artists

Built to Spill is an American indie rock band that formed in Boise, Idaho, in 1992. Centered around lead vocalist and guitarist Doug Martsch, the only permanent member, Built to Spill has released nine full-length albums since its inception.

The Flaming Lips are an American psychedelic rock band formed in 1983 in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. The band currently consists of Wayne Coyne, Steven Drozd, Derek Brown, Matt Duckworth Kirksey and Nicholas Ley. Following the departure of long-time bassist Michael Ivins in 2021, Coyne has remained the band's sole consistent member.

Pavement is an American indie rock band that formed in Stockton, California, in 1989. For most of their career, the group consisted of Stephen Malkmus, Scott Kannberg, Mark Ibold (bass), Steve West (drums) and Bob Nastanovich. Initially conceived as a recording project, the band at first avoided press or live performances, while attracting considerable underground attention with their early releases. Gradually evolving into a more polished band, Pavement recorded five full-length albums and ten EPs over the course of their decade-long career, though they disbanded with some acrimony in 1999 as the members moved on to other projects. In 2010, they undertook a well-received reunion tour, with another international tour currently ongoing in 2022 and 2023.

Death from Above 1979 (also known as Death from Above) is a Canadian rock duo consisting of bassist Jesse F. Keeler and drummer and vocalist Sebastien Grainger from Toronto, Ontario, formed in 2001. The band released their debut album, You're a Woman, I'm a Machine, in 2004 and broke up in 2006. They reformed in 2011 and released their second album, The Physical World, in 2014. Since then the band has released 2 more albums, Outrage! Is Now in 2017 and Is 4 Lovers in 2021.

Grainger and Keeler reportedly met at a Sonic Youth concert, though they sometimes jokingly claimed to have met in prison, on a pirate ship, or in a gay bar, leading some journalists and fans to believe these stories. Keeler has also said to have met Grainger when looking for a drummer to play in his hardcore punk band Femme Fatale, further stating "That's how Death from Above got started." In a 2021 interview with Anthony Fantano, Keeler finally revealed how the band actually formed. In 2001, Keeler was playing drums in a band called Black Cat #13 and was storing bass guitar gear at his house for a planned concert in Detroit opening for The Blood Brothers. The concert was cancelled due to the September 11 attacks, so Keeler invited Grainger to jam to put the equipment to use and they were inspired to form their own band.

Mogwai are a Scottish post-rock band, formed in 1995 in Glasgow. The band consists of Stuart Braithwaite, Barry Burns, Dominic Aitchison, and Martin Bulloch (drums). Mogwai typically compose lengthy guitar-based instrumental pieces that feature dynamic contrast, melodic bass guitar lines, and heavy use of distortion and effects.

TV on the Radio (TVOTR) is an American rock band from Brooklyn, New York, formed in 2001. The band consists of Tunde Adebimpe (vocals, loops), David Andrew Sitek (guitars, keyboards, loops), Kyp Malone (vocals, guitars, bass, loops), and Jaleel Bunton (drums, bass, vocals, loops, guitars). Gerard Smith (bass, keyboards, loops) was a member of the band from 2005 until his death in 2011.

TVOTR has released five studio albums: Desperate Youth, Blood Thirsty Babes (2004), Return to Cookie Mountain (2006), Dear Science (2008), Nine Types of Light (2011), and Seeds (2014), alongside several EPs.

The first release from TV on the Radio (initially just founding members Adebimpe and Sitek) was the self-released OK Calculator (the title being a reference to Radiohead's album OK Computer). They were later joined by Kyp Malone and released the Young Liars EP in 2003. This was followed by the full-length Desperate Youth, Blood Thirsty Babes, which earned the band the 2004 Shortlist Music Prize. They released a second EP, New Health Rock, later that year.

Modest Mouse is an American rock band formed in 1992 in Issaquah, Washington, and currently based in Portland, Oregon. The founding members are lead singer/guitarist Isaac Brock, drummer Jeremiah Green, and bassist Eric Judy. Strongly influenced by Pavement, Pixies, XTC, and Talking Heads, they rehearsed, rearranged, and recorded demos for almost two years before finally signing with small-town indie label K Records and releasing numerous singles.

Since their 1996 debut album, This Is a Long Drive for Someone with Nothing to Think About, the band's lineup has mostly centered on Brock and Green, undergoing multiple changes. The band achieved mainstream success with their fourth album, Good News for People Who Love Bad News (2004), and its singles "Float On" and "Ocean Breathes Salty". Judy performed on every Modest Mouse album until his departure in 2012. Guitarist Johnny Marr (formerly of the Smiths) joined the band in 2006, shortly following percussionist Joe Plummer (formerly of the Black Heart Procession) and multi-instrumentalist Tom Peloso, to work on the album We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank (2007). Guitarist Jim Fairchild joined the band in 2009. The band's sixth album, Strangers to Ourselves, was released on March 17, 2015. Their seventh album, The Golden Casket, released on June 25, 2021.

Animal Collective is an American experimental pop band formed in Baltimore, Maryland. Its members consist of Avey Tare, Panda Bear, Geologist, and Deakin. The band's work is characterized by an eclectic exploration of styles, including psychedelia, freak folk, noise, and electronica, with the use of elements such as loops, drones, sampling, vocal harmonies, and sound collage. AllMusic's Fred Thomas suggests that the group "defined the face of independent experimental rock during the 2000s and 2010s."

