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 | | Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs is the solo project of Orlando Higginbottom, an Oxford-bred twentysomething whose hummable dance music combines electro-pop, Euro-house, and 2-step beats. |
 | | Yellow Ostrich is the solo project of the Chairs' frontman Alex Schaaf, who makes lo-fi indie pop on his four-track recorder. |
 | | Leeds-based English folk-rock outfit the Dunwells formed in 2009 around the talents of siblings Joseph (vocals, guitar) and David Dunwell (vocal, piano, banjo, guitar), their childhood friend Jonny Lamb (drums), and local players David Hanson (lead guitar) and Lee Dawson (bass), the latter of whom left the group in 2011 and was replaced by Lamb's cousin Rob Clayton. |
 | | With his acoustic blues-folk sound and timeless soulful voice, singer/songwriter Michael Kiwanuka has been favorably compared with the likes of Curtis Mayfield, Terry Callier, and Van Morrison. |
 | | An actual brotherhood, though not actually containing anyone named Jeff, JEFF the Brotherhood is the brainchild of brothers Jake and Jamin Orrall (who also played in Be Your Own Pet). |
 | | Kevin Parker (vocals/guitar) and Dominic Simper (bass) formed Tame Impala as 13 year olds in Perth in 1999, sticking to bedroom recordings until 2007, when Jay Watson joined them on drums and backing vocals. |
 | | TUnE-yArDs is the lo-fi experimental folk project of Merrill Garbus, also of the noisy indie pop band Sister Suvi. |
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 | | Australian quartet the Jezabels shimmer with their anthemic, empowering approach to indie pop. Comprised of singer Hayley Mary, guitarist Samuel Lockwood, pianist/keyboardist Heather Shannon, and drummer Nik Kaloper, the group formed in 2007 after meeting at the University of Sydney, though Mary and Lockwood knew each other previously, having both grown up in Byron Bay. |
 | | Based out of East London, Dry the River -- who have drawn comparisons to Mumford & Sons, Fleet Foxes, and Noah and the Whale -- was formed as a solo vehicle for Norwegian born singer/songwriter Peter Liddle, who described the band's sound as "folky gospel music played by a post-punk band. |
 | | Chaz Bundick started making bedroom recordings under the name Toro y Moi in his native Columbia, South Carolina in 2001. |
 | | The Brooklyn-based Bear in Heaven was initially started in 1998 as a way for Jon Philpot, who was then still living in his hometown of Atlanta, to express his musical ideas during the off hours of a local recording studio. |
 | | Born in the Dominican Republic, raised in Florida, and boasting an expansive musical background that includes composing for a touring dance company and fronting a Boston punk group, George Lewis, Jr. |
 | | A self-taught producer, London’s SBTRKT -- aka Aaron Jerome -- mixes elements of dubstep, 2-step, garage, house, soul, and techno into a bass-heavy blend of flowing melodies and intricate percussion. |
 | | 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. |
 | | Hailing from Brooklyn, New York (by way of Boulder, Colorado, where they originally came together in 2006), the avant-pop outfit Chairlift formed for the unusual purpose of crafting music for haunted houses. |
 | | Since they emerged at a time when C-86-inspired acts like Vivian Girls and the Pains of Being Pure at Heart were in vogue, it’s little wonder that California’s Dum Dum Girls -- a group whose '60s-inflected lo-fi pop brings to mind acts like Black Tambourine and Dolly Mixture -- became something of a sensation on the indie circuit soon after the release of their first single. |
 | | 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. |
 | | Combining kitchen-sink instrumentation with playful lyrics and sweet harmonies, Oberhofer offers eccentric, undeniably catchy indie pop. |
 | | Coming from Cape Town, South Africa, the hip-hop duo Die Antwoord struck Internet viral gold with their video hit "Enter the Ninja," but they're really conceptual artists Watkin Tudor Jones and Yo-Landi ViSSer presenting their "inner zef. |
 | | Lafayette, Louisiana-based indie rockers the Givers formed in the late 2000s around the talents of Kirby Campbell (drums/samples/vocals), Taylor Guarisco (guitar/vocals), Tif Lamson (vocals/percussion/ukulele), Josh Leblanc (bass), and William Henderson (synths/samples/vocals). |
 | | Bombay Bicycle Club is a melodic, guitar-driven indie rock outfit from North London, comprised of frontman Jack Steadman, guitarist Jamie MacColl, drummer Suren de Saram, and bassist Ed Nash. |
