North Carolina's Ben Folds Five flouted convention at every turn; for starters, they were a trio, not a quintet. And for an (initially) indie pop-rock band, the absence of guitar (leader Folds was a singer/pianist) was an anomaly. The band's mix of c…

Minneapolis art-punks Lifter Puller first took shape on the campus of Boston College when singerguitarist Craig Finn began teaching roommate Steve Barone to play guitar After graduating the duo relocated to the Twin Cities recruiting bassist Tommy Ro…

Baltimores Page France feature Michael Nau vocals guitar keyboards Whitney McGraw glockenspiel keyboards vocals Clinton Jones drums and Jasen Reeder bass The indie rock quartet formed in 2004 and issued its debut album Come Im a Lion a year later Ind…

Singersongwriter Blake Sennett is best known for writing and performing with the Los Angeles indie rock band Rilo Kiley Once the band finished promoting its second album The Execution of All Things Jenny Lewis went on to record with the Postal Servic…

Bostons Darkbuster formed in 1996 around vocalistguitarist Lenny Lashley bassist Mike Gurley and drummer Eric Edmonston Fueled by cheap beer and good times the hard-drinking punk outfit recorded and self-released a nine-song demo in 1997 that set thi…

Swedish singer-songwriter Jens Lekman makes pop music that is both wry and plaintive, not unlike his American counterpart in skeptical romanticism, Magnetic Fields' mastermind Stephen Merritt. Lekman achieved a certain level of stardom in his native …

Born in spring 1976 in Birmingham Ala the ethereal-voiced Maria Taylor won over her first fans at age 15 as part of the Birmingham duo Little Red Rocket a poprock group that brought comparisons to Belly When that outfit which issued two CDs -- 1997s …

When he was 16 singersongwriter Johnathan Rice opened his mouth and let out a weathered rustic sound that caught him by surprise Like most teenagers obsessed with music try to do Rice just wanted to see what his voice sounded like when imitating his …

Brooklyn-based duo the Honorary Title formed around vocalistlyricistguitarist Jarrod Gorbel and bassistmulti-instrumentalist Aaron Kamstra circa 2002 Taking the soul-baring narrative quality of bands like Dashboard Confessional the two presented it o…