Who: Six-piece Oklahoma City indie pop band the Uglysuit, who went from opening for the All-American Rejects and the Roots to headlining their own packed CMJ showcase.

Sounds Like: Bound by no genre, the sextet jump from from Brit-pop-style ballads like "Happy Yellow Rainbow" to atmospheric, jazz-tinged explorations on "Brownblue's Passing" to gorgeous piano-powered anthems like "Chicago" on their self-titled debut album.

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Who: The Subways, a British trio who turned two years on the road touring with the likes of Foo Fighters and Oasis and a potentially career-ending throat ailment into their edgier second album All Or Nothing.

Sounds Like: Led by singer/guitarist Billy Lunn, the Subways are a pop-perfect combo of three of the band's favorite artists, mixing together Nirvana's power chords, Smashing Pumpkins' ferocious tribal drumming and Shirley Manson's vocal prowess for a fantastic alt-rock throwback stew. The common bond between all three bands? Producer Butch Vig, who also produced the Subways' new album. "The songs on All Or Nothing are like diary entries, essentially," Lunn says. "We felt compelled that we had to open ourselves up, and Butch Vig was clearly the guy who was gonna do that for us."

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Who: Jack's Mannequin, the SoCal quartet fronted by piano player Andrew McMahon (formerly of pop-punkers Something Corporate) whose second album The Glass Passenger has already scored a top-ten debut.

Sounds Like: Known for his intimate lyrics — the band's debut record aired the details of a break-up with a long-term girlfriend — Passenger tracks McMahon's life following his 2005 Leukemia diagnosis and blends sunny Beach Boys pop with stout piano rock. McMahon adds he was "hugely inspired" by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers and Tegan and Sara's The Con, which can be heard on the anthemic "American Love" and the layered orchestration of "Annie Use Your Telescope."

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Who Rachael Yamagata, a Philadelphia singer who, after backing up artists like Ryan Adams, Bright Eyes and Rhett Miller, is ready to step into the spotlight.

Sounds Like: With her second album Elephants...Teeth Sinking Into Heart, Yamagata abandons the chick flick soundtrack feel of her first album with a darker, more intimate double-disc affair. On Elephants, Yamagata channels macabre ballads like Fiona Apple while Teeth… finds her embracing her inner-Chrissie Hynde. "The lyrics were telling me it was going to be different this time, there was backbone," Yamagata says. "I didn't want it to be pretty, and I didn't want it to be safe."

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Who: Cleveland-born singer-songwriter whose second record of hushed folk-rock, Simple Times, topped the iTunes album chart after he rocked the lesbian wedding of 2008: Ellen DeGeneres invited the 34-year-old to serenade her and Portia de Rossi at the pair’s August nuptials (Ellen then aired a clip on her show). “I played a few songs, then stuck around for some vegan red-velvet cake,” says Radin, who struck up a friendship with DeGeneres after sitting next to her at a dinner party. Now his first single, the John Mayer-esque “I’d Rather Be With You” is getting radio play. “Aside from my mom,” says Radin, whose CD was produced by Elliott Smith collaborator Rob Schnapf, “Ellen’s been the biggest supporter of my career.”

Back Story: A onetime aspiring screenwriter, Radin penned his first song after splitting with girlfriend Schuyler Fisk (Sissy Spacek’s daughter) in 2004.

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Who: Electro-pop artist Sam Sparro, a soulful, Aussie-American vocalist whose hit single “Black & Gold,” soared to Number Two on the U.K. singles chart, and made it into the Top 10 in Ireland, Australia and Turkey.

Sounds Like: If Daft Punk took off their helmets and turned up the "emotion" setting on their vocoders. Sparro draws from a pool of funk/soul influences ­— "Prince and Chaka Khan and the Gap Band, Parliament, things like that," he explains — and ‘80s electro à la New Order to create a distinctive 21st century sound. "I wanted to be in amongst the contemporary music that I like at the moment, which is a lot of stuff like Hot Chip and Cut Copy and French electro stuff like Justice."

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Who: Alabama's own Jamey Johnson, a shit-kicking, hard-drinking badass who is well on his way to being country music's biggest outlaw.

Sounds Like: To start, think Steve Earle and Merle Haggard, not Kenny Chesney and Keith Urban. On his album That Lonesome Song, Johnson mixes tender ballads like "In Color" with barnstormers like "High Cost of Living" and raw country tales influenced by booze, drugs and his own divorce. "I was trying to reach that dude at the bar going through what I was going through," Johnson says of the album.

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Who: Solange, the 22-year-old sister of Beyonce who is ready to make a name for herself with her second album Sol-Angel and the Hadley St. Dreams.

Sounds Like: Solange brings an electronica-tinged update on classic soul and Motown to her Sol-Angel, thanks in part to producers like Mark Ronson and Pharrell. Her hit single "I Decided" is a synthesis of what would have happened if the Supremes hung out with Gnarls Barkley.

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Who: The Gaslight Anthem, a quartet of blue collar punks from Bruce Springsteen's hood that tell stories about young romance and working-class folks on their new album The '59 Sound.

Sounds Like: Like New Jersey's prodigal son, New Brunswick's the Gaslight Anthem sound like a punked-out, supercharged version of early Bruce combined with the Replacements' angst and the Hold Steady's wit. "No surrender, my Bobby Jean," lead singer Brian Fallon sings on "Meet Me by the River's Edge," name-checking two Springsteen songs in one simple line.

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Who: R&B singer Keri Hilson, who — after penning hits like Britney Spears' "Gimme More" and Usher's "Love In This Club, Part II" — is stepping into the spotlight with her own debut album In A Perfect World…

Sounds Like: Like the songs she's written in years past, Hilson's sound is state-of-the-art R&B stocked with twitchy future-funk and effervescent soul. Lil Wayne and Snoop Dogg are among the guests on Perfect.

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