Reza is a mix of indie rock and melodic folk.

Radiohead burst onto the Britpop scene in the early 1990s with a clamorous, post-U2 take on guitar rock, buoyed by the hit "Creep." They subsequently developed their songwriting and production skills on THE BENDS and achieved iconic status with their…

Melodic rock that is a blend of fringe and mainstream.

The four neo-punk/pop upstarts from Toronto who make up Sum 41 formed the band while they were all still in high school, and the youthful exuberance of those days can still be strongly felt in their 2000 debut EP HALF HOUR OF POWER. The endearingly b…

Coming from the heartland of America (Little Rock, AR), Evanescence mixes the heavy guitar crunch of nu-metal with the moody atmosphere and electronic flavoring of goth rock. Singer/keyboardist Amy Lee also bears the influence of singer/songwriters l…

Beck Hansen, the quintessential California slacker, came up among the lo-fi ranks, pushing a blend of country blues, Dylan-inspired wordplay, punk, and hip-hop. His straight-out-of-the-gate 1994 smash, "Loser," made him a star seemingly overnight. Su…

The Animal Collective won over a sizable audience in the mid 2000s despite its seemingly inaccessible brand of fractured, experimental folk. Although the Brooklyn-based Collective's music isn't exactly mainstream and can, at times, be quite difficult…

Originating from Brighton, England, this all-female indie rock outfit was formed in 1998 when Verity Susman (keyboards/guitar/vocals) and Emma Gaze (drums) began rehearsing together. An early version of Electrelane began performing locally, and it wa…

Unbeknownst to most Nirvana fans, its drummer David Grohl was also a singer/guitarist/songwriter who wrote numerous songs during his tenure with the band. After Kurt Cobain's death in 1994, Grohl decided to head out on his own and formed the Foo Figh…

Amidst a field overcrowded with teen-pop and nu-metal, Detroit's White Stripes emerged at the tail end of the 1990s as a new hope for gutsy, no-frills rock & roll. Their doggedly minimalist sound--just one guitar and a drum kit--heralded a return to …

Richard Ashcroft is the former frontman of the famed neo-psychedelic Britpop band the Verve. Ashcroft's solo debut, 2000's ALONE WITH EVERYBODY, appeared shortly after the dissolution of the band and was marked by a clear departure from the Verve's e…

Led by the inimitable Nick Cave (who went on to great solo success), Australia's Birthday Party was a swirling maelstrom of post-punk discord, beat-influenced poetry, and gothic blues overtones. The band also gained a reputation for presenting some o…

Defying categorization at every turn, England's enigmatic Legendary Pink Dots create a puzzling amalgam of pop, folk, industrial, and tape-collage chaos that is psychedelic in the purest sense of the word. The band formed in the late 1970s and have r…

Their hoedown-meets-garage-rock sound of 1980s college rock heroes Camper Van Beethoven is a unique blending of styles. Humor had its place in their music as well--never as a jokey prop, but for added warmth. By the end the band was incredibly rich, …

The angst-ridden alt-rock that bands like Nirvana popularized in the early-1990s eventually branched off into a softer, more mature sound with such groups as the Goo Goo Dolls. Although they began as raw and rowdy Replacements-style rockers in the la…

After leaving the post-punk mayhem of the Birthday Party behind, Australian rocker Nick Cave turned toward a somewhat quieter--but equally dark--sound. Recruiting Birthday Party member Mick Harvey, Einsturzende Neubauten frontman Blixa Bargeld, and o…

U2's Bono was one of the few real rock heroes of the 1980s, leading the Irish band to international recognition with a charged, political approach to music. The band's early efforts brought a stadium-size presence to alt-rock, with Bono's expressive …

This atmospheric electro-goth band was formed in Nijmegen, the Netherlands, in 1983. The unit's name is taken from the English word zymotic ("of fermentation") - "It has no real significance", according to leader and vocalist Ronny Moorings. Joined b…

Inspiring legions of imitators (especially among the rap-metal crowd), the Red Hot Chili Peppers combined biting rock guitar with funk rhythms and rap-influenced vocals for a thunderous, party-hearty sound. While the California band was popular on th…

The Replacements came out of Minneapolis, at the forefront of the indie rock scene that was exploding there in the early-to-mid-1980s. After dropping its initial hardcore leanings, the group caught fire with a skewed take on classic rock, mixing Ston…

Like so many underground NYC rock bands, the Strokes first generated publicity in the U.K., though it didn't take long for their no-frills sound to catch on at home. Paying homage to their influences, the group purveys a mix of Velvet Underground/New…

This UK indie act have never quite made the transition to commercial success despite an armoury of impressive songs. Their most prominent feature is the distinctive and opinionated voice of Toni Halliday, one of three children born to a liberal Roman…

Guitarist/vocalist Kevn Kinney, having relocated to Atlanta, Georgia, USA, after splitting from his old punk band the Prosecutors, met bassist Tim Nielsen in a local club, and the two formed Driving' N' Cryin'. Scarred But Smarter was recorded in a w…

In the wake of Bikini Kill's split during the late 90s, singer-songwriter Kathleen Hanna took little time to get back in the "Riot Grrrl' ring with Julie Ruin, and soon afterwards, Le Tigre. While the former project proved to be a one-off, Le Tigre w…

This Los Angeles, California, USA-based band was formed by Grant Lee Phillips (b. 1 September 1963, Stockton, California, USA; vocals/12-string guitar), Paul Kimble (b. 24 September 1960, Freeport, Illinois, USA; bass/keyboards) and Joey Peters (b. 9…

b. Beth Torbert, 15 June 1971, New Delhi, India. Confrontational, tattooed, hard rock singer-songwriter Bif Naked was born to two private-school teachers who gave her up for adoption. Torbert was adopted by two American missionaries, and her childhoo…

Singer/songwriter Ben Harper, who hails from Pomona, CA, debuted in 1994 with WELCOME TO THE CRUEL WORLD. Harper's idiosyncratic mix of blues, folk, rock, funk, and reggae made an instant splash. His distinctive use of the dobro-like Weissenborn guit…

b. Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA. This US singer-songwriter has pursued his wildly eccentric muse for over three decades, as a solo performer or with Half Japanese, the band he formed in the mid-70s with his brother David Fair. Drawing equal inspiration f…

In the heady days of swinging London, Marianne Faithfull was a sex kitten/wispy-voiced waif singing orchestral-pop versions of Rolling Stones songs (she had a highly publicized relationship with Mick Jagger at the time). In the late '70s, she re-emer…