The early beginnings of Explosions in the Sky occurred in 1999, when three longtime friends from West Texas went to a pizza place in Austin, Texas, for a prearranged meeting with a young man from Illinois. The Illinoisan had just moved to Austin, and he put up a flyer that caught the interest of the others. They ate pizza and discussed movies and decided to meet the next day with their various instruments (two guitars, bass, and drums). Over the coming months they picked a band name, then picked a better band name, then wrote and recorded an album. That album, called How Strange, Innocence, was largely out of tune, but the band members didn't really notice at the time. They optimistically printed 300 copies, and gave most of them away. A friend of theirs sent a recording of one of their live shows to a record label in Baltimore, and that label offered to put out albums for the band. Three albums and hundreds of shows later, the band released their fifth album, Take Care, Take Care, Take Care, this past April.

The Decemberists formed in 2000 when Colin Meloy moved from Montana to Portland, Oregon and met a variety of musicians that would slowly make up the band’s permanent lineup. The band made their recording début in 2002 with the release of Castaways and Cutouts and has since released five full-length albums and a handful of EPs. In 2009, the band released their wildly ambitious song cycle, Hazards of Love, a narrative suite that grew out of old English folk tunes, met by widespread acclaim. The Decemberists’ sixth studio album, The King is Dead, was released in January 2011 debuting at #1 on the Billboard 200 in the United States. The mostly acoustic arrangements on The King Is Dead showcase how The Decemberists sound just as glorious in simple, concise compositions as they do on the elaborate structures that have defined their work for years. 

Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros concerts are aptly described as musical love-ins: rapturous, theatrical affairs where it can be difficult to discern between the musicians on stage (there are, give or take, 13 of them) and the fans in the crowd, all swaying and singing in a state of joyous euphoria. The band’s front man, Alex Ebert (formerly of the dance punk band, Ima Robot) is magnetic, madcap rock ‘n roll shaman leading his exuberant troupe through beatific, intricately embellished psych-folk anthems. The collective of musicians that form Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros came together in a remarkably organic way–everyone seemed to know one another or be separated by only a few degrees. That natural dynamic propelled them into recording the band’s breakout début Up From Below, released in 2010, for which the band received international praise. 

Best known as lead singer, songwriter and guitarist for legendary noise-rockers Sonic Youth, Thurston Moore’s upcoming solo-album, Demolished Thoughts, pursues a different side of the musical spectrum, representing his most nuanced and personal. For his fourth solo effort, Moore enlisted renowned musician and producer Beck Hansen to handle production. Recorded this past autumn and winter, Demolished Thoughts is a beautiful and brooding work; while there are tonal similarities to some favorite Moore compositions from years past, the execution this time around is nothing short of staggering.

The People’s Key, Bright Eyes seventh studio album, is the eagerly awaited follow-up to 2007’s acclaimed Cassadaga. Since 2006 the once revolving cast of Bright Eyes players has settled around permanent members Conor Oberst, Mike Mogis and Nathaniel Walcott, with additional musicians joining them in the studio and on tour. Fully realized and bursting with charisma, The People’s Key is an assured and accomplished album, artfully arranged and filled with the engaging and mesmeric songwriting for which Oberst is renowned. Bright Eyes' success snowballed in early 2005 when the simultaneous release of the sister albums I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning and Digital Ash In A Digital Urn saw these Nebraskans hurled into the limelight and the Billboard Charts. To say that the band became a household name would be an overstatement but for a few months they seemed ubiquitous, from stages to magazine covers to late night talk shows. Conor Oberst has spent much of the last few years recording and touring with friends and musicians, The Mystic Valley Band, as well as releasing a highly acclaimed album and tour as part of the indie supergroup Monsters of Folk.

Ghostland Observatory’s approach to music–sonically, aesthetically and conceptually–is a melding of the different personalities of its two members, Thomas Ross Turner and Aaron Behrens. Whereas Turner, the producer/drummer/keyboardist of the duo, finds solace in minimal, bleak cable-patch squawks and analog-disco-thump, Behrens’ interests lie more along the lines of ‘psychedelia,’ rock and various country and blues artists. The result is a shimmering, pulsing pop music that is at once kinetically alive with Behrens’ striking vocals and driving guitar work and anchored firmly by Turner’s percussive beats and Moog-generated melodies and hooks. Behrens and Turner formed Ghostland Observatory in Austin in 2003 and haven’t looked back since. With their newest album, Codename: Rondo, Ghostland Observatory has taken a step in a new direction, both creatively and technically maintaining the essential elements of their unmistakable sound: “sweaty, raw-boned, and direct from the future.” 

Lupe Fiasco burst onto the scene in 2006, with “Kick, Push,” a single that sounded like nothing else in mainstream hip-hop and heralding the arrival of a unique voice. Following up his debut album, Food & Liquor, with his sophomore release, The Cool, in 2007, Lupe Fiasco earned his reputation as a rap philosopher, a sharp, dynamic lyricist, and an MC who could shock you, make you think, make you dance, and make you laugh, all without resorting to vulgarity or tired hip-hop alliterations. After a four-year wait, Lupe released his third album, Lasers, this past March.