Wolf Parade is a Canadian indie rock band formed in 2003 in Montreal. The band released three full-length albums before taking a five-year hiatus in 2011. They announced their return in 2016, releasing a self-titled EP in May of that year, and a fourth studio album, Cry Cry Cry, in October 2017. Their fifth studio album, Thin Mind, was released on January 24, 2020.

Wolf Parade began in April 2003, when former Frog Eyes member Spencer Krug was offered a gig by Grenadine Records' Alex Megelas. With only a three-week deadline to form a band, Krug contacted a fellow Canadian guitarist Dan Boeckner (formerly of British Columbia band Atlas Strategic) and began writing songs in Krug's apartment. Initially using a drum machine for their rhythm section played through computer speakers, Krug later invited Arlen Thompson to the lineup as the drummer; however, the newly formed trio rehearsed as a full band only the day before their first show. During the tour, Wolf Parade recorded and released their self-titled debut EP (also known as their 4 Song EP).

Sigur Rós (Icelandic pronunciation: [ˈsɪːɣʏrous] (listen)) is an Icelandic post-rock band from Reykjavík, active since 1994. The band comprises singer and guitarist Jón Þór "Jónsi" Birgisson, bassist Georg Holm, and keyboardist Kjartan Sveinsson. Known for their ethereal sound, frontman Jónsi's falsetto vocals, and their use of bowed guitar, Sigur Rós incorporate classical and minimal aesthetic elements.

Jón Þór "Jónsi" Birgisson (guitar and vocals), Georg Holm (bass) and Ágúst Ævar Gunnarsson (drums) formed the group in Reykjavík in January 1994. The band's name means Victory Rose. They took their name from Jónsi's younger sister Sigurrós, who was born a few days before the band was formed. They soon signed a record deal with the local Sugarcubes-owned record label Bad Taste, because they thought the falsetto vocals would appeal to teenage girls. In 1997, they released Von (pronounced [vɔːn], meaning "hope") and in 1998 a remix collection named Von brigði ([vɔːn ˈprɪɣðɪ]). This name is also Icelandic wordplay: Vonbrigði means "disappointment", but Von brigði means "variations on Von". The band was joined by Kjartan Sveinsson on keyboards in 1998. He is the only member of Sigur Rós with musical training, and has contributed most of the orchestral and string arrangements for their later work.

Radiohead are an English rock band formed in Abingdon, Oxfordshire, in 1985. The band consists of Thom Yorke ; brothers Jonny Greenwood and Colin Greenwood (bass); Ed O'Brien ; and Philip Selway. They have worked with the producer Nigel Godrich and the cover artist Stanley Donwood since 1994. Radiohead's experimental approach is credited with advancing the sound of alternative rock.

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.

Steven Paul Smith, known professionally as Elliott Smith, was an American singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. Smith was born in Omaha, Nebraska, raised primarily in Texas, and lived much of his life in Portland, Oregon, where he gained popularity. Smith's primary instrument was the guitar, though he also played piano, clarinet, bass guitar, drums, and harmonica. He had a distinctive vocal style, characterized by his "whispery, spiderweb-thin delivery", and often used multi-tracking to create vocal layers, textures, and harmonies.

Heatmiser was an American rock band, formed in Portland, Oregon in October 1991. Consisting of Elliott Smith (guitar and vocals), Neil Gust (guitar and vocals), Brandt Peterson (bass; later replaced by Sam Coomes, frontman of Quasi) and Tony Lash (drums), they were known for their well-crafted lyrics and songs often featuring the juxtaposition of melancholic and cheery words and melodies. The pop-oriented songs of Elliott Smith were a contrast to the darker songs of Neil Gust, while both Smith's and Gust's songs touched on subjects such as anger, alienation, loneliness and despair.

In 1987, while both of them were attending classes at Hampshire College in Amherst, Massachusetts, Neil Gust and Elliott Smith met and formed a band, Swimming Jesus. In addition to covers of songs by Ringo Starr and Elvis Costello, the pair performed original songs in clubs in nearby Northampton. The two were prolific: besides Swimming Jesus, Gust and Smith had another pre-Heatmiser college band, featuring "a friend named Dylan and two others", and recorded "stupid and embarrassing" music on rented four-track recorders with "poetry on top", recited by a "Southern Californian stoner-photographer guy" friend.

Broken Social Scene is a Canadian indie rock band, a 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).

Of Montreal is an American indie pop band from Athens, Georgia. It was founded by frontperson Kevin Barnes in 1996, named after a failed romance between Barnes and a woman "of Montreal". The band is identified as part of the Elephant 6 collective. Throughout its existence, of Montreal's musical style has evolved considerably and drawn inspiration from 1960s psychedelic pop acts.

Pixies is an American alternative rock band formed in 1986, in Boston, Massachusetts. Until 2013, the band consisted of Black Francis, Joey Santiago, Kim Deal and David Lovering (drums). They disbanded acrimoniously in 1993 but reunited in 2004. After Deal left in 2013, Pixies hired Kim Shattuck as a touring bassist; she was replaced that year by Paz Lenchantin, who became a permanent member in 2016.

Interpol is an American rock band from Manhattan, New York. Formed in 1997, their original line-up consisted of Paul Banks, Daniel Kessler, Carlos Dengler, and Greg Drudy (drums). Drudy left the band in 2000 and was replaced by Sam Fogarino. Dengler left to pursue other projects in 2010, with Banks taking on the additional role of bassist instead of hiring a new one.