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<title>Top Brit Pop/Brit Rock Artists on Rhapsody Online</title>
<dateCreated>Sat Dec 12 01:40:03 PST 2009</dateCreated>
<dateModified>Sat Dec 12 01:40:03 PST 2009</dateModified>
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<outline type="include" text="Coldplay" description="Coldplay create sparse, emotional soundscapes, dripping with melancholy. The London-based quartet is singer Chris Martin, guitarist Jonny Buckland, bassist Guy Berryman and drummer Will Champion. Their debut album, &lt;i&gt;Parachutes&lt;/i&gt;, was released in late 2000 in the U.S., and they quickly became a sensation. The record went No. 1 in the U.K. charts and won Best Alternative Music Album at the 2002 Grammys. Marked by Martin's falsetto-happy vocals, songs like &quot;Yellow&quot; and &quot;Shiver&quot; employ stop/start dynamics that allow serene verses to build to a crescendo, centering on the well-trodden theme of love. Sophomore effort &lt;i&gt;A Rush of Blood to the Head&lt;/i&gt; took home two Grammys and earned a spot on &lt;i&gt;Rolling Stone&lt;/i&gt;'s &quot;500 Greatest Albums of All Time&quot; list. Hits &quot;Clocks&quot; and &quot;In My Place&quot; were wistful and romantic, labeled by some as radio-friendly Radiohead. The group's third album, &lt;i&gt;XandY&lt;/i&gt;, became the best-selling album of 2005, and &quot;Speed of Sound&quot; topped the year's charts worldwide. After conquering the charts and the Grammys, Coldplay shifted their focus from chart-topping anthems to a more experimental approach for their fourth album, &lt;i&gt;Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends&lt;/i&gt; (which nevertheless topped charts upon its release). With ambient maestro Brian Eno co-producing, the 2008 album was an intriguing progression for the band, featuring a mix of global influences, classical strings, heavy piano and glistening bits of dreamy electronics.
- Dan Shumate" category="Brit Rock" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/coldplay/data.opml?rws=%2Falt-punk%2Fbrit-pop-brit-rock%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="Muse" description="Growing up in the quiet English town of Devon, the three members of Muse dreamed of being in a rock band. At the tender age of 13, they did just that by forming (ahem) Gothic Plague. A few years and name changes later, the trio chose the name Muse and settled into their dramatic, Queen and Radiohead-inspired style of Brit rock. In 1997, they released a self-titled EP, followed by the &lt;I&gt;Muscle Museum&lt;/I&gt; EP a year later. &quot;Muscle Museum&quot; was highly touted in the British press and the buzz over Muse was officially on. The trio signed to Madonna's Maverick Records after playing a music industry show and released &lt;I&gt;Showbiz&lt;/I&gt; in 1999. &lt;I&gt;Origin of Symmetry&lt;/I&gt; followed in 2001 and the band enjoyed some radio success. But they weren't able to break through in the U.S. until the release of 2003's &lt;i&gt;Absolution&lt;/i&gt;, which made its way to the top of the &lt;i&gt;Billboard&lt;/i&gt; Top Heatseekers chart. Their success continued to grow with the release of 2006's bombastic &lt;i&gt;Black Holes and Revelations&lt;/i&gt; and the even more bombastic 2009's &lt;i&gt;The Resistance&lt;/i&gt;, which captures Muse at their weirdest, grandest and most ambitious.
- Linda Ryan" category="Brit Rock" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/muse/data.opml?rws=%2Falt-punk%2Fbrit-pop-brit-rock%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="Radiohead" description="One of the 1990s' greatest success stories, Radiohead came to prominence largely on the success of their distorted, ingratiating single &quot;Creep.&quot; Drolly repeating &quot;I'm a creep / I'm a loser&quot; in the pounding wake of arena rock guitars wasn't going to win them any artistic grants, but those lyrics and bouts with piercing feedback would not be soon forgotten. It wasn't until &lt;I&gt;The Bends&lt;/I&gt; (1995) that Radiohead transcended the formula, crafting the patient, heart-wrenching &quot;Fake Plastic Trees&quot; and the magnetic, sunshine-driven &quot;Black Star.&quot; Thom Yorke's signature falsetto began to operate in a more deeply emotional capacity at this point. Finally producing to the caliber of their songwriting, Radiohead's &lt;I&gt;OK Computer&lt;/I&gt; demonstrated a staggering attention to detail, probably ranking as one of the greatest commercial artistic successes of the '90s. Rarely does a record offer masterpieces in varying moods. From the thunderously suspenseful &quot;Airbag&quot; to the moody chime of the blustery &quot;Let Down,&quot; Radiohead emerged victorious. The alt-rock superstardom and critical gushing that followed pushed them into their darkest and most creative space yet, and they delivered the electronic-tinged &lt;I&gt;Kid A&lt;/I&gt; in 2000 and &lt;I&gt;Amnesiac&lt;/I&gt; in 2001. Many critics and fans claimed to not &quot;get&quot; the group's twisted, skittering melodies and complicated, chorus-free rock songs but to the devout the band's cerebral art rock was like manna from the heavens. 2003's &lt;I&gt;Hail to the Thief&lt;/I&gt; offered up a mixture of guitar-driven tracks amid a more restless desire to experiment. In 2007, Radiohead shook up the music industry with &lt;i&gt;In Rainbows&lt;/i&gt;, an album released via their website in which fans could name their own price.
- Kelly Bauman" category="Brit Rock" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/radiohead/data.opml?rws=%2Falt-punk%2Fbrit-pop-brit-rock%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="Snow Patrol" description="Mild-mannered indie-popsters take the slow boat to slackersville, warmly shuffling and strumming though mid-tempo gems. Quiet vocals, lazy mid-tempos, and quirky charm rule the coop.
- Kelly Bauman" category="Brit Rock" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/snow-patrol/data.opml?rws=%2Falt-punk%2Fbrit-pop-brit-rock%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="Oasis" description="The quintessential &quot;anyone can do it&quot; rock band, Oasis were signed to Creation Records following their storming of an 18 Wheeler show, demanding that label-boss Alan McGee allow them to perform. This successful brand of &quot;laddishness&quot; has helped them become England's kings of rock 'n' roll in the '90s while doing a fair amount of barnstorming in America. Their simple, effective blend of T-Rex swagger, Johnny Rotten sneer, and Beatles melodies has proved to be a winning formula. Known as much for their antics as for their music, the brothers Gallagher have involved the public in their own personal temper tantrums, brought the Cocaine Ego back from the '70s, and once ashed on Mick Jagger's head. Controversies aside, they've managed to write some genuinely effective music and revitalize the spirit of rock 'n' roll with only a modicum of copyright infringement lawsuits.
- Jon Pruett" category="Brit Rock" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/oasis/data.opml?rws=%2Falt-punk%2Fbrit-pop-brit-rock%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="Keane" description="The three members of Keane grew up together in Sussex, England and formed the band in the late-1990s. With soaring melodies and choirboy falsettos, Keane's sound is often compared to such bands as Coldplay, Travis and Radiohead -- despite the fact that there's nary a guitar to be found in Keane's music. Making the most of very little, Keane's epic, cinematic sound brims with gut-wrenching melodies telling stories of heartbreak and romance. Their 2004 debut, &lt;I&gt;Hopes and Fears&lt;/I&gt;, is particularly impressive.
