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 | | English indie rockers Alt-J, named for the triangle that appears when pressing "Alt" and "J" on a Mac, formed in 2008 under the moniker FILMS. |
 | | Another example of how influential blogs can be in a band's career, sharp-edged Australian indie rockers Atlas Genius experienced a massive surge in their popularity when their song "Trojans" was featured by the site Neon Gold, resulting in offers from record labels and over 45,000 downloads in the U. |
 | | Sunny Los Angeles-based indie pop outfit Family of the Year formed in 2009 around the talents of Welsh brothers Joseph and Sebastian Keefe, Florida native James Buckey, and Orange County, California denizen Christina Schroeter. |
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 | | The chilly electro-pop project of Corin Roddick and Megan James, Purity Ring began when the two were in Canadian indie rock act Gobble Gobble (which later became Born Gold). |
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 | | Brazilian-bred/American-born siblings Erica and Bruce Driscoll compose the sultry indie pop of Astaire. |
 | | Consisting of DJ Greem and MC 20Syl (from jazz-rap collective Hocus Pocus) and DJs Atom and Pfel (from electro hip-hop duo Beat Torrent), C2C are widely regarded as one of the most accomplished turntablist crews in the world. |
 | | Fronted by dynamic lead singer Chloe Chaidez, the Los Angeles-based four-piece Kitten make '80s post-punk-influenced dance-rock. |
 | | Playing tough, dynamic, roots-conscious rock & roll that references the past and the present in equal measure, the Hounds Below are a Detroit-based group founded by Jason Stollsteimer. |
 | | Twenty One Pilots is a pop duo formed in 2009 by high school friends Tyler Joseph and Josh Dun. The pair built an enormous regional following across Ohio and the midwest, spurned on by constant energetic touring as well as shrewd use of interactive social media and reaching out to fans on a grassroots level. |
 | | Cut from the same colorful cloth as upbeat indie pop contemporaries like Fun., Jukebox the Ghost, Walk the Moon, and Imagine Dragons, Youngblood Hawke, named after a 1961 Herman Wouk novel based on the life of Thomas Wolfe, was formed in 2011 by former members of new wave revivalists Iglu and Hartly. |
 | | Swedish electro-pop duo Icona Pop feature best friends Aino Jawo and Caroline Hjelt. The group first came to notice with the 2010 Kitsuné single "Manners," which was sampled on Chiddy Bang's 2011 song "Mind Your Manners"; the song reached number 19 on Billboard's Heatseekers chart and appeared on the hip-hop duo's debut album, Breakfast. |
 | | Genre-crossing outfit the Neighbourhood mix atmospheric indie rock, electronica, and hip-hop beats with melodic R&B-inflected vocals. |
 | | Los Angeles indie electro unit Capital Cities first came together as a duo of composer/songwriters Ryan Merchant and Sebu Simonian. |
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 | | Formed in 2008 by singer/songwriter/guitarist Tim Bruns and mandolin player Michael Morter, Denver, Colorado-based indie folk-rock outfit Churchill expanded to a sextet by the time of the group's 2009 live debut, fleshing out Bruns' rustic, Americana-tinged tales of love, life, and loss with cello, piano, bass, and drums. |
 | | As AlunaGeorge, producer George Reid and vocalist Aluna Francis amalgamate electronic pop, 2-step garage, and left-field R&B. |
 | | An indie supergroup featuring Spoon's Britt Daniel, New Bomb Turks drummer Sam Brown, and Wolf Parade and Handsome Furs member Dan Boeckner, Divine Fits announced their existence in May 2012 with a 45-second teaser trailer and the news that a full-length album produced by Nick Launay would arrive later that year. |
 | | Ontario emo band the Reason was formed in late 2003 by Adam White (vocals, keyboard), James Nelan (guitar, vocals), and Ronson Armstrong (bass). |
 | | The Lumineers, a folk-rock trio out of Denver, Colorado, deliver an acoustic-based Americana sound that touches a lot of stylistic bases, from folk to gospel to heartland rock and the narrative end of country, all with interesting rhythmic twists and turns. |
