vocals) came together to form the Pains of Being Pure at Heart in 2007. |
 | | Formed in 2008, Local Natives craft their dramatic and eclectic brand of indie rock from their home base in Los Angeles, California. |
 | | Eccentric indie rock band Maps & Atlases feature Erin Elders (guitar), Shiraz Dada (bass), Chris Hainey (drums), and Dave Davison (guitar/vocals). |
 | | YACHT is one of the many creative alter egos of Jona Bechtolt, a musician and multimedia artist who embraces an eclectic but playful blend of electronics, acoustic percussion, and noises of all sorts. |
 | | Fences is the nom de plume of Chris Mansfield, a Berklee graduate with a penchant for casual pop songs and downcast lyrics. |
 | | Keyboardist Matt Johnson and drummer Kim Schifino create the giddy, punky pop music of Matt and Kim. |
 | | Formed in Seattle by a group of northwestern transplants, the Head and the Heart is an indie folk band whose influences include Americana, country-rock, and classic Beatlesque pop. |
 | | Formerly known as the Jakes, Young the Giant began making eclectic indie rock in Irvine, CA, where bandmates Sameer Gadhia (vocals), Jacob Tilley (guitar), Eric Cannata (guitar), Payam Doostzadeh (bass), and Francois Comtois (drummer) all met each other during high school. |
 | | After spending several years with the post-punk outfit Sidecar Kisses, vocalist/guitarist Ritzy Bryan and bassist Rhydian Dafydd left the lineup and launched the Joy Formidable, drawing heavily from shoegaze and noisy alt-rock to create their new group's sound. |
 | | Emerging in 2004 with a blend of woodsy midtempo rock and reverb-laden vocals, Band of Horses gained an audience in their native Northwest before Everything All the Time made them indie rock darlings. |
 | | Though Broken Bells featured two of the bigger names in indie and alternative music -- the Shins’ singer/guitarist James Mercer and producer/multi-instrumentalist Brian Burton, aka Danger Mouse -- the duo managed to keep their project secret for a relatively long time. |
 | | A Portland-based group originally comprised of singer/guitarist Israel Nebeker and drummer Ryan Dobrowski, Blind Pilot strikes a balance between mellow folk and West Coast indie pop. |
 | | Formed in 2007 by Ima Robot frontman Alex Ebert after a brief period of existential crisis, the cultish 11-piece indie rock outfit Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros draw their inspiration from the communal musical communities that peppered Southern California (specifically Laurel Canyon) with positive vibrations during the '60s and early '70s. |
 | | Long Beach, California's 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. |
 | | The Chain Gang of 1974 is the moniker of multi-instrumentalist and DJ Kamtin Mohager’s alternative dance music project. |
 | | Bethany Cosentino was no stranger to the stage when she began working on recordings with bandmate Bobb Bruno under the name Best Coast in 2009. |
 | | Atmospheric English indie pop group the xx formed in London in 2008 around the talents of Romy Madley Croft, Oliver Sim, Baria Qureshi, and Jamie Smith, when the bandmembers were still in high school. |
 | | The odd combination of an Englishman in the midst of southeastern Texans, Electric Touch emerged following the demise of British band IV Thieves and Houston, TX-based Bojones. |
 | | City and Colour was the solo acoustic project of Dallas Green, best known as the singer/guitarist for the Canadian post-hardcore band Alexisonfire. |
 | | Chicago's the Smith Westerns are a band looking for some teenage kicks with their home-brewed mixture of garage, glam, and punk, and they come by their youthful energy honestly -- none of the group members were old enough to buy a beer when they released their first album. |
 | | Diamond Rings is the glammed-up solo project of Toronto musician John O’Regan, who is also the singer/guitarist for indie rock band the D’Urbervilles. |
 | | Playing garage-flavored punk rock with a Southern accent, a messed-up and bluesy undertow, and the gleefully destructive impact of a 15-year-old with a bag of firecrackers, the Black Lips are an Atlanta-based combo who after their debut in 2000 soon developed a reputation as one of the Peach State's wildest bands. |
 | | The French group Phoenix draw elements from their eclectic '80s upbringing to arrive at a satisfying blend of rock and synthesizers. |
 | | Hailing from South London, Florence Mary Leontine Welch writes songs that occupy the same confessional territory as gossip-loving, genre-bending contemporaries like Amy Winehouse, Kate Nash, Adele, and Lily Allen and the moody, classic art rock of Kate Bush, blending pop, soul, and baroque arrangements into a sound that earned the young artist considerable buzz in 2007. |
 | | Texas guitarist Gary Clark Jr. has been compared to guitar icons like Jimi Hendrix and Stevie Ray Vaughan, and his playing is a powerful and inspired mix of blues roots with contemporary soul and hip-hop, and when he’s rolling at his best, he sounds like nothing so much as a natural hybrid of both the past and the future of the blues. |
![If You Didn't See Me [Then You Weren't On The Dancefloor] Album Cover](http://images.slacker.com/isv1/album/v1/5874040/aol/1/center/5,0/70.jpg "If You Didn't See Me [Then You Weren't On The Dancefloor] Album Cover")