- Linda Ryan" category="Brit Pop/Brit Rock" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/keane/data.opml?rws=%2Falt-punk%2Fbrit-pop-brit-rock%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="Franz Ferdinand" description="Formed in Glasgow in 2001, the quartet didn't release their first EP until 2003. When the &lt;I&gt;Darts Of Pleasure&lt;/I&gt; came out, it was as though their lean, romantic, and often danceable form of post-punk fell right from the pages of a &lt;I&gt;Smash Hits&lt;/i&gt; from twenty years prior. In their formative years, most of the band were students at the Glasgow School of Art and spent their time practicing music at a spot called the Chateau, a music/art space along the lines of Andy Warhol's Factory. The group's smart and slightly oily brand of angular pop was soon embraced by press and fans, whose appetites for a post-punk revival were whetted by the success of bands like Interpol and Hot Hot Heat. They finally released their first full-length in 2004. The LP's unorthodox but unstoppable single &quot;Take Me Out&quot; quickly took off all over the world. In the summer of 2005, Franz Ferdinand built on that success with &lt;I&gt;It Could Be So Much Better&lt;/I&gt;, which actually lived up to its title by bettering their winning debut. The Scots then released their third album in early 2009. Stripping away some of their post-punk roots, the band opted to load &lt;i&gt;Tonight&lt;/i&gt; with disco-punk beats and spacey synths, making it some of their most experimental and upbeat material to date.
- Jon Pruett" category="Post-Punk" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/franz-ferdinand/data.opml?rws=%2Falt-punk%2Fbrit-pop-brit-rock%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="Blur" description="Formed in 1989 as Seymour at London art school Goldsmiths College, Blur (Damon Albarn, Alex James, Graham Coxon and Dave Rowntree) initially fell between baggy and shoegazing, their 1991 debut &lt;I&gt;Leisure&lt;/I&gt; an uneasy hybrid. Just two years later they delivered the literate, clipped &lt;I&gt;Modern Life Is Rubbish&lt;/I&gt;, winning critical -- if not commercial -- success. Then came &quot;Girls &amp; Boys,&quot; an ironic take on the unreflective hedonism rampant in Britain post-acid house. It struck a chord, climbing to No. 5 in the charts and driving &lt;I&gt;Parklife&lt;/I&gt; triple platinum in the process. In a hectic 18 months, Blur edged out Oasis in the Battle of Britpop when &quot;Country House&quot; beat &quot;Roll With It&quot; to No. 1, only to see new album &lt;I&gt;The Great Escape&lt;/I&gt; drop off the charts. Cue another shift in musical focus, this time to lo-fi indie rock. With it came spats, splits and separations (Albarn and Elastica's Justine Frischmann broke up), but Blur finally cracked America. However, the departure of Graham Coxon in 2002 after recording just one of &lt;I&gt;Think Tank&lt;/I&gt;'s tracks finally called time on the band.
- Jamie Dolling" category="Brit Pop/Brit Rock" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/blur/data.opml?rws=%2Falt-punk%2Fbrit-pop-brit-rock%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="Arctic Monkeys" description="If anything, Sheffield, England's Arctic Monkeys are a harbinger of the second coming of Brit pop. Hailing from the same geographical terrain that gave the world Jarvis Cocker and Def Leppard, this four-piece outfit combines high and low culture with dash and a snotty confidence that belie a band that began life in a college classroom. Alex Turner and Matt Helders found common cause at Barnsley College in 2002, after discovering that they both had unreasonable devotion to the music of the Smiths, the Clash, the Jam, Oasis and, oddly, the Queens of the Stone Age. Naturally such credentials led to the new pals deciding to start a band, with Turner taking the slot as the guitarist and Helders as the drummer. The trouble was they didn't have any equipment, so they asked their respective parents for instruments the next Christmas. After they packed away the last of the holiday ornaments, the two 16-year-olds began rehearsing in earnest in a nearby warehouse, drafting rhythm guitarist Jamie Cook and bassist Andy Nicholson to round out their arch and bratty sound. Soon this newfound outfit was penning lyrics full of suburban ennui, swagger and intellectual promise, all underpinned with breathless guitar riffs that teetered on the edge of punk. Within a year they had enough songs to fill out a set, with lyrics about fighting boredom in the British suburbs while scattering brainy schoolboy references to Shakespeare's Capulets and Montagues and DJ culture! like they were empty beer bottles and crumpled cigarette packages. But underneath all the brittle cool, the Monkeys disseminated surprisingly sage advice about life, love and the perils of the nighttime world. Their songs stood out from the brat pack because they combined a high-minded archness while exploring a generational existential claustrophobia; because of that they struck a deep chord with U.K. fans, who saw their own dilemma mirrored in the lyrics. Domino Records noticed the fervor they were creating -- from selling out clubs to appearing on the Carling Stage at the 2005 Reading and Leeds festivals, with fans singing along to all their songs -- when they hadn't even released a CD. The band was hounded so much by label scouts that for a time they barred them from their gigs, b! ut Domino prevailed, and signed the young musicians in June 2005, when the oldest member was a mere 18. Within months, they had put out their first EP, &lt;I&gt;Five Minutes With the Arctic Monkeys,&lt;/I&gt; limiting the release to only 1,000 CDs and 500 7-inch records, but allowed their songs to be downloaded, showing their devotion to digital music culture. Their first album, &lt;I&gt;Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I Am Not&lt;/I&gt;, was on shelves in the U.K. by January 2006 and became the fastest selling debut album in U.K. chart history, securing the No. 1 spot. When &lt;I&gt;Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I Am Not&lt;/I&gt; finally was released on our shores the next month, it sold a healthy 360,000 copies in its first week, and as a result it secured the honor of becoming the second-fasting selling debut indie album in America.
- Jaan Uhelszki" category="Indie/Alternative" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/arctic-monkeys/data.opml?rws=%2Falt-punk%2Fbrit-pop-brit-rock%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="The Verve" description="Arriving in 1991 amidst a smattering of English bands with monosyllabic names and breathy-voiced, indie/dance crossover potential, Verve's &quot;All in the Mind&quot; was starry-eyed rock 'n' roll for the rave and shoegazing generation. Amidst a haze of heavenly metaphors, headphone-splitting singles and a debut record smothered in half-lidded narcosis, Verve's strong points were immediately apparent: hours spent practicing in smoky warehouses had outfitted the band with a rhythm section that rumbled along like a medicated steam engine, making for live performances that were nothing short of blistering. Although born-to-be-a-frontman Richard Ashcroft was prone to taking the stage in full shamanic poses, there was no doubting the sincerity of this band. If a barefoot Ashcroft cried out, &quot;I wanna know and I wanna feel&quot; with arms outstretched while fronting a sea of slow, muted thunderclaps topped by Nick McCabe's lilting guitar cries, you wanted to know and feel as well. Never achieving much success until the release of &lt;I&gt;Urban Hymns&lt;/I&gt; (1997), newly christened the Verve consistently toured the U.S to a small yet furiously loyal cult audience, performing shows that were huge, rock-from-outer-space events packed into tiny clubs. Tensions grew along with their success, culminating in the official split of the band early in 1999. Ashcroft launched a solo career and other members worked in various projects including guitarist Simon Tong's contributions with the Good, the Bad &amp; the Queen. In June 2007, however, the band announced a reunion tour, which would lead to their first album in over a decade, 2008's &lt;i&gt;Forth&lt;/i&gt;.