 | | 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. |
 | | Spirited, quirky Cincinnati, Ohio-based indie rockers Walk the Moon formed in the late 2000s around the talents of Nicholas Petricca, Kevin Ray, Sean Waugaman, and Eli Maiman. |
 | | Formed in 2008, Local Natives craft their dramatic and eclectic brand of indie rock from their home base in Los Angeles, California. |
 | | Combining indie rock with chamber pop flourishes (courtesy of a small string section), Ra Ra Riot formed while the band's six members were attending college in Syracuse, New York. |
 | | 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. |
 | | Hailing from Manchester, U.K., the 1975 managed to combine the dark and youthful themes of sex, love, and fear with ethereal alt-rock music. |
 | | A British singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist (piano, trumpet, guitar, bass, drums, and organ among them), Dan Croll combines blending folk elements and classic Paul Simon-like melodies with electronic beats, African polyrhythms, and guitar hooks, giving his work a lot of varying sounds and dimensions. |
 | | Originally conceived as a solo bedroom project in 2009, Cheatahs is the brainchild of Nathan Hewitt (guitar, vocals). |
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 | | 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. |
 | | 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. |
 | | Los Angeles-based electronic musician Robert DeLong mixes dance music with his own singer/songwriter style of craftsmanship. |
 | | The brainchild of Rocky Mountain-reared, Nashville-based singer/songwriter Winston Yellen, Night Beds occupies roughly the same lonesome and lamp-lit/earthy and expansive musical campsite as contemporaries like Bon Iver, Fleet Foxes, and Frontier Ruckus, fusing 21st century indie folk onto a foundation of pure, Gram Parsons-inspired Americana and country. |
 | | Australian pop outfit Gold Fields make '80s new wave-influenced dance-pop. Formed in Ballarat, Victoria, Australia in 2010, Gold Fields feature vocalist Mark Robert Fuller, guitarist Vin Andanar, keyboardist Rob Clifton, bassist Luke Peldys, and drummer Ryan D'Sylva. |
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 | | Although this psychedelic art pop quartet formed in Dalston, London at the end of 2008, they had met earlier in the decade at the Edinburgh College of Art. |
 | | A diverse handful of guest appearances and solo singles across 2010 and 2011 situated Jessie Ware in a line of remarkable soul-inspired U. |
 | | England's Animal Kingdom craft dreamy and emotive stadium pop songs that echo the works of similarly atmospheric modern rock acts like Mercury Rev. |
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 | | Vocalist Lana Del Rey makes atmospheric, orchestral, retro-'60s-sounding pop that showcases her torchy image and sensuous singing style. |
 | | The nameless lineup that became Atoms for Peace made its public debut at Los Angeles, California's Echoplex on October 2, 2009. |
 | | After winning the nationwide 2010 battle-of-the-bands competition Musiktilraunir in their native Iceland, six-piece chamber pop group Of Monsters and Men were hailed as "the new Arcade Fire" in Rolling Stone magazine. |
 | | Based out of Birmingham, England, Peace create drifting, melodic indie rock that merges the crawling atmosphere of classic post-punk with the pop-oriented bounce of modern bands like Vampire Weekend. |
 | | Gainesville, Florida's delicate indie country-rock group Holopaw features singer/songwriter/guitarist John Orth, who worked with Modest Mouse's Isaac Brock on his side project Ugly Casanova. |
 | | Much like Iron & Wine and similar indie outfits, Sea Wolf is the project name of a sole singer/songwriter who drafts in other musicians as the occasion warrants. |
 | | Las Vegas-based indie rockers Imagine Dragons formed in Provo, Utah in 2009. Like their desert-born stadium rock contemporaries the Killers, Imagine Dragons blend engaging, synth-based dance-pop with emotionally charged, Brit-pop-inspired alt-rock. |