 | | First Aid Kit are a Swedish duo comprised of sisters Johanna and Klara Söderberg, whose vocal harmonies and woodsy, folk-influenced songwriting take influence from the likes of Fleet Foxes and Joanna Newsom. |
 | | Although she was born and raised in suburban New Jersey, Sharon Van Etten’s folk music evokes the open landscapes and lonely expanses of Middle America. |
 | | Formed in St. John's, Newfoundland, in 2005 around the talents of Tim Baker (vocals, piano, guitar), Adam Hogan (guitar), Josh Ward (bass), Phil Maloney (drums), Kinley Dowling (violin), and Romesh Thavanathan (cello), explosive indie rock sextet Hey Rosetta! craft emotionally resonant rock anthems that echo Brit-pop outfits like Hope of the States and the Veils while channeling the orchestral rock of Arcade Fire and Broken Social Scene. |
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 | | The Bowerbirds sit on the dividing line between the freak folk contingent led by Devendra Banhart and Joanna Newsom and the more straightforward sunshine pop of Lavender Diamond: for all the self-conscious quirkiness of their lineup and instrumentation, there's an unfeigned positivity to their music that's refreshingly direct. |
 | | 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. |
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 | | 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. |
 | | Justice, a Parisian dance production duo comprised of Gaspard Augé and Xavier de Rosnay, generated an international buzz with "D. |
 | | A band that has been described as Otis Redding fronting the Stooges, JC Brooks & the Uptown Sound emerged from Chicago in 2007, generating an exciting and explosive garage, funk, and soul sound. |
 | | Manchester-based DJ/producer Darren Williams, aka Star Slinger, released his debut in 2010, a soul-flavored dance album titled Volume 1, then followed it up with two EPs in 2011, Rogue Cho Pa, and Teams. |
 | | England's Animal Kingdom craft dreamy and emotive stadium pop songs that echo the works of similarly atmospheric modern rock acts like Mercury Rev. |
 | | The gritty English trio Band of Skulls craft bluesy and ballsy slabs of atmospheric indie rock that echo the work of contemporaries like the Kills, Duke Spirit, and the Black Keys. |
 | | Montezumas frontman Kristian Matsson started recording a set of rustic, gravelly-voiced tunes, ones that nodded to fellow Swedes Homesick Hank and Thomas Denver Jonsson, under the nom de solo act the Tallest Man on Earth in the early 2000s. |
 | | The blurry electronic pop project of an initially anonymous composer from Brooklyn and video artist from Austin, Texas, Neon Indian was conceived as a multimedia experience combining their music and video into short films, teasers, and straight-up pop songs. |
 | | Built on the solid, classic rock foundation of three-part harmonies and dual guitar leads, Canada’s the Sheepdogs blend Southern boogie rock, groove-based psychedelia, and bluesy barroom swagger into a modern rock & roll revival. |
 | | Born to Panamanian parents in Los Angeles in 1979, E. Nathaniel Dawkins (aka Aloe Blacc) first began playing trumpet in elementary school, and continued with the instrument throughout high school. |
 | | Muscle Shoals-inspired, Athens, Alabama-based quartet Alabama Shakes formed in 2009 around the talents of Brittany Howard, Zac Cockrell, Steve Johnson, and Heath Fogg. |
 | | 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. |
 | | When he’s not busy writing for television, performing with his sketch group Derrick Comedy, or acting on the NBC comedy Community, Donald Glover somehow finds the time to make beats and rap as his alter ego, Childish Gambino. |
 | | One of the most admired guitarists of the early 21st century, Jack White helped restore the popularity of punk-blues as the frontman of the White Stripes. |
 | | The sultry neo-psychedelic sound of the Black Angels came together in spring 2004. Hailing from Austin, TX, Stephanie Bailey (drums), Christian Bland (guitar), Alex Maas (vocals), Jennifer Raines (organ), and Nathan Ryan (bass) took their name from a Velvet Underground classic, "The Black Angel's Death Song. |
 | | California-based roots rock band Dawes were formed in the Los Angeles suburb of North Hills by brothers Taylor Goldsmith and Griffin Goldsmith (lead vocals/guitar and drums, respectively), Wylie Gelber (bass), and Alex Casnoff (guitar). |
 | | Comprised of multi-instrumentalists Dhani Harrison (son of late Beatle George Harrison) and Oliver Hecks, London-based duo thenewno2 (pronounced "the new number two") successfully blend the late-period experimental pop of the Fab Four with the ambient electronics of Brian Eno and the layered beats of Massive Attack. |