- Jon Pruett" category="Brit Rock" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/the-verve/data.opml?rws=%2Falt-punk%2Fbrit-pop-brit-rock%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="Gomez" description="British guitar bands that offer more than expensive haircuts and fancy trousers can be a rare find. Enter North England's Gomez. Their 1998 debut, &lt;I&gt;Bring it On&lt;/I&gt;, beat out the Verve's &lt;i&gt;Urban Hymns&lt;/i&gt; and Massive Attack's &lt;i&gt;Mezzanine&lt;/i&gt; (both fine albums in their own right) for the U.K.'s prestigious Mercury Music Prize Album Of The Year. Their music braids vines of organic roots music with strands of bubbly dance production, but their songs tend to stick closer to the soil than the dancefloor. Three singers and two drummers mean a lot of ground can be explored, and Gomez are always willing to go where no Brit has gone before. They've garnered many comparisons to the Band thanks to their innovative take on Americana (&lt;I&gt;MOJO&lt;/I&gt; magazine even put them on a cover aping the cover art of &lt;i&gt;The Basement Tapes&lt;/i&gt;). One singer barks out lyrics with a warm Eddie Vedderesque rasp, while a second adds your standard, shy-voiced English indie kid, and a third inflects like a very young Tom Waits. Since each one is also a songwriter, the band's best moments feature three different personalities coming together on one soaring vision. And that, good people, is what you call musical chemistry (in it's most pure and dynamic form). With the energy, enthusiasm and passion of young people seeing the world for the first time, they weave in and out of Beatle-inspired power pop, bluesy laments, triumphant rockers or extended cosmic jams -- all the while retaining the kinetic Gomez sound.
- Eric Shea" category="Brit Rock" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/gomez/data.opml?rws=%2Falt-punk%2Fbrit-pop-brit-rock%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="Morrissey" description="Nobody gets despondent with as much cheeky abandon as Morrissey. The former leader of the Smiths, his solo work retains Johnny Marr's Byrds-inspired, jangly guitar sound and adds even bigger doses of 1940s Music Hall, '50s Rockabilly, and '70s Glam. Morrissey's first solo album, &lt;I&gt;Viva Hate&lt;/I&gt;, co-written by producer Stephen Street, was a triumph. Since then, the quality of Morrissey's output has careened wildly from respectable to moments of brilliance to leaden time-fillers. Mick Ronson (of early Bowie fame) helped toughen up his sound, but it was the reflective, peaceful and biting &lt;I&gt;Vauxhall and I&lt;/I&gt; that reminded the public of this melodramatic crooner's unique vision. By the late 1990s, the public began to take Morrissey for granted and he was without a label for years. Then, in 2004, he released the best-selling &lt;i&gt;You Are the Quarry&lt;/i&gt; and was once again embraced by sensitive rockers the world over. If songs as wonderful as &quot;Trouble Loves Me&quot; (1997) don't fly off his pen as quickly as they used to, it's still a comfort to have Morrissey around. He's your eccentric uncle, the one who laughs at stale convention and scoffs at the decadent hipsters ruling the pop world. Morrissey may be nostalgic for an England that never was, but he shows that the most revolutionary action in our busy, digital age may just be unhurried navel-gazing.
- Nick Dedina" category="Post-Punk" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/morrissey/data.opml?rws=%2Falt-punk%2Fbrit-pop-brit-rock%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="Placebo" description="These young men blend Britpop with sonic noise and hip-shaking glam rock to create something all their own. Androgynous singer Brian Molko sounds a lot like Geddy Lee (he'll deny it, but listen for yourself). Placebo's songs are kinetic and wiry at times, but alternately gritty and rocking in a way last heard when Suede imitated Bowie. When the band uses retrospection as embellishment over their foundation, you hear the true Placebo -- not to say that their version of &quot;20th Century Boy&quot; doesn't rock as hard as Marc Bolan's.
- Eric Shea" category="Brit Pop/Brit Rock" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/placebo/data.opml?rws=%2Falt-punk%2Fbrit-pop-brit-rock%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="The Kooks" description="Taking their name from a David Bowie track on &lt;i&gt;Hunky Dory&lt;/i&gt;, which in turn was a word the Dame was using to describe his infant son, The Kooks risked accusations of cute posing before even playing a note. Not to worry, though; these four Brits from the Brighton Institute of Modern Music proved perfectly capable of living up to their influences. Their finely tuned pop songwriting abilities, all jangly guitars and sing-along lyrics, were immediately apparent with their debut single &quot;Naive,&quot; which singer Luke Pritchard claims to have written when he was 16. This hit helped their debut long player, 2006's &lt;i&gt;Inside In/Inside Out&lt;/i&gt;, to achieve triple platinum in the UK, with sellout shows following in the US. In 2007 they announced that their pending second album would be produced by Tony Hoffer.
- Nicholas Baker" category="Brit Rock" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/the-kooks/data.opml?rws=%2Falt-punk%2Fbrit-pop-brit-rock%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="Elbow" description="Elbow's grandiose whisper rock is a bit murkier and moodier than any of their Coldplay-aping brethren. The Manchester-based group digs deep into its collective mindset and finds that what's inside is not often pretty. Often sounding desperate and disenchanted, the group continuously rises above the moody malaise by providing redemption via brash climaxes, made vivid through sparkling notes and heavenly choruses.
- Jon Pruett" category="Brit Rock" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/elbow/data.opml?rws=%2Falt-punk%2Fbrit-pop-brit-rock%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="Kasabian" description="Taking their name from Charles Manson's getaway driver Linda Kasabian and their musical manifesto from electro-rockers the Lo-Fidelity Allstars, Kasabian brought a dose of squatters-rights polemic to the charts when their debut self-titled album reached No. 4 in the U.K. in September 2004. Add an apprenticeship on the East Midlands nosebleed techno scene and, in singer Tom Meighan, a Liam-esque way with a soundbite -- &quot;The Stones, the Roses, Oasis, we're in that line&quot; -- and it's clear these Leicester aggro-merchants may yet cause as much mayhem as their recreational idols the Happy Mondays.
