Arcade Fire is a Canadian indie rock band from Montréal, Quebec, consisting of husband and wife Win Butler and Régine Chassagne, alongside Richard Reed Parry, Tim Kingsbury and Jeremy Gara. The band's current touring line-up also includes former core member Sarah Neufeld and multi-instrumentalists Paul Beaubrun, Dan Boeckner and Eric Heigle. Each of the band's studio albums features contributions from composer and violinist Owen Pallett.
The Books were an American-Dutch duo, formed in New York City in 1999, consisting of guitarist and vocalist Nick Zammuto and cellist Paul de Jong. Their music typically incorporated samples of obscure sounds and speech. They released three critically acclaimed albums on the German label Tomlab, and released their fourth studio album, The Way Out, on Temporary Residence Limited in July 2010.
The National is an American rock band from Cincinnati, Ohio, formed in Brooklyn, New York City in 1999. The band consists of Matt Berninger (vocals), twin brothers Aaron Dessner and Bryce Dessner, as well as brothers Scott Devendorf (bass) and Bryan Devendorf (drums). Carin Besser, the wife of Matt Berninger, is not a band member but has written lyrics for the band alongside her husband since its 2007 album Boxer.
James Jeremiah Murphy is an American musician, DJ, singer, songwriter, and record producer. His most well-known musical project is LCD Soundsystem, which first gained attention with its single "Losing My Edge" in 2002 before releasing its eponymous debut album in February 2005 to critical acclaim and top 20 success in the UK. LCD Soundsystem's second and third studio albums, Sound of Silver (2007) and This Is Happening (2010) respectively, were met with universal acclaim from several music review outlets. Both albums have also reached the top 50 in the Billboard 200.
Alexander David Turner is an English singer and musician. He is best known as the frontman and principal songwriter of the rock band Arctic Monkeys, with whom he has released seven studio albums. In addition, he recorded his side project involving Miles Kane, as the Last Shadow Puppets and also as a solo artist.
Field Music are an English rock band from Sunderland, Tyne and Wear, England, that formed in 2004. The band's core consists of brothers David Brewis and Peter Brewis. Andrew Moore was the original keyboard player. Their line-up has at times featured members of both Maxïmo Park and The Futureheads.
Greg Weeks is an American singer-songwriter based in Philadelphia. His music has been described as folk, acoustic, psychedelic and experimental. He is best known as a founding member of the psychedelic folk-rock band Espers. Weeks has released four solo albums and has guest-recorded with many artists, including Fern Knight and Marissa Nadler. He is also a member of The Valerie Project.
Cloud Cult is an experimental indie rock band from St. Cloud, Minnesota, United States, led by singer-songwriter Craig Minowa. The name originated from the ancient prophecies of indigenous North Americans.
Boxer is the fourth studio album by American indie rock band the National, released on May 22, 2007, on Beggars Banquet Records. Following its release, the album debuted at number 68 on the U.S. Billboard 200, selling about 9,500 copies in its first week.
Vampire Weekend is an American rock band from New York City, formed in 2006 and currently signed to Columbia Records. The band was formed by lead vocalist and guitarist Ezra Koenig, multi-instrumentalist Rostam Batmanglij, drummer Chris Tomson, and bassist Chris Baio. Batmanglij departed the group in early 2016.
Devonté Hynes, also known as Blood Orange and formerly Lightspeed Champion, is an English singer, songwriter, record producer and director based in New York City. From 2004 to 2006, Hynes was a member of the band Test Icicles, playing guitar, synth, and occasionally performing vocals. They released one full-length album in 2005. Hynes went on to release two solo studio albums as Lightspeed Champion and subsequently five more as Blood Orange, between 2008 and 2019.
Vehicles of Travel is the third album by California Pop music band The Curtains, released in 2004 on the independent, San Francisco-based Frenetic Records label. Personnel on this record includes Chris Cohen and Greg Saunier, both members of the band Deerhoof.
Speaking in Code is a character-based documentary directed by Amy Grill about people's obsessions with the techno electronic music lifestyle and the effects on their lives. It follows Modeselektor, the Wighnomy Brothers, Philip Sherburne, Monolake and David Day for three years as they attempt to grow in the techno community, as well as Grill's struggles to complete the film. It was shot in 11 cities and 5 countries.
Dominique Leone is an American musician and writer based in New York City. He was born in Shreveport, Louisiana on December 29, 1973, and grew up in the Dallas, Texas area.
Dear Companion is Espers vocalist Meg Baird's first solo album. It was released in 2007 to critical praise. The album contains three traditional folk songs, four covers of more recent songs, and two original songs written by Baird. The album is lightly orchestrated traditional folk music, without Espers' psychedelic and prog influences, dense orchestration, and dark atmosphere. Dear Companion was recorded at the same time as the Espers album II, at Baird's home in Philadelphia. Two of the traditional songs also appeared on Leaves From Off the Tree, an album by Baird, Espers bandmate Helena Espvall, and Sharron Kraus that came out the year before. Two versions of the title song open and close the album, the second one a cappella.
Emeralds is an American electronic music trio founded in 2006 by members John Elliott, Steve Hauschildt and Mark McGuire. The band was based in Cleveland, Ohio and then in Portland, Oregon, United States.
Sharron Kraus is an English singer, songwriter and musician with strong ties to the US. Kraus was born in New York but grew up in Leicester, England. She has lived in Philadelphia and collaborated with American musicians, including Meg Baird, Helena Espvall, Christian Kiefer, Tara Burke (Fursaxa), and Gillian Chadwick.
Cults is an American indie rock band formed in New York City in 2010. The band first rose to prominence upon releasing their debut extended play, Cults 7" (2010), on their Bandcamp page. They subsequently signed to English singer Lily Allen's record label In the Name Of, an imprint of Sony Music to release their eponymous debut album (2011). A song from the album, "Bad Things" was sampled by American rapper J. Cole for his 2013 single "She Knows", on which they were credited as featured artists.
Fern Knight is an American psychedelic folk band currently based in Washington, D.C. Formed in 1999 by Margaret Ayre, the group performs music inspired by the spooky, pastoral sounds of classic British acts like Pentangle and Steeleye Span. Their music has been referred to as "a delightfully creepy homage to the Celtic-Appalachian tradition."
The Smile are an English rock band comprising the Radiohead members Thom Yorke and Jonny Greenwood with Tom Skinner (drums). They incorporate elements of post-punk, progressive rock, Afrobeat and electronic music.
