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LOW VS DIAMOND

West Coast quintet craft widescreen rock anthems built for stadium singalongs

Click above to watch Low vs Diamond's Lucas Field and Anthony Polcino perform "Heart Attack" live

Few young american bands attempt the unabashedly grand cinematic rock that L.A.'s Low Vs Diamond play on their eponymous debut — and frontman Lucas Field sees that as an opportunity. "I felt like there was a hole in American anthems," says Field, 28. "British bands do this big, melodic stuff so well, but I couldn't think of an American band that was just going for it. The Killers do it pretty well, but they had this Eighties thing. I was just like, 'What about classic songwriting?' "

The first two members, Field and drummer Howie Diamond, met at the University of Colorado, where they formed a jammy cover band. "We played house parties for all these trustafarians dancing on the lawn," says Field. "We'd play, like, a four- or five-song set with a few Phish covers, a few Dead covers."

Eventually, the pair dropped the jam thing and moved to L.A., where they went through multiple sounds — in 2004, they released a proggy, synth-heavy EP under the name Colored Shadows, which reflected Field's then-obsession with Air. "It took me five years to realize that sitting down at a piano and writing songs the way I do now is what I'm good at," says Field.

The band took its final shape — and final name — after a college friend, guitarist Ben Pollock, left the group in 2006, ending a battle for musical control. There were some hard feelings; the band grabbed the "Low" part of its name from a nickname for Pollock's girlfriend, who clashed with Diamond. (Pollock and his girlfriend, Leyla "Lo" Safai, are currently seeing their own success as the electro-punk duo Heartsrevolution.)

After Low Vs Diamond settled on a direction, the songs — and a contract with Epic Records — came quickly, with Field writing in what he calls a "melodramatic and nostalgic" style that evokes U2 and Coldplay. Their best song, the slow-building "Don't Forget Sister" — which borrows its chord progression from "Baba O'Riley" — was the last Field wrote for the album. "It's the culmination of our sound," says Field. "It's epic." It also poses a challenge. After playing "Don't Forget Sister" at a recent New York gig, Field looked at the cheering crowd, shook his head and said, "How do you follow that?" BRIAN HIATT

HOME BASE Los Angeles

FOR FANS OF Echo and the Bunnymen, U2, Interpol, Coldplay

SPIN THIS "Don't Forget Sister," a cautionary tale with a chest-pounding chorus, is a powerful, Bono-worthy slice of big-sky rock.

Photograph by Theo Wenner

Next: Laura Izibor

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LAURA IZIBOR

With catchy tunes and powerful pipes, Dublin singer proves Ireland's got soul

Click above to watch Laura Izibor perform "Don't Stay" live

Being different has always worked to Laura Izibor's advantage. As one of the few black singers in Dublin, she was the go-to warm-up act when soul artists came to town. "My manager read the paper one morning and saw that James Brown was coming, but he didn't have an opener," says Izibor, 21, whose husky croon and spunky, piano-powered songs have earned her comparisons to Aretha Franklin and Alicia Keys. "He rang me in class and said, 'Laura, I need you to get off school early. You're supporting James Brown tonight.' " Years before sharing a stage with the Godfather of Soul, Izibor was singing homemade love songs into a karaoke machine. At 15, she entered an Irish song competition with a tune called "Are We Compatible" and won. The recognition helped her score a record deal, and at 17 she quit school to work on her debut, Let the Truth Be Told. (Her Shine EP is available on iTunes now; the LP drops in 2009.) With its you-go-girl pop ("Shine"), slow-rolling funk ("Yes [I'll Be Your Baby]") and gospel-tinged ballads ("Mmm"), Truth is a sunny, chick-flick-worthy take on vintage soul. No wonder Al Green likes it: The Reverend flirted with Izibor when she opened for him in Dublin last year. "He started wiggling a champagne bottle at me," she says. "His manager said, 'Al wants to meet you — would you like to go in his dressing room?' Half of me was like, 'I hope he's not a pervert.' And the other half was like, 'I don't care — it's Al Green!' " NICOLE FREHSÉE

HOME BASE Dublin

FOR FANS OF Alicia Keys, Natasha Bedingfield, Corinne Bailey Rae

SPIN THIS "Shine," a pop confection marked by bouncy piano chords, Stax-style horns and a touchy-feely message that exudes Oprah-style positivity.

Photograph by Theo Wenner

Next: Ra Ra Riot

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RA RA RIOT

After a tragic loss, New York whiz kids cook up winning set of triumphant chamber pop

Click above to watch Ra Ra Riot's Wesley, Milo and Alexandra introduce their debut, "The Rhumb Line," and share their spaghetti tradition.