- Paul Moody" category="Brit Rock" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/kasabian/data.opml?rws=%2Falt-punk%2Fbrit-pop-brit-rock%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="Mika" description="Mika's sugary wonderland of gender-bending, campy pop topped with a flawless falsetto has earned him respectable comparisons to the likes of Freddie Mercury, David Bowie and the Scissor Sisters. Born in Beirut as Michael Holbrook Penniman, he moved with his family from Lebanon to Paris and eventually settled in London when he was nine years old. The move proved troubling for him, as he faced bullying at school and the onset of dyslexia. Mika's focus turned to music when he began intense training with a Russian singing teacher, which led to professional performances at the Royal Opera House and advertising gigs for British Airways and Orbit Chewing Gum. He studied classical music at the prestigious Royal College of Music, but dropped out to focus on his career. Mika's first step into the fickle pop world was the release of his single &quot;Relax, Take It Easy,&quot; but it was &quot;Grace Kelly,&quot; a stab at those who didn't believe in his musical potential, that shot him to No. 1 on the U.K. charts in early 2007. His debut album, &lt;i&gt;Life in Cartoon Motion&lt;/i&gt;, soon followed the same chart-topping path.
- Stephanie Benson" category="Pop" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/mika/data.opml?rws=%2Falt-punk%2Fbrit-pop-brit-rock%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="Doves" description="Life for the Doves started at the outset of the 1990s when, at the height of Madchester, Sub Sub released the disco-charged, acid house-dripping single &quot;Ain't No Love, Ain't No Use.&quot; Disillusioned with the faceless entity of house, the trio traded in their backing tracks for real instruments. The new attitude needed a new name: Doves. The Manchester trio's debut offers a whirling flourish of guitars that ebb and flow with an intensity on par with Travis or Radiohead only less wistful. In fact, one hangover from the band's house days is their ability to accentuate the positive. With a wash of distorted guitars and steady, booming rhythms, Doves create widescreen music that employs the occasional falsetto for dramatic, melancholy-meets-mayhem effect. Doves are still very much an evolving entity, so while it's true that few of their songs resemble each other, it's also true that they sit well together -- very well, indeed.
- Linda Ryan" category="Brit Pop/Brit Rock" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/doves/data.opml?rws=%2Falt-punk%2Fbrit-pop-brit-rock%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="XTC" description="Years after their first release, XTC still come out bouncing with clever, infectious art-pop. Strummed guitars, vintage keys, snappy rhythms and Andy Partridge's signature multi-layered vocal orchestrations are a treat for new and seasoned fans of British pop.
- Robert Leaver" category="Brit Pop/Brit Rock" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/xtc/data.opml?rws=%2Falt-punk%2Fbrit-pop-brit-rock%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="Frightened Rabbit" description="If you want rock stars, go to England. If, however, you crave quirky cult acts, head north to Scotland. Ever since the rise of post-punk in the early '80s, the land of Scots has produced many of the United Kingdom's most beloved underdogs, including Fire Engines, the Pastels, Teenage Fanclub, the Vaselines and Belle &amp; Sebastian. As with all these groups, Glasgow's Frightened Rabbit fuses art school indie pop and stripped down folk-rock, while filtering its influences -- everything from Interpol to Joe Jackson to Thin Lizzy -- through a fragile tenderness and naked earnestness that seems to be uniquely Scottish. While stuttering, manic rhythms and neo-Edge guitar buzzzz fly about his head, Scott Hutchison mumbles very few words that don't take five spins to understand. The dude's thick accent is partly to blame, but Hutchinson also sounds as if he's afraid to make himself easily understood. This only makes sense considering his mom used to call her shy little child a &quot;frightened rabbit&quot; because of the way he would cower in social situations. Obviously that's something Hutchinson has addressed; in 2007 the quartet signed to the ever-hip Fat Cat imprint, also home to Animal Collective, Blood on the Wall and Mice Parade.
- Justin Farrar" category="Indie Pop" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/frightened-rabbit/data.opml?rws=%2Falt-punk%2Fbrit-pop-brit-rock%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="Thriving Ivory" description="Although the first impression of Thriving Ivory comes from the searing falsetto of frontman Clayton Stroope, the big rock ballads written by band mastermind and pianist Scott Jason make him the true architect of the band's sound. Jason recruited Stroope to sing his songs while both were students at UC Santa Barbara. They gained audiences in Northern California after putting together a backing band with a handful of San Francisco Bay Area natives -- guitarist Drew Cribley, bassist Bret Cohune and drummer Paul Niedermier -- and putting together a self-released demo with the help of Jellyfish alumnus Chris Manning. That recording made an immediate impression on radio audiences in San Francisco in 2005, helping the band rise from unsigned hopefuls to phone-in favorites on the strength of a pair of barn-burning modern rockers, &quot;Overrated&quot; and &quot;Angels on the Moon.&quot; In 2007 the band signed to Wind-Up, which helped them nab ubiquitous rock producer Howard Benson for their self-titled debut, which was released in June 2008.
- Nate Cavalieri" category="Adult Alternative" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/thriving-ivory/data.opml?rws=%2Falt-punk%2Fbrit-pop-brit-rock%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="The Stone Roses" description="The roots of the Stone Roses go back to 1980, when John Squire and Ian Brown took a turn playing Mod rock in the band English Rose (named after a Jam song), which by 1985 had morphed into the Stone Roses. The Manchester band released two dark, Goth-leaning singles to underwhelming response, but did manage to get signed by Silvertone in the process. Thanks in part to producer John Leckie, the third single was the charm for the Stone Roses; &quot;Elephant Stone,&quot; a lighter, jangly pop song, set the wheels in motion for what would be called the &quot;Madchester&quot; craze. The band's near-flawless debut, released in May 1989, showcased John Squire's love for '60s hooks set to House-inspired beats that defined the &quot;baggy&quot; sound. At least four singles were culled from the band's debut album, and by the end of the summer, the sun was shining on the quartet. Legal troubles with Silvertone meant a five year delay for their follow-up, and when &lt;I&gt;Second Coming&lt;/I&gt; was finally released in late 1994, the world was in the throes of Grungemania. The Stone Roses limped along as member after member left, until finally packing it in late 1996.
- Linda Ryan" category="Brit Pop/Brit Rock" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/the-stone-roses/data.opml?rws=%2Falt-punk%2Fbrit-pop-brit-rock%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="The Dandy Warhols" description="Many associate Portland-based the Dandy Warhols with the Brian Jonestown Massacre. Like BJM, the Dandys are one of the few Anglophile bands who wound up in the same British weeklies they read religiously while growing up. They melted onto the scene with &lt;i&gt;Dandys Rule, OK?&lt;/i&gt; (1995), a spatial and atmospheric collection of songs that exposed an occasional pop gem, like the lyric-less &quot;Dandy Warhols T.V. Theme Song&quot; or the pole-grinding stripper anthem &quot;Ride.&quot; Their second album &lt;i&gt;Dandy Warhols Come Down&lt;/i&gt; (1997) found frontman Courtney Taylor experimenting with some of the Jonestown's hand-me-down tape loop hijinks. This release was laden with more commercial alternative compromises in the overall production, while successfully maintaining the band's signature Moog-gazing jams.
