Belle and Sebastian are a Scottish indie pop band formed in Glasgow in 1996. Led by Stuart Murdoch, the band has released twelve studio albums. They are often compared with acts such as the Smiths and Nick Drake. The name "Belle and Sebastian" comes from Belle et Sébastien, a 1966 children's book by French writer Cécile Aubry adapted from a television series of the same name. Though consistently lauded by critics, Belle and Sebastian's "wistful pop" has enjoyed only limited commercial success.
Jim O'Rourke is an American musician, instrumentalist, composer, singer-songwriter and record producer. He is best known for his numerous solo and collaborative music projects, many of which are instrumental, and has been acclaimed for his music that spans varied genres, including avant-garde styles such as ambient, noise and minimalism, and styles of rock like indie rock and post-rock. He has been associated with the Chicago experimental and improv scene, as well as with New York City when he relocated to it in 2000 for his tenure as a member of American indie rock band Sonic Youth. He subsequently moved to Japan and has since been a Japanese resident.
Michael Andrews, also known as Elgin Park, is an American multi-instrumental musician, producer, and film score composer. He is best known for a cover version of the Tears for Fears song "Mad World", which he recorded with Gary Jules for the Donnie Darko soundtrack, and which became the 2003 UK Christmas number one. He is a founding member of the San Diego soul-jazz band The Greyboy Allstars, where he goes by the moniker Elgin Park.
Joseph Will Oldham is an American singer-songwriter and actor. From 1993 to 1997, he performed and recorded in collaboration with dozens of other musicians under variations of Palace. After briefly publishing music under his own name, in 1998 he adopted Bonnie "Prince" Billy as the name for most of his work.
Lydia Lunch is an American singer, poet, writer, actress and self-empowerment speaker. Her career began during the 1970s New York City no wave scene as the singer and guitarist of Teenage Jesus and the Jerks.
Broken Social Scene is a Canadian indie rock band and musical collective including as few as six and as many as nineteen members, formed by Kevin Drew and Brendan Canning in 1999. Alongside Drew and Canning, the other core members of the band are Justin Peroff (drums), Andrew Whiteman (guitar) and Charles Spearin (guitar).
God Lives Underwater was an American rock band, formed during 1993 in Perkiomenville, Pennsylvania by vocalist/programmer David Reilly and guitarist/programmer Jeff Turzo. They were later joined by guitarist Andrew McGee and drummer Adam Kary. After recording a self-titled EP in late 1993 and self-distributing it the following year, the band signed to Rick Rubin's label American Recordings, and the EP was nationally released in early 1995. Later that same year, the band released the full-length album Empty. God Lives Underwater then signed with A&M Records and released Life in the So-Called Space Age in 1998, which spawned their most successful single "From Your Mouth". After a period of internal issues and label shifts, the band's final album was released in 2004, Up Off the Floor. Reilly then unexpectedly died at the age of 34 on October 16, 2005.
Tariq Luqmaan Trotter, better known as Black Thought, is an American rapper, singer, actor and the lead MC of the Philadelphia-based hip hop group The Roots, which he co-founded with drummer Questlove. Regarded as "one of the most skilled, incisive, and prolific rappers of his time", he is widely lauded for his live performance skills, continuous multisyllabic rhyme schemes, complex lyricism, double entendres, and politically aware lyrics. He and The Roots are a part of The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, frequently playing games with Fallon and his guests.
The Hold Steady is an American rock band originally from Minneapolis, Minnesota, now based in Brooklyn, New York, formed in 2003. The band consists of Craig Finn, Tad Kubler (guitar), Galen Polivka (bass), Bobby Drake (drums), Franz Nicolay (keyboards) and Steve Selvidge (guitar). Noted for their "lyrically dense storytelling," and classic rock influences, the band's narrative-based songs frequently address themes such as drug addiction, religion and redemption, and often feature recurring characters based within the city of Minneapolis.
Matthew Herbert, also known as Herbert, Doctor Rockit, Radio Boy, Mr. Vertigo, Transformer, and Wishmountain, is a British electronic musician. He often takes sounds from everyday items to produce electronic music.
Quentin Dupieux, also known by his musical stage name Mr. Oizo, is a French filmmaker, electronic musician, and DJ.
Freescha is the musical collaboration of Nick Huntington and Mike McGroarty, based in the San Fernando Valley, California. Huntington and McGroarty have been friends and partners since they met in high school. The duo has released most of their music on Attacknine Records, which is co-run by Huntington and McGroarty.
gnac is a pseudonym used by songwriter and music producer Mark Tranmer. The name is derived from a short story by Italo Calvino in Marcovaldo titled Luna e GNAC.
Prhizzm is a Canadian solo electronic music artist based in Toronto.
Flat Duo Jets was an American rock band from Carrboro, North Carolina, and Athens, Georgia. This rockabilly, punk blues, and psychobilly band was a major influence on several bands of the 1990s and 2000s, including The White Stripes. The band's front man Dexter Romweber is considered by many to be the "godfather" of the guitar and drums and 'power duo' revival.
Dirty Projectors is an American indie rock band from Brooklyn, New York, formed in 2002. The band is the project of singer-songwriter David Longstreth, who has served as the band's sole constant member throughout numerous line-up changes. The band's current line-up consists of Longstreth, alongside Mike Daniel Johnson (drums), Maia Friedman, Felicia Douglass and Kristin Slipp.
A Skylit Drive is an American post-hardcore band from Lodi, California. The band has released one DVD, one EP and five studio albums: Wires...and the Concept of Breathing (2008), Adelphia (2009), Identity on Fire (2011), Rise (2013) and, most recently, ASD (2015). The band has toured internationally both as headliner and supporting act. In 2017, the band broke up after a dispute between Nick Miller and Michael Jagmin. Original vocalist Jordan Blake died in April 2023.
Leonard Cohen was a Canadian singer-songwriter and poet who was active in music from 1967 until his death in 2016. Cohen released 14 studio albums and eight live albums during the course of a recording career lasting almost 50 years, throughout which he remained an active poet. His entire catalogue is available on Columbia Records. His 1967 debut Songs of Leonard Cohen earned an RIAA gold record; he followed up with three more highly acclaimed albums: Songs from a Room (1969), Songs of Love and Hate (1971) and New Skin for the Old Ceremony (1974), before allowing Phil Spector to produce Death of a Ladies' Man for Warner Bros. Records in 1977. Cohen returned to Columbia in 1979 for Recent Songs, but the label declined to release his next album, Various Positions (1984) in the US, leaving it to American shops to import it from CBS Canada. In 1988, Columbia got behind Cohen again and gave full support to I'm Your Man, which brought his career to new heights, and Cohen followed it with 1992's The Future.
Jeymes Samuel also known by his stage name The Bullitts, is a British singer-songwriter, music producer and filmmaker from London, England. Samuel has a cinematic element to his music and has accompanied most of his releases with a short film. His studio album, titled They Die By Dawn & Other Short Stories..., was released in July 2013. The album was supported by the singles "Close Your Eyes", "Landspeeder", "Supercool" and "World Inside Your Rainbow". He is the brother of Grammy award-winning musician Seal.
Lawrence Rothman is an American singer-songwriter based in Los Angeles. Their most recent album Not a Son and Good Morning, America was released in 2021.
