Erin K. Thompson

Cleveland's Cloud Nothings is the solo project of one Dylan Baldi, who is 19 and dropped out of college to focus on writing scrambling, buzzing, lo-fi pop-punk tunes, many of which were composed and recorded in his parents' basement. Baldi's full-length debut hyperactively clashes sugary melodies with blasting, spazzing guitars...

After releasing their popular self-titled debut last year and riding the hype of their ultra-peppy single, "Let's Go Surfing," things started to go south for The Drums. Their guitarist acrimoniously left the band, and lead singer Jonathan Pierce started telling media outlets that after "a lot of shouting matches," the...

DeVotchKa went from being Dita von Teese's burlesque backing band to the Billboard-charting, most-popular-gypsy-rock-band-in-America that they are today in large part thanks to the movies. Their songs' inclusion in films like Everything Is Illuminated, I Love You Phillip Morris and most notably Little Miss Sunshine won the Denver quartet massive...

No Age's third LP, Everything in Between, is a big, beautiful racket. Drummer Dean Spunt and guitarist Randy Randall create crashing, expansive layers of sound that make No Age sound like a quintet instead of a duo, with the help of loads of screeching reverb. The music is propulsive—even urgent—but...

Looking for 2010's Merriweather Post Pavilion? The Barcelona synth-pop quartet Delorean produce the kind of modern, rapturous electronic music that's sure to merit a bit of "Spanish Animal Collective" chatter. The band's ravishing third record, Subiza, is a marvelously textured collection of the echoing diced vocals, easy beats and loping...