Destroyer is the nom de rock of Dan Bejar, who's a songwriting member of the much more successful New Pornographers. Bejar's fey brand of louche is not everyone's cup of tea, but he rides it to ecstatic choral heights at least once or twice per album. His latest, Kaputt, was released on Jan. 25.
With their slackerfied-Blondie sounds, California trio Best Coast have a lot of potential as an up and coming band to get big on their first time around.
Beguiling SF singer-songwriter has a history as a home taper, and a new album, "To The Dreamer", out on Sub Pop Oct. 12.
San Francisco alt-folker Sonny Smith has a natural sense of West Coast pop: these are tunes that Brian Wilson & Hank Williams would snap their fingers to.
Caterwauling Brooklyn experimentalists Dirty Projectors have collaborated with Bjork; a track from their new Album Ascending Melody can be downloaded for free at their official website!
Aziz Ansari earned a place in Tourfilter's heart with his depiction of a Pitchfork-terrorizing "Indie Marketing Guru" in a send-up of the dawn of the MP3 blog era; he tours regularly with a hilarious conventional stand-up act.
Author of numerous musical paeans to boston, Jonathan Richman's lyrics are sweet, sad, funny, and readily comprehensible; his melodies are witty and pretty; his live show is intimate. here's a video of Richman performing crowd favorite "I Was Dancing At A Lesbian Bar" on Conan.
like tortoise, new yorker marco benevento mixes rock with experimental music and jazz. downtempo, airy compositions filled with strange electronic sounds and flaming-lips-like crescendos. check out this awesome video.