In his fourth year of college, Milo Bonacci had a tough choice to make: He could continue as the guitarist of Gym Class Heroes (which he formed with his childhood friend Travis McCoy), who were on the verge of a major-label contract, or he could head to Florence to study Italian architecture. In the end, Bonacci chose Romanesque basilicas over one-night stands with groupies. "I left knowing things were going to take off with Gym Class Heroes," says Bonacci, who hasn't stayed in touch with McCoy. "But I needed to finish what I was doing."

These days, Bonacci is beginning his musical second act with a band that sounds nothing like Gym Class Heroes' emo rap. He's the guitarist of Ra Ra Riot, five clean-cut collegiate brainiacs (ranging in age from 22 to 25) who have created one of the best indie-rock debuts of the year. After returning to the States, Bonacci teamed up with a crew of his Syracuse University pals in 2006 who shared similarly nerdy academic pursuits. Bassist Mathieu Santos studied painting, violinist Rebecca Zeller and cellist Alexandra Lawn are classical-trained musicians, and singer Wesley Miles majored in physics. You can hear the tuition money at work on The Rhumb Line, 10 chamber-pop gems that quote poet E.E. Cummings ("Dying Is Fine") and feature sophisticated string arrangements. Another highlight: a circus-punk cover of Kate Bush's "Suspended in Gaffa."

On a summer night at Zeller's Brooklyn apartment, the group celebrates the release of its record with a bottle of Chianti and Bonacci's homemade spaghetti marinara. The band's rise — in a short time, it has signed to Death Cab for Cutie's original label, Barsuk, and played shows with Vampire Weekend — is bittersweet. Ra Ra Riot's original drummer, John Pike, was found dead, floating in the ocean near Fairhaven, Massachusetts, in June 2007. (Police are still investigating the circumstances of his death.) "It's surreal," says Bonacci of the loss. "We are all still dealing with it and think about it every day."

But the death has brought the band members closer: They only decided to keep going after getting the blessing from Pike's relatives. "There's a real family tie here," says Zeller. "We're completely collaborative," adds Miles. Everyone nods in agreement. In fact, the group is so in sync that even the smallest arguments upset its equilibrium. "Instead of fighting, we just sort of become introverted," says Bonacci. "But we don't need to talk about that. We're eating dinner." KEVIN O'DONNELL

HOME BASE Brooklyn

FOR FANS OF Death Cab for Cutie, Arcade Fire, Vampire Weekend, Talking Heads

SPIN THIS "Too Too Too Fast," a New Wave-y romp about falling in love too quickly. Nice touch: the call-and-response vocals between the boy and the girl.

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Download: "Dying is Fine" from The Rhumb Line (Right click and choose "save as")
Review: The Rhumb Line

Photograph by Sacha Lecca

Next: 3OH!3

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3OH!3

Colorado duo mix up block-rocking beats, hip-hop trash talk and emo-pop hooks

Click above to watch 3OH!3 share lessons for surviving in the wilderness on their way to perform at Warped Tour

Basically, it was just us going nuts over beats," says Nathaniel Motte, the six-foot-seven-inch beatmaker for Boulder, Colorado, pair 3OH!3 — named after their hometown area code. He's talking about 3OH!3's appearance on this summer's Warped Tour, in which the duo — Motte and rapper-singer Sean Foreman — pumped fists, humped mike stands and performed choreographed dances while purveying a brand of hip-hop Motte describes as "C
line Dion on ice — not the skating ice, the meth ice." 3OH!3's unhinged sets made the pair a hit among performers like Cobra Starship's Gabe Saporta. "I tried to catch their show every day," says Saporta. "I like bands that aren't just crying about their girlfriends."

Indeed, you don't get a lot of heartsick kvetching on 3OH!3's debut, Want. Instead, you get wink-wink rhymes about getting drunk and hanging out with big-titted women, and punch lines like, "Shh, girl, shut your lips/Do the Helen Keller and talk with your hips," from "Don't Trust Me." There are tuneful emo-pop hooks, but most of the time 3OH!3 rely on spastic electro grooves and aggro rapping.

In person, Motte and Foreman don't seem like party boys. They're laid-back dudes who graduated summa cum laude from the University of Colorado. "People think we should be passed out drunk offstage," Motte says. "Our music is just about having fun, so we play [wilder] personas onstage."

