/////THE SHINS
The Shins are an American indie rock band consisting of James Mercer (vocals, guitar), Jessica Dobson (guitar), Yuuki Matthews (bass), Richard Swift (keyboards) and Joe Plummer (drums).
The band formed in 1997, in Albuquerque, New Mexico, United States as a side project of Mercer (previously of Blue Roof Dinner) and drummer Jesse Sandoval, who were both members of Flake Music.
//// THE SHEEPDOGS
The Sheepdogs are a Canadian rock band from Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, consisting of Ewan Currie on vocals and guitar, Leot Hanson on guitar, Ryan Gullen on bass and Sam Corbett on drums.
The Sheepdogs beat 15 other bands to win Rolling Stone’s “Choose The Cover” competition to be featured on the August 18, 2011 cover of Rolling Stone magazine, the first unsigned act to do so. During the competition, the band made appearances on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon and performed at the Bonnaroo Music Festival as well The Osheaga Festival in Montreal, Quebec. The band has recently signed with Atlantic Records with a new album being produced by Black Keys drummer Patrick Carney.
//// THE RAPTURE
The Rapture is an Indie rock band based in New York City. The band mixes influences from many genres including post-punk, acid house, disco, electronica and rock, pioneering the post-punk revival genre. They were forerunners of the post-punk revival of the early 2000s, as they mixed their early post-punk sound with electronic and dance elements.
//// THE MIDNIGHT BEAST
The Midnight Beast, sometimes abbreviated as TMB, is a British comedy music group from London, perhaps most famous for their YouTube cover-parody of the 2009 single TiK ToK by American pop artist Ke$ha. The group currently consists of its three founding members, Stefan Abingdon, Dru Wakely and Ashley Horne.
//// THE HORRORS
The Horrors are an English band formed in Southend on Sea in 2005. Their debut Strange House, was released in 2007 and reached number thirty-seven on the UK Albums Chart, their second album Primary Colours was released in 2009 and peaked at number 25 in the UK. In July 2011 The Horrors’ third album Skying was released, and reached number five in the UK album chart.
//// THE HIVES
The Hives are a Swedish garage rock band that first garnered attention in the early 2000s as a prominent group of the garage rock revival. Their mainstream success came with the release of the “greatest hits” album Your New Favourite Band, featuring their most well-known song “Hate to Say I Told You So”. The Hives are known for performing in ever-changing black and white suits.
//// THE HEAD AND THE HEART
The Head and The Heart is an indie folk-pop band from Seattle, Washington. Formed in the summer of 2009 by Josiah Johnson (vocals, guitar, percussion) and Jonathan Russell (vocals, guitar, percussion), the band also includes Charity Rose Thielen (violin, vocals), Chris Zasche (bass), Kenny Hensley (piano), and Tyler Williams (drums). The band signed to Sub Pop Records in November 2010.
//// THE GROWLERS
The Growlers are a band formed in Long Beach, California in 2006, though their hometown is originally Costa Mesa, Orange County. The band consists of Brooks Nielsen (vocals), Matt Taylor (lead guitar, vocals), Scott Montoya (drums, vocals) and Kyle Straka (keyboards, guitar). Their first album, Are You in or Out, was released in 2009. Their second album, Hot Tropics, was out in 2010.
//// THE GASLAMP KILLER
The Gaslamp Killer (born William Benjamin Bensussen) is a Los Angeles-based DJ who releases material through Brainfeeder, the record label of Flying Lotus. Bensussen grew up in San Diego, California, where he began listening to Too Short, Jimi Hendrix, and Dr. Dre. After being influenced by DJ Shadow, he became a DJ in San Diego’s Gaslamp district when he was 17, where his unique sets often ruined the pop music vibe in the clubs, earning him the nickname “The Gaslamp Killer.” After moving to Los Angeles in 2006, he helped found Low End Theory, “L.A.’s monolithic weekly showcase for uncut beat-driven tracks”.
//// THE DEAR HUNTER
The Dear Hunter is an indie rock band originating in Providence, Rhode Island. It began as a side project of Casey Crescenzo, formerly of post-hardcore band The Receiving End of Sirens. The band’s sound is unlike that of Casey’s former band, with more alternative and progressive rock tendencies and a wider variety of instrumentation.
//// THE BLACK KEYS
The Black Keys is an American rock band formed in Akron, Ohio in 2001. The group consists of Dan Auerbach (guitar, vocals) and Patrick Carney (drums). The group began as an independent act founded after the duo dropped out of college, and they eventually emerged among a second wave of popular garage rock revival artists from the 2000s. Through October 2011, The Black Keys had sold over 2 million albums in the United States.
//// THE BLACK ANGELS
The Black Angels’ music is hardly the stuff of stripped-down acoustic confessionals: It’s the sound of a distant rumble, possibly beamed from a garage in the early ’70s. So when we got word that the Austin-based psych-rock band would go acoustic for this Tiny Desk Concert in the NPR Music offices, a mystery was born: namely, “Huh?”
Amazingly, what we got came largely without amplification or electricity, with one notable exception: Singer Alex Maas got his own vocal mic so he could be properly filtered for full, dreamy, otherworldly effect. The resulting four songs, three of which appear on 2010’s Phosphene Dream, showcase a bold and surprising mix of sensibilities — at once icy and rustic, cavernous and confined.
//// THE BIG PINK
The Big Pink is an English electro-rock duo comprising multi-instrumentalists Robbie Furze and Milo Cordell. The duo signed to the 4AD label in 2009, and won the prestigious NME Philip Hall Radar Award for best new act. To date, they have released five singles, with their debut album A Brief History of Love released in September 2009.
//// THE AIRPLANE BOYS
An electrifying electro/hip-hop duo from Toronto Canada. It’s not totally accurate to call Toronto-based duo The Airplane Boys a rap group. It’s not that they don’t rap. They do, and pretty well, at that. It’s more that the Boys—who have been carrying the “next-Toronto-act-to-blow” tag for very close to a year—make a point of screwing with genre conventions, throwing handfuls of synthpop, R&B, dubstep and house into their musical stew.
//// SWEDISH HOUSE MAFIA
Swedish House Mafia is a Swedish house music group consisting of the three disc jockeys and producers, Axwell, Steve Angello, and Sebastian Ingrosso. The group officially formed in late 2008.
Angello & Ingrosso met as children in Stockholm; Axwell was not a member until years later when they contacted him after a chance meeting.
The name “Swedish House Hegarty” was adopted initially, but the group then resorted to their current name that was coined by BBC Radio 1 DJ Pete Tong, who was a member of the Kent Soul Mafia in the 1980s. It then appeared on forums and was used to encapsulate the group of producers that were working together in the future. Steve Angello stated, “But we’ve been through everything together.