- Eric Shea" category="Dream Pop" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/the-dandy-warhols/data.opml?rws=%2Falt-punk%2Fbrit-pop-brit-rock%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="Glasvegas" description="Ears attuned to British inflection might be able to place Glasvegas to rough-talking Glasgow; specifically the band hails from Dalmarnock, an industrial Glaswegian suburb. The band's sound largely rests on the big guitars and sentimental melodies of brothers James and Rab Allan (the band's singer/rhythm guitarist and its lead guitarist, respectively) who are supported by bassist Paul Donoghue and drummer Caroline McKay. They started playing gigs in Glasgow starting in 2000, though didn't release any recorded material until October 2006, when they self-issued a limited edition 7-inch single of &quot;Go Square Go!&quot; A second single, &quot;Daddy's Gone,&quot; was issued a year later and brought the band into the spotlight of the British press (&lt;i&gt;NME&lt;/i&gt; named the song one of 2007's best). In early 2008 they signed with a major and set to work recording an eponymous debut album, which compiled a number of their U.K. singles and was released internationally in fall 2008.
- Nate Cavalieri" category="Brit Pop/Brit Rock" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/glasvegas/data.opml?rws=%2Falt-punk%2Fbrit-pop-brit-rock%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="Kaiser Chiefs" description="Inspired by Brit icons -- from the Kinks and the Jam to Oasis and Blur -- the Kaiser Chiefs' mod vibe and post-punk hooks quickly grabbed the attention of postmillennial listeners searching for a new brand of old rock. The lads from Leeds took their name from the South African football club Kaizer Chiefs, in honor of former player Lucas Radebe, who also captained the Leeds United team. Although their bopping rockers &quot;Oh My God&quot; and &quot;I Predict a Riot&quot; first released in 2004, their mainstream success came after the re-issues of these singles in 2005, helping bring their critically-praised debut album, &lt;i&gt;Employment&lt;/i&gt;, to the masses. The buzz in the U.K. soon spread and the quintet became popular among hipsters digging the newest crop of Brit bands like Bloc Party, Franz Ferdinand and the Futureheads. The Chiefs became known for their energetic performances, opening the 2005 Philadelphia Live 8 concert and appearing at numerous U.K. festivals, earning them a 2006 Brit Award for Best British Live Act. In early 2007, they released &lt;i&gt;Yours Truly, Angry Mob&lt;/i&gt;, with lead single &quot;Ruby&quot; reaching No. 1 on the U.K. charts.
- Stephanie Benson" category="Brit Rock" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/kaiser-chiefs/data.opml?rws=%2Falt-punk%2Fbrit-pop-brit-rock%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="Aqualung" description="Matt Hanes grew up above his parent's record shop and was playing piano and
writing songs by the age of four. Not surprisingly, he was awarded a scholarship to study music composition when he was 16; by the next year, he was conducting a 60-piece orchestra. When Hanes finished up his studies, he formed a band with his brother Ben. Dubbed Ruth, the band signed to a major label and released the album, &lt;I&gt;Harrison&lt;/I&gt; to favorable reviews and airplay support from the omnipresent BBC Radio 1. However, the band was wracked by continuous in-fighting, and imploded. A mere 18 months later, in 2000, Matt and Ben are signed once again, this time under the moniker The 45's. The brothers released two well-received singles and toured with the likes of Cooper Temple Clause and the Electric Soft Parade. Once again, they failed to ignite and it wasn't long before Hanes decided to try his luck as a solo artist. Embracing his classical past, Hanes kept busy writing songs, submitting tunes to an ad agency who were looking for music for a forthcoming Volkswagon commercial. That television commercial reached millions, and drove patrons into music stores all over the U.K. trying to buy &quot;that song&quot; in the Volkswagon commercial. The BBC's Radio 1 jumped on the bandwagon, creating even more of demand for more of Hale's music, and in 2002, Aqualung was born. For his part, Hanes was happy to turn that 30-seconds of pop perfection into his debut album, &lt;I&gt;Strange and Beautiful&lt;/I&gt;. Aqualung's second effort, &lt;I&gt;Still Life&lt;/I&gt;, was released in the U.K. in early 2004. By the following year, Hales had an America deal and released an album (also called &lt;I&gt;Strange and Beautiful&lt;/I&gt;) which combined songs from their two
U.K. releases for the United States.
- Linda Ryan" category="Brit Rock" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/aqualung/data.opml?rws=%2Falt-punk%2Fbrit-pop-brit-rock%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="Paul Weller" description="Paul Weller hasn't achieved the same level of fame in the U.S. as he has throughout the rest of the world, but still remains a major force in rock 'n' roll. Now a revered elder statesman in Britain, Weller is the musical equivalent of Martin Scorsese and Steven Spielberg. A rabid student of rock and soul, he transformed a love of 1960s British Invasion and American R&amp;B into highly personal music that pays homage to his influences while transforming them at the same time. A professional since the age of 14, Weller led his outfit, The Jam, to the top of the U.K. charts throughout the late 1970s and early '80s. Weller went on to form The Style Council, a pop act that embraced retro soul, jazz, lounge music, and folk. The act initially found great success (even in the States), but Weller entered the 1990s as a solo act without a record deal and a reputation as yesterday's man. Forging ahead, his first self-titled solo album was a heartfelt affair that embraced 1960s rock and early '70s psychedelic soul to excellent effect. When Weller released &lt;I&gt;Wild Wood&lt;/I&gt; in 1993 his career and reputation rebounded, he was re-embraced by the fickle British public and press, and he's only strengthened his position with such fine albums as &lt;I&gt;Stanley Road&lt;/I&gt; (1995), &lt;I&gt;Illumination,&lt;/I&gt; (2002), and the acoustic career retrospective &lt;I&gt;Days of Speed&lt;/I&gt; (which includes updates of Jam and Style Council cuts). Driven, hardworking, and undeniably talented, Paul Weller has released consistently strong and relevant material over the course of four decades. It's hard to think of another artist in pop with a similar track record over an equal span of time.
- Nick Dedina" category="Brit Rock" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/paul-weller/data.opml?rws=%2Falt-punk%2Fbrit-pop-brit-rock%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="Starsailor" description="Although Starsailor took their name from the title of a 1970 Tim Buckley album, they're usually compared to Radiohead. Like Buckley and Radiohead's Thom Yorke, Starsailor frontman James Walsh employs an emotive, multi-octave vocal style that drips with hope, longing and despair. Formed in Chorley, England, Starsailor played their first London show in April 2000. The concert evoked an immediate reaction, and they were signed to EMI a few months later. The band's first single, &quot;Fever,&quot; generated acclaim in the U.K., but it was its follow-up, the stunning &quot;Good Souls,&quot; that proved Starsailor were more than just Radiohead lite. The group cemented that reputation in the U.K., at least -- on their full-length debut, 2002's &lt;I&gt;Love Is Here&lt;/I&gt;. The band made inroads in the U.S. via a mini tour with the Doves and then again on their own, but they have yet to break out beyond the college and Anglophile markets.
