 | | Originally conceived as the live backing band for her Julie Ruin solo project, Bikini Kill founder and quintessential riot grrrl Kathleen Hanna formed Le Tigre, another bold, feminist-oriented trio, with filmmaker Sadie Benning and zine creator Johanna Fateman in 1998. |
 | | Mixing synth pop, shoegaze, and indie pop into a sound all their own, Ladytron formed in mid-1999. Keyboardists/programmers Daniel Hunt and Reuben Wu settled in Liverpool after a spate of traveling and DJ work in Japan. |
 | | Discovered in the wake of the Strokes' popularity and the subsequent garage rock revival, New York's art punk trio the Yeah Yeah Yeahs are comprised of singer Karen O, guitarist Nicolas Zinner, and drummer Brian Chase. |
 | | If you read a lot about new music on the Web, odds are pretty good that, at some point between the September 2004 release of "Galang" and the March 2005 release of Arular, you were struck with the urge to turn your computer off or maybe even heave it out of a nearby window. |
 | | São Paulo, Brazil's provocative, freewheeling dance-rock sextet CSS take their name from an abbreviation of "cansei de ser sexy," which is Portuguese for "tired of being sexy" (though, considering that the lead singer goes by the name Lovefoxxx, it's arguable how much that phrase actually applies to the band). |
 | | As a solo project with a revolving door of members, the heart and face of Santigold is vivacious frontwoman Santi White. |
 | | The London dance-rock group New Young Pony Club initially featured Tahita Bulmer (vocals), Andy Spence (guitar), Igor Volk (bass), Lou Hayter (keyboards), and Sarah Jones (drums). |
 | | Hailing from London, Hot Chip entered the picture with the release of their 2000 debut, Mexico. The EP was issued by Victory Garden Records, a label owned and operated by members of London's resident lo-fi psychedelic rock institution Southall Riot. |
 | | Bath, England's singer/composer/keyboardist Allison Goldfrapp began exploring music as part of her studies as a fine art painting major at Middlesex University, mixing sound, visuals, and performances in her installation pieces. |
 | | Named after a Chinese friend whose name sounds like the Mandarin pronunciation of "bandstand," the Ting Tings -- a scrappy, dance-oriented duo consisting of singer/guitarist Katie White and drummer Jules De Martino -- formed in the Salford district of Manchester, England in 2006. |
 | | A brother-and-sister duo hailing from Stockholm, Sweden, the Knife take inspiration from vintage synth pop and forward-thinking electronic music, crafting a sound that is equally unsettling, playful, and beautiful. |
 | | A genre- and gender-defying mix of rock, pop, and dance inspired by burlesque, drag queens, and glam rock, New York's Scissor Sisters made a splash in late 2003/early 2004 with their neon-bright reimagining of Pink Floyd's "Comfortably Numb," the B-side to the band's first single, "Electrobix. |
 | | LCD Soundsystem debuted with "Losing My Edge," a single that became one of the most talked-about indie releases of 2002. |
 | | Although formed in sunny California during the early 2000s, Shiny Toy Guns' music flaunts a sleek, '80s-influenced combination of synth-pop and electro-clash. |
 | | In similar company with new-school French progressive dance artists such as Motorbass, Air, Cassius, and Dimitri from Paris, Parisian duo Daft Punk quickly rose to acclaim by adapting a love for first-wave acid house and techno to their younger roots in pop, indie rock, and hip-hop. |
 | | Omaha, NE's the Faint have gone through countless changes in their relatively short career, but with each shift, both in terms of personnel and style, they have made a distinct new impression and turned more and more heads. |
 | | Finding an unlikely middle point between Suicide's hostile, proto-electro punk art noise and the sardonic, pop-friendly sound of the Flaming Lips, MGMT started as electroclash musical terrorists but quickly grew into an eclectic, brainy pop group with psychedelic overtones. |
 | | Folk-rock duo Tegan and Sara first burst onto the Canadian music scene in 1998, when they earned the highest score in history at Calgary's "Garage Warz" competition; their quick rise didn't stop, for their melodic acoustics and charming stage personas led to a slew of dates with Sarah McLachlan's Lilith Fair that same year and a record deal with Neil Young's Vapor Records in April 2000. |
 | | Electro-funk duo Chromeo formed in Montreal in the early 21st century, a project of former hip hop producers Dave One and Pee Thug (news flash: not their given names). |
 | | Once hailed by some writers as the second coming of Gang of Four, the Rapture were the flagship band of the post-punk revival that swept through the indie underground during the early 2000s. |
 | | MSTRKRFT (pronounced "master kraft") are the Daft Punk-loving alter ego of Death from Above 1979's Jesse F. |
 | | Australian indie electronic group Cut Copy take many of their cues from contemporaries like Air, Daft Punk, and LCD Soundsystem, but with a distinctly pop sensibility that draws on classic AM radio pop singles from the 1970s and '80s, with elements of vintage disco and synth pop that appeal to song-based listeners as well as the club kidz. |
 | | The new wave/electro-pop troupe Fischerspooner were formed in New York City in 1998 and have come to incorporate multimedia, strange handmade costumes, dancing, and performance art. |
 | | Björk first came to prominence as one of the lead vocalists of the avant pop Icelandic sextet the Sugarcubes, but when she launched a solo career after the group's 1992 demise, she quickly eclipsed her old band's popularity. |
