Bands

Benjamin John Howard is an English singer-songwriter, musician and composer. His self-released debut EP Games in the Dark (2008) was followed by two more EPs, These Waters (2009) and Old Pine (2010). Signed to Island Records, his debut studio album came in 2011 titled Every Kingdom. The album reached number four on the UK Albums Chart and was certified double platinum by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI). Howard later released two more EPs, Ben Howard Live (2011) and The Burgh Island E.P. (2012).

The Civil Wars were an American musical duo composed of Joy Williams and John Paul White. Formed in 2008, The Civil Wars won four Grammy Awards prior to their 2014 breakup.

Young the Giant is an American rock band that formed in Irvine, California, in 2004. The band's line-up consists of Sameer Gadhia, Jacob Tilley (guitar), Eric Cannata (guitar), Payam Doostzadeh, and Francois Comtois (drums). Formerly known as The Jakes, Young the Giant was signed by Roadrunner Records in 2009, and they released their eponymous debut album in 2010. The band's first three singles, "My Body", "Cough Syrup", and "Apartment", all charted on the US Alternative Songs chart.

Kodaline are an Irish rock band. Originally known as 21 Demands, the band adopted their current name in 2012 to coincide with the changing of their music. The group comprises Steve Garrigan, Mark Prendergast, Vincent May and Jason Boland.

Lucy Rose Parton (born 20 June 1989) is an English singer-songwriter and musician who performs as Lucy Rose. Her debut album, Like I Used To, was released in 2012. Rose released her second album, Work It Out, in 2015 on Columbia Records. Her third album, Something's Changing, was released in 2017 on Communion Records.

Born in Camberley, Surrey, England. Rose's musical origins began with her playing drums in her school orchestra; her songwriting started with her writing tunes on her family home's piano. She is the youngest of three sisters. She later bought a guitar from a shop she passed on the way to school, taught herself and began writing material at around the age of sixteen. Rose never played her material for anyone until she left home after completing her A-levels.

Family of the Year is an American indie rock band based in Los Angeles, California. It consists of members Joseph Keefe (vocals/guitar), Sebastian Keefe (drums/vocals), James Buckey (guitar/vocals), and Christina Schroeter (keyboard/vocals). Their music uses melodic male/female vocal harmonies and folktale-style lyrics. They are best known for their 2012 song "Hero", which was featured in Richard Linklater's 2014 film Boyhood and became a top 10 hit in Austria, Belgium, Germany, and Switzerland.

Though Family of the Year is currently based in Los Angeles, California, brothers Joseph and Sebastian Keefe were born in Massachusetts, spent their teenage years in Wales, and eventually moved to Martha's Vineyard. James Buckey is from Jacksonville, Florida, while Christina Schroeter is from Orange County, California. Prior to forming Family of the Year, members Joseph Keefe and Sebastian Keefe enjoyed local Boston success in previous bands Unbusted and The Billionaires.

Vib Gyor was a band that was formed in Leeds, England. The name was derived from the first letters of all the colours in the rainbow, in order from the shortest to longest wavelengths.

The band consisted of Dave Fendick (vocals, acoustic guitar), Zane Keenan (keyboards, guitar, backing vocals), Jonny Mulroy (guitar and effects), and Jonny Hooker (drums).

Their debut single "Fallen" was released on 17 July 2006. Produced by Mike Cave at Liverpool's Parr Street Studios, the track received airplay on both sides of the Atlantic. There was a good response stateside, including airplay on KROQ, KNRK, WEQX, Indie 103 and an interview and acoustic session on San Diego station 91Xs The Big Break—a slot usually reserved for US talent. In the UK, Fallen received regional & national airplay including by Zane Lowe at Radio 1, Phil Jupitus and Tom Robinson at BBC6 music & XFM, causing XFM DJ Clint Boon (of Inspiral Carpets fame) to announce "This band are going to make a huge impact on the world of music. They are going to be massive."

Walk the Moon is an American pop/rock band based in Cincinnati, Ohio. Lead singer Nicholas Petricca started the band in 2006, while a student at Kenyon College, deriving the band's name from the song "Walking on the Moon" by the Police. The band is notable for its charting hit singles "Anna Sun", "Shut Up and Dance", and "One Foot".

Bastille are an English pop rock band formed in 2010. The group began as a solo project by lead vocalist Dan Smith, but later expanded to include keyboardist Kyle Simmons, bassist and guitarist Will Farquarson and drummer Chris "Woody" Wood.

Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros is an American folk rock band formed in Los Angeles, California, in 2007. The group is led by singer Alex Ebert. The band's name is based on a story Ebert wrote in his youth, about a messianic figure named Edward Sharpe. Drawing from roots rock, folk, gospel, and psychedelic music, the band's image and sound evoke the hippie movement of the 1960s and 1970s. The group's first show was played July 18, 2007, at The Troubadour in West Hollywood, California. Their first studio album, Up from Below, was released on July 7, 2009, on Community Records and featured the popular single "Home". The group released their second full-length album, Here, on May 29, 2012, and third album, Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros, on July 23, 2013. Their fourth studio album, PersonA, was released in April 2016.

Alt-J (stylised as alt-J, real name Δ) are an English indie rock band formed in 2007 in Leeds, by Joe Newman (guitar/lead vocals), Thom Sonny Green (drums), Gus Unger-Hamilton (keyboards/vocals) and Gwilym Sainsbury (guitar/bass).