- Linda Ryan" category="Brit Rock" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/starsailor/data.opml?rws=%2Falt-punk%2Fbrit-pop-brit-rock%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="Jarvis Cocker" description="" category="Brit Pop/Brit Rock" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/jarvis-cocker/data.opml?rws=%2Falt-punk%2Fbrit-pop-brit-rock%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="Travis" description="Named for Harry Dean Stanton's catatonic character in the cult classic &lt;I&gt;Paris, Texas&lt;/I&gt;, Travis came on to the British music scene like...well, like any other British band. Oversized quotes about Travis being the best band in the world read like pop culture deja vu in the British weeklies, but after Travis' 15 minutes were up, the band refused to go away. They strayed away from the Oasis/Slade sound and spent a while approximating Thom Yorke's crew before birthing their own infectious (and less heady) brand of guitar pop. The songs are well written and even crafty at times, but still sometimes reminiscent of Radiohead's former formula of catchy radio pop (don't think beyond &lt;i&gt;The Bends&lt;/i&gt;).
- Eric Shea" category="Brit Rock" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/travis/data.opml?rws=%2Falt-punk%2Fbrit-pop-brit-rock%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="Pulp" description="Although not a contender for &quot;British Band of the Millennium&quot; -- let Oasis and Blur argue over that mantle -- Pulp is easily one of the most diverse and dedicated bands on that side of the pond to (struggle to) make it big. Led by charismatic and chameleon-like Singer-Songwriter Jarvis Cocker, Pulp have undergone multifarious changes in their twenty-one-year career, but there have been some consistent points along the way. On any given album, you'll find Cocker singing in his lovely, Bowie-based baritone behind which a piano, synths, and mid-tempo bass, guitars and drums create a pretty, sad and subtle ballad. It's hardly indicative of all their material, though -- on the song &quot;Countdown,&quot; for instance, electronic drums and synths create Alt-Dance music that aligns the band more with Depeche Mode than with other rock groups. And then there are the finely-crafted, well-written Glam rockers: no holds are barred, and every instrument plus the kitchen sink writhes in wonderful musical bombast, almost an anthem with strong hooks and melodies and Cocker's voice rising and falling, emoting and sneering, ironic and vulnerable, leading the fray to pop heaven. Pulp may not be challenging Oasis for the Brit God throne; truth is, they don't need to.
- Will Lerner" category="Brit Pop/Brit Rock" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/pulp/data.opml?rws=%2Falt-punk%2Fbrit-pop-brit-rock%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="James" description="Throughout the late 1980s, James were both praised and dismissed for their striking resemblance to jangle pop kings the Smiths. And certainly, the band's outspoken pro-celibacy/anti-drugs stance didn't endear them to music journalists, many of whom were experiencing the drug-propelled rapture of Manchester's rave revolution firsthand. Eventually, however, James expanded their ranks, adding a trumpet player, violinist and keyboardist, and entered the new decade as a seven-piece. The &quot;new and improved&quot; band released &lt;I&gt;Gold Mother&lt;/I&gt; to lukewarm reviews, but hidden among the tracks was the loping gem &quot;Sit Down,&quot; which struck a chord with James' swelling legion of fans and became their signature tune. Writers were shocked when audiences (T-shirted punters from both the Indie Kid and Crusty camps) actually &lt;I&gt;sat down&lt;/I&gt; when the song was played live, and journalists grudgingly gave the band some respect. In the UK, frontman Tim Booth and co. were bona fide stars, headlining major European festivals and holding their own in the charts. In America, the band's big break came when MTV picked up the whirling, gender-bending single &quot;Laid.&quot; Although James had developed a substantial fan base in the US, they weren't able to capitalize on the momentum of &quot;Laid,&quot; and despite a catalog of hit-worthy songs, many Americans see James as one hit wonders.
- Linda Ryan" category="Brit Pop/Brit Rock" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/james/data.opml?rws=%2Falt-punk%2Fbrit-pop-brit-rock%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="Stereophonics" description="A band that rocks more than they pop, Sterophonics still seem to have an uncanny knack at getting both right: well-written songs rife with hooks and energy and a singer whose Rod Stewart-esque voice can belt out a clever lyric and catchy melody line.
- Will Lerner" category="Brit Rock" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/stereophonics/data.opml?rws=%2Falt-punk%2Fbrit-pop-brit-rock%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="The Style Council" description="Soon after Paul Weller disbanded the Jam, he formed the Style Council with keyboardist Mick Talbot. The duo initially wanted to explore organic pop music outside of guitar rock including soul, jazz, and folk. The band hit the ground running with a string of hit singles such as &quot;The Long Hot Summer,&quot; &quot;Speak Like a Child,&quot; and &quot;A Solid Bond in Your Heart.&quot; The Style Council even found the stateside success that had always eluded the Jam when &quot;My Ever Changing Moods&quot; and &quot;You're the Best Thing&quot; rode up the U.S. charts. Weller was so re-invigorated during the Style Council's early period that many of his best songs appeared on their first two albums and on a flood of E.P.s and non-album singles. But even as the band's sound was beefed up by the addition of drummer Steve White and singer D.C. Lee, the Style Council's output become spottier and more tied to contemporary R&amp;B and dance music. Weller was still penning some fine pop tracks during this period but he disbanded the Style Council in 1989 and he returned to soulful guitar rock for his highly successful solo career.
- Nick Dedina" category="Blue-Eyed Soul" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/stylecouncil/data.opml?rws=%2Falt-punk%2Fbrit-pop-brit-rock%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="Stellastarr" description="Stellastarr formed at an art school in Manhattan in 2000. Following a succession of club shows, the band began to gain a reputation for moody, mopey and yet highly energetic pop music. With a sound that harkens back to the glory days of early alternative music (think the Smiths, Jesus &amp; Mary Chain) and a slightly Pixies-esque tendency to shriek, the band started making waves in a town already filled with wave-makers. Stellastarr's persistence and strong live performances saw them rise to the top of the haircut brigade. In 2003, they cut their first major label deal and released a self-titled debut album.
- Jon Pruett" category="Post-Punk" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/stellastarr/data.opml?rws=%2Falt-punk%2Fbrit-pop-brit-rock%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="Big Audio Dynamite" description="Adding catchy samples to simple mixes of basslines, drumbeats and rock 'n' roll, Big Audio Dynamite charmed Top 40 listeners in the U.S. with an unforgettable brand of feel-good alt dance. Ex-Clash singer/lead guitarist Mick Jones formed the five-piece band in the mid-1980s, adding dance tracks and samplers to traditional pop song arrangements. At the end of the decade, the original members disbanded and Jones formed Big Audio Dynamite II. Their greatest commercial achievement was the pop-friendly chart-topper &quot;Rush.&quot;
- Melissa Piazza" category="Alt Dance" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/big-audio-dynamite/data.opml?rws=%2Falt-punk%2Fbrit-pop-brit-rock%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="The Feeling" description="" category="Brit Rock" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/the-feeling/data.opml?rws=%2Falt-punk%2Fbrit-pop-brit-rock%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="Charlatans U.K." description="Running from their foundations in Madchester ravadelia to the current media infatuation with Brit pop, The Charlatans have produced dreamy, lilting songs that scale European rock traditions. A dense wash of creamy psychedelic guitars accented by warm organ vibrations and beautiful vocal harmonies, their sound is at once nostalgic for the peak of the British Invasion and sits atop the summit of Madchester's psychotropic excesses. Their greatest successes are in their most melancholic songs as great swells of instrumentation sweep emotive vocals upward into a hopeful light.