 | | Fusing low-res electronic noise and pop hooks so effortlessly that it can seem accidental, Crystal Castles began as producer/multi-instrumentalist Ethan Kath's solo project in late 2003. |
 | | Metric are a band with an eclectic, adventurous outlook, whose music encompasses elements of synth pop, new wave, dance-rock, and electronica and whose hometown has vacillated between Toronto, Montreal, New York, Los Angeles, and London over the course of the group's existence. |
 | | Equally inspired by Sonic Youth, Joy Division, Gang of Four, and the Cure, East London art punkers Bloc Party mix angular sonics with pop structures. |
 | | An electronic-based rock band from Reading and London, Does It Offend You, Yeah? made a mark with their raucous live shows and high-energy music that drew comparisons to !!!, LCD Soundsystem, and Digitalism. |
 | | The London-based Klaxons feature the combined talents of Jamie Reynolds, James Righton, and Simon Taylor. |
 | | The Sounds -- a Swedish group whose poppy, synthesizer-heavy music is unapologetically indebted to Blondie and Missing Persons -- feature the coed talents of vocalist Maja Ivarsson, keyboardist Jesper Anderberg, bassist Johan Bengtsson, drummer Fredrik Nilsson, and guitarist Felix Rodriguez. |
 | | Originally from Searcy, Arkansas, this punk trio moved to Olympia, WA, joining the roster of the indie rock label K Records. |
 | | Formed in 1994 from the ashes of Heavens to Betsy and Excuse 17, a pair of groups that rode the first wave of the riot grrrl movement, Sleater- Kinney became one of the most important feminist punk rock bands of the '90s. |
 | | !!!, which can be pronounced by repeating any one-syllable percussive sound three times (e.g., "chk chk chk"), formed in 1996 after the demise of the Yah Mos; while on tour, members of that post-hardcore act envisioned forming a band oriented toward danceable music, and once they returned to their native Sacramento, California, they turned the concept into an actual group. |
 | | The production duo of Simon Ratcliffe and Felix Buxton released several of Britain's most respected and enjoyable progressive house anthems of the '90s and early 2000s from their base in South London. |
 | | The bluesy punk duo the Kills consist of vocalist/guitarist VV, aka Alison Mosshart, formerly of the Florida punk band Discount, and drummer/guitarist/vocalist Hotel, aka Jamie Hince. |
 | | Conceived as the first "virtual hip-hop group," Gorillaz blended the musical talents of Dan "The Automator" Nakamura, Blur's Damon Albarn, Cibo Matto's Miho Hatori, and Tom Tom Club's Tina Weymouth and Chris Frantz with the arresting visuals of Jamie Hewlett, best known as the creator of the cult comic Tank Girl. |
 | | Although formed during the late '90s, Interpol rose to international attention in 2002 as part of New York City's post-punk revival. |
 | | The point band of the early-'90s riot grrrl movement, Olympia, WA's Bikini Kill exploded onto the male-dominated indie rock scene by fusing the visceral power of punk with the impassioned ideals of feminism. |
 | | Glasgow's art-damaged rock quartet Franz Ferdinand -- named for the Austro-Hungarian Archduke whose murder sparked World War I -- feature bassist Bob Hardy, guitarist Nick McCarthy, drummer Paul Thomson, and singer/guitarist Alex Kapranos. |
 | | Second-wave Chicago house impresario Felix da Housecat entered the elite via his recordings (as himself, Thee Maddkatt Courtship, Aphrohead, Sharkimaxx) as well as his ownership of Radikal Fear Records, one of the premiere Chicago labels of the 1990s. |
 | | Equally inspired by classic tunesmiths like Buddy Holly and John Lennon and the street-smart attitude and angular riffs of fellow New Yorkers Television and the Velvet Underground, the Strokes were also equally blessed and cursed with an enormous amount of hype -- particularly from the U. |
 | | Dressed in matching red track suits, Norwegian tongue-in-cheek electronic-dance band Datarock were one of several groups labeled by the U. |
 | | Producers/remixers James Ford and James Shaw formed Simian Mobile Disco in 2005, following their departure from the experimental electronic rock band Simian. |
 | | Portishead may not have invented trip-hop, but they were among the first to popularize it, particularly in America. |
 | | Munich's electronic pop/multimedia trio Chicks on Speed feature former New Yorker Melissa Logan, Australian Alex Murray-Leslie, and Munich native Kiki Moorse. |
 | | Radiohead were one of the few alternative bands of the early '90s to draw heavily from the grandiose arena rock that characterized U2's early albums. |
 | | Formerly known as Cherry, New York's rock-meets-electronica duo Ratatat feature multi-instrumentalist/programmer Evan Mast and guitarist Mike Stroud. |
 | | The White Stripes formed on Bastille Day in 1997, aiming to create simple, vigorous rock & roll with little more than Meg White's percussion and Jack White's guitar-and-vocal attack. |
 | | Girl Talk is the pseudonym of DJ and remixer Greg Gillis. A Pittsburgh native who works as a biomedical research engineer during the day, Gillis channels his other creative energies into Girl Talk, whose sample-based dance tracks have made him the John Oswald or Christian Marclay of the mash-up generation: each of his songs are built on recognizable samples of recent hit singles, recontextualized into an entirely new piece. |
 | | Garbage built on the sonic landscapes of My Bloody Valentine, Curve, and Sonic Youth, adding a distinct sense of accessible pop songcraft. |
![The Teaches of Peaches [Bonus Disc] Album Cover](http://images.slacker.com/isv1/album/v1/553647/aol/1/center/5,0/70.jpg "The Teaches of Peaches [Bonus Disc] Album Cover")
