We're finally winding down from the CMJ Music Marathon aftermath, but in hindsight, we covered some seriously awesome bands without giving them full credence. Marnie Stern, an experimental rocker and virtuosic guitar shredder from New York, is one of them. I just really dig this chick. She's smart,

We got pretty amped up when we heard the self-titled debut album from Norway's Kvelertak. Like, jumping up and down on the couch and yelling amped up. We're afraid of what we might do if we ever saw them live. The metal band draws inspiration from the rawness of Norwegian black metal but their

It's too bad we hadn't heard Thailand's Yellow Fang when we made our Top 10 Beach Bands list. These three ladies would have been right up top. Their fuzzy, lo-fi garage rock isn't gritty in that engine grease kind of way. Their tunes are more sand and salt gritty and sunshine-y day hazy, especially

We love Japanese pop punk power trio TsuShiMaMiRe a whole lot. Amazing and adorable all-girl bands are one of Japan's major exports, but TsuShiMaMiRe stands apart from the rest through their dedication to their own brilliantly loopy vision. For more than ten years, they've been winning fans in

We have a new favorite in the "bands named after places they aren't from" and "bands that are hard to Google" categories. Chile's Dënver, once you track them down (make sure to use the umlaut), will reward you with a full menu of tender pop delicacies. The Chilean duo, Mariana Montenegro and Milton

So, we spent last week raving about the prodigious talents of San Francisco based indie artist Jhameel, and his plain beautiful sophomore album The Human Condition. This week, we're making it official. We like this guy. Like, a lot. We like the clean, bright space he creates with his music, which

It's like a campaign slogan. Chris Alfaro worked on a few different projects, but the one that's got the catchiest everything is his solo work under the name Free The Robots. In the LA instrumental beat scene, there are a ton of personalities. There's the space age funk of Dam-Funk, the jazzy

At this year's SXSW, Korean punk rockers Galaxy Express powered through their set so hard that they literally blew a fuse. Luckily, the tech just pulled the circuit breakers, turned them back on again, and the band never let up its tsunami-gale performance. Of the wave of Korean indie bands that

Dengue Fever is easily one of the most original bands in indie music today. Cambodian rock music from the '60s and '70s isn't really a go-to influence, but the Los Angeles-based six-piece finds endless inspiration in it. Their swinging songs, replete with vintage keys and lounge-y percussion, often

Holger knows they're a pretty unique group. So unique that they have trouble finding bands to open for them in Brazil, where indie rock doesn't exactly dominate the music scene, the band says. But the stubbly cute quintet is loved pretty much anywhere they play. They fall under the smart, sweet pop

Few bands come around that are so charming, so funny and so...country that I'd take off my shoes and do a hoedown if I wasn't at work. Iggy favorite Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros did it to me first with their hippie indie single "Home," and now, Argentina's Les Mentettes Orchestra is

There are a lot of cool garage bands plying their trade these days, but Panico has the kind of unique sound and style that only comes of having been a band for a few years. It surely helps that they have an interesting back story. Founding members Edu Henriquez and Caroline Chaspoul are...

I'm going to let you in on a little secret. On September 20, one of the best electro rock bands out of Chile is releasing a limited edition EP. 2000 copies. Then they're gone. So be sure to stay up all night clutching your credit card, drinking coffee and preparing to click. Why all the...

Somehow we haven't heard a peep out of the over-energized Italian hipsters -- Ex-Otago -- since 2007's Tanti Saluti-- the critically lauded, neon bright indie album that saw such hits as the punky, spunky "Amato the Greengrocer." Well, there was the 2008 cover-- "The Rhythm of the Night," butÂ

There are six regular members in the Argentinian psychedelic pop happening known as Mompox, but they have over thirty musicians performing on their debut album, Mompox and the Big Umbrella, which makes them more of a collective, or something like a musical tribe. Or maybe it's more of a small

Brazilian singer-songwriter Tiê's music could be described as a collaboration between Cat Power and Caetano Veloso. In fact, that's just how we described it when we included her in our top ten list of exciting artists heading to SXSW in Austin this year. Her introspective ballads are characterized

Teeth & Tongue is Melbourne's university trained singer/guitarist Jess Cornelius with backup from collaborator Marc Regueiro-McKelvie and Damian Sullivan. We discovered her modern psych rock through the kaleidoscopic (and animated!) video for the haunting single "Sad Sun." New Zealand-born

Lagos-based rapper Rico Slim, AKA Eric Ahiauzu, is one of those artists bubbling under in the Nigerian hip hop scene, but we have a feeling it won't be that way for long. This emcee has got too much energy and too much fire to stay where he is. We came across his video for the...

Chilean indie music darling Dadalú makes everything she touches seem cooler. Cheesy electro-funk synth lines? Smooth jazz solos? Slightly creepy animal hats? She turns them all to gold. Though, of course, her talented backing band Los Pat Smear contributes a lot to this alchemy. Like US's The Blow

J Dilla would have been proud to know that his drum beat format is alive and growing tentacles in the care of producers like TOKiMONSTA. With wide bass drums that you feel more than hear keeping a stuttering, staggering rhythm in time, this chick from LA has mastered our favorite permutation of new

Pomona, California - Before Crosses took the stage at Pomona’s famous Glass House music venue – the air was already thick with anticipation and the crowd’s energy was wildly high well before the show even began.

Too often I fall victim to the classic “judging a book by its cover” and miss out on a great band simply because of their name (Foster the People, anyone?).

With Christmas officially less than two weeks away, it’s about time that procrastinators like myself get off the couch and do some final shopping for the holiday season. If you don’t feel like getting 26-pound gummy bears for your whole family, then why not consider the gift of music?