- Marc Kate" category="Brit Pop/Brit Rock" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/charlatans-uk/data.opml?rws=%2Falt-punk%2Fbrit-pop-brit-rock%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="Buzzcocks" description="Led by the perenially heart-broken Pete Shelley, the Buzzcocks took the angst and anxiety that punk thrived on and, instead of aiming their fully loaded guitars at everything around them, made implicitly self-mocking songs cut with a heavy dose of wry wit. Backed by the ringing guitars of Steve Diggle, the frenetic drumming of John Maher and the even-keeled bass of Steve Garvey, Shelley made light of adolescent troubles and adult love woes, offering self-deprecating lyrics to unrequited loves and explicitly frank tales of teenage sexual discovery. &quot;Ever Fallen In Love (With Someone You Shouldn't've?),&quot; and &quot;Everybody's Happy Nowadays&quot; expressed the desperation of failed relationships and disillusionment with love, while &quot;Orgasm Addict&quot; needs no explanation. And on &quot;I Don't Mind,&quot; a nasal-voiced Pete Shelley remarked, &quot;...Everything I see/Just makes me feel you're putting me down/And if it's true this pathetic clown'll/Keep hanging around/That's if you don't mind/I don't mind.&quot; The Buzzcocks are one of the smartest, most influential bands in punk, and their music sounds as relevant and impossibly perfect now as it did 20 years ago.
- Kali Holloway" category="Punk" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/buzzcocks/data.opml?rws=%2Falt-punk%2Fbrit-pop-brit-rock%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="Supergrass" description="Supergrass are one of the few bands to survive -- and thrive beyond -- the mid-1990s Brit pop revival. Coming from peaceful Oxford, England, the teenage band hit the ground running, scoring high placements on British charts with their initial singles, which pointed the way for their 1995 debut, &lt;I&gt;I Should Coco&lt;/i&gt;. The album revealed the band's knack for channeling the sound and spirit of '70s pop punk of acts like the Buzzcocks, the Undertones and the Jam while remaining connected to the original '60s British Invasion scene. &lt;I&gt;I Should Coco&lt;/i&gt;'s upbeat energy, unstoppable good spirits and contagious sense of fun stood in stark contrast to the cynically maudlin, generic teen angst alt rock wares being peddled to teenagers by the American post-grunge and rapcore scenes. This was music for sharing with friends and going out and celebrating, not holing up in your room. 1997's &lt;i&gt;In It For the Money&lt;/i&gt; found the group taming (though not deleting) the blazing punk tempos of their first phase and further exposing the Beatles/Kinks/Badfinger accents and soaring power pop melodies at the heart of so many of their songs. While this was closer in style to what Oasis was doing at the same time, the fact that Supergrass were continuing to grow past their contemporaries was supported by their third, self-titled release. The LP earned FM radio play for the infectious Stones-go-glam track &quot;Pumping on Your Stereo&quot; and the album opener, &quot;Moving,&quot; which builds ever upward from its best-U2-song-in-ages intro. 2002's &lt;i&gt;Life on Other Planets&lt;/I&gt; was Supergrass' &quot;great leap forward,&quot; containing all their '60s and '70s influences (with an even greater focus on Badfinger) and positive energy but tempering them with a greater interest in experimenting with song structure, texture and instrumentation. While 2004's &quot;best of&quot; retrospective, &lt;i&gt;Supergrass Is 10&lt;/i&gt;, reminded everyone how good their entire back catalog is, the next year's &lt;i&gt;Road to Rouen&lt;/i&gt; showed that the group could go as mid-tempo, reflective and bittersweet as the best of them. Supergrass now display an even deeper connection with their initial musical heroes (Lennon/McCartney, Ray Davies, Paul Weller, and Petes Hamm and Shelley), without diminishing their own identity.
- Nick Dedina" category="Brit Pop/Brit Rock" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/supergrass/data.opml?rws=%2Falt-punk%2Fbrit-pop-brit-rock%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="The Wombats" description="Not to be mistaken for the marsupials of Australian descent, these Wombats originated in 2003 when they were enrolled at Sir Paul McCartney's Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts. The trio chose to follow a familiar lineage of U.K. bands who prefer to pass the dreary England days playing snarky, spiky, dancy pop-punk. Like the Arctic Monkeys, Kaiser Chiefs, Franz Ferdinand and Art Brut, the Wombats use rebellious humor to coincide with their woozy, high-energy riffs. Their first single, &quot;Lost in the Post,&quot; was released in 2006 and helped garner them a sizable following that was good enough to earn them the honor of being the first unsigned act to sell out Liverpool's Carling Academy. They subsequently were signed to 14th Floor Records and released their debut album, &lt;I&gt;A Guide To Love, Loss &amp; Desperation&lt;/I&gt;, soon after.
- Stephanie Benson" category="Brit Pop/Brit Rock" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/the-wombats/data.opml?rws=%2Falt-punk%2Fbrit-pop-brit-rock%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="Editors" description="In the post-Oasis Brit rock environment, one of the worst things an aspiring indie rock band could be was educated to degree level -- evidenced as late as 2005 by Liam Gallagher describing Bloc Party as &quot;a band off [U.K. student quiz show] &lt;I&gt;University Challenge&lt;/I&gt;.&quot; Not that this seems to have fazed Editors, who have no qualms about discussing their formation at Staffordshire University, a distinctly unfashionable seat of higher education. They also remain undaunted that they're firmly domiciled in Birmingham, England's out-of-favor second city. Indeed, these resolutely anti-hipster, anti rock 'n' roll stances have possibly fired alienated hearts with enthusiasm for their bleak, driving and remorselessly serious take on jerky, Joy Division-inspired post-punk. Signing to Newcastle label Kitchenware in late 2004, Editors scored a neat PR coup by selling out their first single, &quot;Bullets,&quot; in only 24 hours -- a remarkable feat, until you learn that just 500 singles were pressed up. However, the band's rise was firmly fixed when &quot;Munich,&quot; their second single, catapulted them into the UK Top 30. That set the scene for &quot;Blood,&quot; their propulsive follow-up single, (which went Top-20) and their debut album, &lt;I&gt;The Back Room&lt;/I&gt;. Finally unleashed on the US in March 2006, Editors now look poised to inject a strong dose of old country goth into the sunny States: What price on them becoming the new Cure?
- Jamie Dolling" category="Post-Punk" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/editors/data.opml?rws=%2Falt-punk%2Fbrit-pop-brit-rock%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="World Party" description="As the Waterboys gravitated closer and closer to introspective, seafaring folk music, keyboardist Karl Wallinger left to form World Party in 1985, an outlet for his pop-oriented ideas. Coming from a background soaked in psychedelia, Wallinger's music has always adhered to proper song structure and '60s ideals without being overtly hippie-ish. Hits like &quot;Ship of Fools,&quot; &quot;Way Down Now,&quot; and &quot;Put the Message in the Box&quot; show his knack for sublime melodies and explosive pop, which gets more refined with each release.
