We know that you're still bumming because you missed out on Bonnaroo (which yeah, it was pretty awesome). But don't fret -- check out some of our shows right here before your friends get home and try to throw their weekend in your face. Now you can be like, "Yeah, I know.
I've seen them before."
Also, don't forget to bone up completely and
check out Part One.
British folk singer/picker
Laura Marling fuses intimacy and melody on all of her songs. Don't call her a singer-songwriter though.
The cleverly-named
The War On Drugs blew up with their 2011 album,
Slave Ambient, an expansive Americana rock effort that separated them from the pack. Adam Granduciel and Kurt Vile's band is a joyous mix of experimentation and Tom Petty ambience.
Watch the full video at Baeblemusic.com
25 year-old British singer-songwriter
Ben Howard has a knack for writing catchy tunes with anthemic hooks and impressively involved guitar parts. Add to that Howard's breathy, Ray LaMontagne-esque voice and you've got a guy with a very promising career ahead of him.
White Denim's "Street Joy" was one of the best songs of 2011, and the Austin-based trio has much more where that came from. A mix of blues, psychadelia, and indie rock, White Denim is one of the funnest, most intriguing groups out there right now.
Watch the full video at Baeblemusic.com
Erika M. Anderson, the guitarist/vocalist behind
EMA looks like a Swedish Gap Kids model, so it's a pleasing surprise when you hear her music. Her dark lo-fi sound and her otherworldly voice are reminiscent of an unplugged Nirvana set and make you listen with pressured hesitation -- like she might just climb through your headphones and scratch your eyes out. And we say that with the utmost admiration.
Here We Go Magic, led by lead singer Luke Temple, produces vibrant, electronic guitar indie folk with seeming ease. Since their full-band debut
Pigeons in 2010, Here We Go Magic has been giving us plenty of great music to digest. And we're not their only fans -- after Glastonbury in 2010, Thom Yorke said that they were the festival's best band.
Although they may have my favorite band name to date,
Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. is way more than just a funny name. The duo of Daniel Zott and Joshua Epstein combines parts of indie pop, electronics, and Beach Boy melodies.
Clare and the Reasons released their debut album
The Movie to pretty much nothing but glowing reviews, and with Clare Manchon's playful voice and the band's tight orchestration and instrumental diversity, it isn't hard to see why. Get ready for some more -- the band will release their third full-length album, called
KR-51, on 7/10. Hear the album's brooding first single
here.
Vocalist/pianist Ben Thronewill, guitarist Tommy Siegel, and drummer Jesse Kristin pump out uptempo, endlessly infectious songs as
Jukebox The Ghost. In other words, try not dancing while listening to these guys.
Brooklyn-based
Oberhofer have been creating driving, danceable indie rock since Brad Oberhofer released the appropriately titled single, "o0Oo0O0o" in 2011. Oberhofer's fullness and aggressiveness is quickly making them one of the most-blogged about bands this year. Not to be missed -- the band's extensive use of a xylophone.
We Are Augustines, the Brooklyn band named so due to bandmembers Billy McCarthy and Eric Sanderson both being born in August, sound about as stadium-rock as indie music can get. Their music is anthemic, their percussion is hard-hit, and Billy McCarthy sings every song like it's his last. "Book of James," about McCarthy's late brother, is a track that's not to be missed.