Suitably for a genre-mixing band, 3OH!3 have opened for everyone from Snoop Dogg to Sum 41. Already with over 8 million spins on MySpace and a deal with Photo Finish/Atlantic Records, the pair seem surprised by their swift ascent. "Truck drivers and single moms are calling radio stations, like, 'I wanna hear that song about Helen Keller,' " says Motte. "That's dope." CHRISTIAN HOARD

HOME BASE Boulder, Colorado

FOR FANS OF Lil Jon, Spank Rock, Gym Class Heroes, Beastie Boys

SPIN THIS "Photofinnish" features zippy synths, fat-bottomed beats and hilariously aggro "Who Let the Dogs Out"-style chanting. Hear it playing at a drunken house party near you.

Photograph by Sarah Cass/Atlantic Records

Next: Dead Confederate

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DEAD CONFEDERATE

Quintet create a gritty, fuzzed-out take on Southern rock & roll

Click above to watch Dead Confederate's friends in other bands introduce the Georgia rockers

Georgia rockers Dead Confederate made their debut album, Wrecking Ball, in a tiny, dingy Austin studio — the same place where the sound effects for the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre were recorded. "It was a shit-shack," says bassist and songwriter Brantley Senn, 28. "We called it 'the dump.' It was spooky." The eeriness seeped deeply into the quintet's music — a raw, howling take on Southern rock that recalls the darkest moments of Nineties grunge; not surprising, since they are the first band on the new label from Gary Gersh, the A&R exec who signed Nirvana and Sonic Youth. Lead singer Hardy Morris' raspy vocals are a ringer for Kurt Cobain's, while lead guitarist Walker Howle kicks out Dinosaur Jr.-like spiraling riffs. "Our music has always been dark," says Senn. "I don't think I've ever written a song when I wasn't angry or hurt by something." But the band's growing popularity is making it harder for Senn to get into the proper songwriting mind-set. "I'm at the point where I am about to take a minimum-wage job just so I can be unhappy about something so I can write a good song." GUS WENNER

HOME BASE Athens, Georgia

FOR FANS OF Kings of Leon, Nirvana, Neil Young, Dinosaur Jr.

SPIN THIS "The Rat," a slow-burning poke in the eye at Bible-thumping evangelicals

Photograph by Pamela Littky

Next: Lykke Li

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LYKKE LI

Scandinavian pixie rebels against hippie parents, aims to be the indie-pop Madonna

Click above to watch Lykke Li introduce herself, and find out about her dance skills and lyrical inspiration

When Lykke Li was growing up, her hippie parents sold all of the family's belongings, moved from Sweden to a mountaintop in Portugal, and spent the next five years pursuing photography, playing in jazz bands and going to wild raves. "I was embarrassed to be at those parties, with my mother going all crazy," the 22-year-old singer remembers. So she rebelled against her parents by listening to mainstream music: "I sang to Michael Jackson in front of the mirror."

Produced by Björn Yttling of Peter Bjorn and John, Li's debut, Youth Novels, combines her pop sensibility with her international upbringing. Layering little-girl vocals over digital beats, Caribbean steel drums and Spanish-guitar accents, the album has moved Li to the forefront of the buzzy Swedish indie-pop scene — and earned her the fandom of Bryan Ferry. But success hasn't stripped her of those bohemian roots. "I've always been like, 'I want to be a big pop star — and then I want to get pregnant and move to Algeria and have a house full of men and animals,' " she says. "I want to be Madonna someday, but I want to be Angelina Jolie, too, you know?" MELISSA MAERZ

HOME BASE Stockholm

FOR FANS OF Björk, Kate Bush, Annie, Feist

SPIN THIS "Little Bit," a quietly shuffling, girl-group-style pop ballad that rhymes "legs apart" with "tainted heart."

22683004 Photograph by Marcus Palmqvist

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Artists to Watch 2008
Foals, Leona Lewis, Chester French, Duffy, PlayRadioPlay!, Wale and Does It Offend You, Yeah?
[From Issue 1049 — April 3, 2008]

Artists to Watch 2007
Santogold, Brett Dennen, the Cool Kids, Black Kids, Liam Finn, MGMT, Kate Nash, Estelle, Year Long Disaster, OneRepublic
[From Issue 1040 — November 29, 2007]

Artists to Watch 2007
The Academy Is..., Mika, Lavender Diamond, Rich Boy, the Fratelli, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Lifesavas, Amy Winehouse, Manchester Orchestra, Rose Hill Drive
[From Issue 1023 — April 5, 2007]

Artists to Watch 2006
TV on the Radio, the Boy Least Likely To, Rock Kills Kid, Wolfmother, Nicole Atkins, Matt White, the Whigs, Papoose, Daniel Powter, Bonde do Role
[From Issue 997 — April 6, 2006]