Their debut album An Awesome Wave was released in May 2012 in Europe, and in September 2012 in the United States, and won the 2012 British Mercury Prize. Sainsbury left the band in early 2014. Their second album, This Is All Yours, was released on 22 September 2014 and went straight to number one in the United Kingdom. In February 2022 the band released their fourth studio album The Dream and are currently playing as a trio.

The band's actual name is the triangle-shaped symbol Δ (the capital Greek letter delta). The band often makes references to triangles (for example, the song "Tesselate" mentions "triangles are my favourite shape", and they make triangle symbols with their fingers during concerts), which they say is just due to it being a visually appealing shape.

Benjamin Francis Leftwich is an English singer-songwriter from York. Leftwich released his first album Last Smoke Before the Snowstorm in 2011 which peaked at #35 on the UK charts. In February 2016 he announced his next album After the Rain on his Facebook page, released on 19 August 2016. Most recently, Leftwich has released four single cover-tracks: Pure Morning (Placebo), Rebellion (Lies), When You Were Young, and Because of Toledo.

Milo Greene is the debut studio album by Los Angeles-based band Milo Greene. It was released on July 17, 2012 and peaked at number 1 on the US Billboard Heatseekers Albums and number 115 on the Billboard 200 albums chart.

The band recorded Milo Greene in California and at Bear Creek Studios in Seattle. The lead vocals, guitars, bass, and banjo parts were shared by band members Robbie Arnett, Marlana Sheetz, Andrew Heringer and Graham Fink. The group's fifth member, Curtis Marrero, played drums. Album closer "Autumn Tree" was the first song the band wrote. Arnett explained that at the time, "we were still in our other bands, and Andrew was living up in Sacramento, and I was in L.A., and I had sent him some lyrics, and said 'why don’t we try to experiment. I'll send you lyrics, and see if you can put some melodies over it.' He sent that back, so we started going back and forth with melodies, and that’s kind of how that one happened." Fink noted that creating songs for the album was "definitely a collaborative process" in which any number of band members would start an idea for a given song. Several brief interludes and instrumentals were included on the album, Arnett said, "because we wanted it to flow together like a film." One of these tracks, "Moddison", was named after a Sacramento street where Heringer lived. A music video for lead single "1957", also named after an address, premiered in advance of the album's July 2012 release.

Fort Atlantic is an American musical group based in Portland, Oregon.

Jon Black founded Fort Atlantic in 2010 after the dissolution of an Athens, Georgia-based record label he owned and operated. Black began recording songs on a home studio and worked with drummer Josh Cannon to realize them for live performances. Fort Atlantic released three EPs in 2010-11, after which Black worked with producer Tom Schick on a full-length album. In 2012, Fort Atlantic signed with Dualtone Records and released a self-titled LP. The album reached #32 on the Billboard Heatseekers charts. In addition to CD and digital formats, the album was also released as a Nintendo cartridge. Songs from the self-titled album, "Fort Atlantic", featured in a season six episode of Californication and a season eight episode of How I Met Your Mother. Following the release of the album, the band played the Bonnaroo Music Festival.

Grouplove is an American alternative rock band that was formed in 2009 by Hannah Hooper, Christian Zucconi, Sean Gadd (bass), Andrew Wessen, and Ryan Rabin (drums).

Jasmine Lucilla Elizabeth Jennifer van den Bogaerde, better known by her stage name Birdy, is an English singer and songwriter. She won the music competition Open Mic UK in 2008, at the age of 12.

James Vincent McMorrow is an Irish singer and songwriter.

McMorrow's debut album, Early in the Morning, was released in Ireland in February 2010, and in the United States and Europe in 2011, to widespread acclaim. He made his UK television debut on BBC Two's Later... with Jools Holland on 27 May 2011. He played with Lisa Hannigan on 8 December 2011 at Dublin's Button Factory for the Choice Music Prize event.

In 2011, he co-wrote the song "Shells of Silver" with Northern Irish electronic group The Japanese Popstars, and his vocals are featured. The song is featured in Season 5, Episode 7 of the CW teen drama Gossip Girl.

In 2014, he released his second album, Post Tropical, which included the song "Glacier". The song was used in the 2014 Spanish Christmas Lottery advertising campaign. The album was recorded in 2013 in the small desert town of Tornillo, 89 kilometres (55 mi) south of El Paso in Texas. The studio is located on a pecan farm, and McMorrow found the location "the most surreal place to work", and one that helped add to the tone of the album and inspire his creativity. He said "I think it's kind of engrained in the record, more than any pinpointed thing. I can hear the hot bedded air in this part. You can hear the birds in the pianos."

Of Monsters and Men is an Icelandic indie folk/rock band formed in Reykjavík in 2010. The members are lead singer and guitarist Nanna Bryndís Hilmarsdóttir, singer and guitarist Ragnar "Raggi" Þórhallsson, lead guitarist Brynjar Leifsson, drummer Arnar Rósenkranz Hilmarsson and bassist Kristján Páll Kristjánsson. The band won the Músíktilraunir in 2010, an annual battle of the bands competition in Iceland. In 2011, Of Monsters and Men released an EP titled Into the Woods. The band's 2011 debut album My Head Is an Animal, reached the No.1 position in Australia, Iceland, Ireland and the US Rock and Alternative charts, while peaking at No. 6 on the US Billboard 200 album chart, No. 3 in the UK, and Top 20 of most European charts and Canada. Its lead single "Little Talks" was an international success, reaching the Top 10 in most music charts in Europe, including No. 1 in Ireland and Iceland, and No. 1 on US Alternative Songs.