- Jon Pruett" category="Adult Alternative" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/world-party/data.opml?rws=%2Falt-punk%2Fbrit-pop-brit-rock%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="Teenage Fanclub" description="In the early 1990s, Teenage Fanclub managed to bridge the gap between aging rock critics and the indie kids who'd never heard Neil Young or Big Star. Coveted by both groups of music aficionados, &lt;I&gt;Bandwagonesque&lt;/I&gt; (1991) was a landmark record that fused achingly brilliant melodies with loud, ringing guitars. Marked by simple lyrics and lines such as &quot;Saw you there with long, blonde hair / Eyes of blue / Oh baby, I love you,&quot; it brought the band major attention and was a far cry from the J Mascis-inspired sludge of their debut. After losing drummer Brendan O' Hare to his own Telstar Ponies, the band recruited Paul Quinn for &lt;I&gt;Grand Prix&lt;/I&gt; (1995), a record which found them abandoning distortion for clear, twin lead guitars and an emphasis on Country Rock (a direction they perfected on &lt;I&gt;Songs from Northern Britain&lt;/I&gt; in 1997). Although the band have yet to climb into the pantheon from which they so liberally borrow, they have released a series of confident, pop-worshipping records that will only become more inspired with age.
- Jon Pruett" category="Power Pop" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/teenage-fanclub/data.opml?rws=%2Falt-punk%2Fbrit-pop-brit-rock%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="Razorlight" description="A long-term habit of the London live circuit, photogenic singer-songwriter Johnny Borrell recruited bassist Carl Dalermo and wonderfully named guitarist Bjorn Agren from trade ads and added school friend Christian Smith-Pancorvo (drums) to form Razorlight in 2002. Having announced his arrival via an &lt;I&gt;NME&lt;/I&gt; interview in January 2004 with the opening declaration &quot;Firstly, I'm a genius,&quot; Borrell has since ruffled feathers and raised teenage temperatures in equal measure. Combining the speedy power pop of the Strokes with a world weariness reminiscent of the Kinks' Ray Davies, Razorlight's debut album, &lt;I&gt;Up All Night&lt;/I&gt;, also boasted a hardwired tunefulness which saw it enter the charts at No. 3 in summer 2004, swiftly followed by radio-friendly Top 10 ballad &quot;Golden Touch.&quot; Following &quot;musical differences,&quot; drummer Smith-Pancorvo duly left the band to be replaced by Winchester-born Andy Burrows, who debuted at a secret gig at the Kentish Town Bull &amp; Gate in May 2004. Whether ruminating on love gone wrong (&quot;Vice&quot;; &quot;To The Sea&quot;), nocturnal scrapes (&quot;Don't Go Back To Dalston,&quot; &quot;Rock 'n' Roll Lies&quot;) or rejoicing in rock 'n' roll's inexplicable power to thrill (&quot;Rip It Up&quot;), Borrell remains a charismatic torchbearer for U.K. rock.
- Paul Moody" category="Brit Rock" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/razorlight/data.opml?rws=%2Falt-punk%2Fbrit-pop-brit-rock%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="Primal Scream" description="Like a musical version of &quot;Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon,&quot; Scotland's Primal Scream have made a career of connecting the musical dots. Beginning in the mid-1980s as a Byrds-influenced Folk Pop group, they recorded a handful of singles and an album of well-crafted tunes that endeared them to the indie scene. They then moved on to embrace a tough blues swagger derived from the Rolling Stones and the Black Crowes until, like many English youth, the Scream were galvanized by the cultural earthquake that was Acid House. Their brilliant 1991 album &lt;I&gt;Screamadelica&lt;/I&gt; is an absolute landmark, a seamless fusion of blissed-out House and swooning Pop created with the help of producer Andrew Weatherall. It's difficult to overestimate the impact of this album. Warmly embraced by both baggy-panted ravers and indie purists, it was many people's first exposure to electronic dance music. Primal Scream have continued to investigate the intersection of dance culture and Indie Rock, drawing on the worlds of House, Techno, big beat and Dub in their search for a more perfect groove.
- Mike Schulman" category="Alt Dance" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/primal-scream-2/data.opml?rws=%2Falt-punk%2Fbrit-pop-brit-rock%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="The Beautiful South" description="The Beautiful South, accurately described by the &lt;i&gt;New York Times&lt;/i&gt; as having &quot;music by Mary Poppins, lyrics by Charles Manson,&quot; were a well-respected English band in the early '90s when their singles collection, &lt;i&gt;Carry on up the Charts&lt;/i&gt;, became a surprise smash across Europe in 1994, selling in quantities on the level of the Beatles and Michael Jackson. Members of the Housemartins formed the band, with main vocalist Paul Heaton turning into a blue-eyed soul crooner who specializes in alternately witty, caustic and sensitive lyrics, and guitarist David Rotheray penning melodies influenced by everyone from Burt Bacharach to Paul McCartney to Marvin Gaye. This variety -- helped along by a large band and three vocalists -- is the band's strength, but their smooth, hummable music; tart lyrics; and a very personal, British outlook have ensured that they stay as unknown in the United States as they are famous in much of the rest of the world. Heaton -- an outspoken, free-thinking socialist -- puts his money where his mouth is, by distributing all the band's profits equally. Vocalist Briana Corrigan left after the band's best album &lt;i&gt;0898&lt;/i&gt; in 1992 and was replaced by the equally fine Jacqui Abbot.
- Nick Dedina" category="Brit Pop/Brit Rock" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/the-beautiful-south/data.opml?rws=%2Falt-punk%2Fbrit-pop-brit-rock%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="The Libertines" description="The Libertines' music celebrates the Class of '77 (the Clash's Mick Jones produced their 2002 debut) with abandon, while also tossing in nods to the romantic melodicism of everyone from the Smiths to the Strokes. On their best moments, however, they play something wholly their own: relentlessly poppy punk rock, seething with wit and spittle. The group succeeds by avoiding polish, instead keeping the guitars ragged and rough, delivering a good time for those who prefer their knees up and jackets leathered.
- Jon Pruett" category="Garage Rock Revival" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/the-libertines/data.opml?rws=%2Falt-punk%2Fbrit-pop-brit-rock%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="The Beatles Tribute Project" description="" category="Brit Pop/Brit Rock" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/the-beatles-tribute-project/data.opml?rws=%2Falt-punk%2Fbrit-pop-brit-rock%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="Noah and the Whale" description="This South London foursome splashed onto the neo-folkie scene in 2007. The band's first single, the airy &quot;Five Years Time,&quot; was played heavily on British radio stations and was used in a television commercial for Saturn. The band traveled to Austin for the SXSW music festival in 2008 and was set to return to the States that summer to play Lollapalooza, but opted to play European festivals instead. Undeterred, Noah and the Whale's debut album &lt;I&gt;Peaceful, The World Lays Me Down&lt;/I&gt; was released in the U.S. in September, 2008.
- Linda Ryan" category="Brit Pop/Brit Rock" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/noah-and-the-whale/data.opml?rws=%2Falt-punk%2Fbrit-pop-brit-rock%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
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