Arcade Fire

First formed in Montreal in 2000, Arcade Fire have quickly become one of the most revered acts of the 21st century: The band's big-swell choruses, complicated multi-part orchestrations and scorched-earth live shows have won over English-lit majors and soccer hooligans alike.

The band is led by the husband-wife team of Win Butler (a Houston native who moved to Montreal after attending a New England boarding school to focus on music) and Régine Chassagne (a daughter of Haitian refugees who has performed jazz and medieval music in the past). A more firm lineup began to take shape as they recorded their first album in 2003: Jeremy Gara (drums), Richard Parry (bass), Sarah Neufeld (violin), William Butler (keyboard) and Tim Kingsbury (guitar). Most of the band members play several instruments on stage, sometimes during the same song, and the group has been lauded for ecstatic shows that feature band members scaling the scenery and thought-provoking video montages.

A self-titled EP was released in 2003 and reissued in 2005; its stirring "No Cars Go" would eventually be re-recorded. The group's proper debut album, Funeral (Number 131, 2005), was recorded after several band members had experienced the deaths of loved ones, which explains the cautious optimism of such tracks as "Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels)" (2004) and "Neighborhood #2 (Laïka)" (2005). The album's most well-known track is "Wake Up," a weirdly pumped-up anthem about what happens when the grim reaper "reaches and touches my hand." The song played at several U.K. sporting events, and was used to open several dates on U2's 2005 tour.

Funeral caught the attention of David Byrne and David Bowie, the latter of whom appeared on the iTunes-only Live EP (Live at Fashion Rocks) in 2005. Expectations were high for the band's second record, and by the time Neon Bible (Number Two) was released in 2007 — an album the group recorded in a Montreal church they refashioned into a studio — some fans were ready to criticize tracks like the grim "Keep the Car Running." But the album still placed on several major year-end lists, and Arcade Fire remained a live-show draw throughout the year. In January 2008, the band released the latest in a series of special interactive video Web sites, for Bible's "Black Mirror."