An under-recognized pioneer of the lo-fi revolution, Smog was essentially the alias of one Bill Callahan, an enigmatic singer/songwriter whose odd, fractured music neatly epitomized the tenets and excesses of the home-recording boom. Melancholy, poignant, and self-obsessed, Callahan's four-track output offered a peepshow view into an insular... [+] Read More

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The cosmic post-rock band Mogwai was formed in Glasgow, Scotland, in 1996 by guitarist/vocalist Stuart Braithwaite, guitarist Dominic Aitchison, and drummer Martin Bulloch, longtime friends with the goal of creating "serious guitar music." Toward that end they added another guitarist, John Cummings, before debuting in March 1996 with the single... [+] Read More

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After goth pioneers the Birthday Party called it quits in 1983, singer/songwriter Nick Cave assembled the Bad Seeds, a post-punk supergroup featuring former Birthday Party guitarist Mick Harvey on drums, ex-Magazine bassist Barry Adamson, and Einstürzende Neubauten guitarist Blixa Bargeld. With the Bad Seeds, Cave continued to explore his... [+] Read More

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Though largely overlooked during their relatively brief lifespan, Slint grew to become one of the most influential and far-reaching bands to emerge from the American underground rock community of the 1980s; innovative and iconoclastic, the group's deft, extremist manipulations of volume, tempo, and structure cast them as clear progenitors of the... [+] Read More

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Featuring a dynamic fusion of several alternative stylistic touchstones, Snow Patrol's compositions combine songwriting aptitude with guitar rock's sharpest strains. Originally from Northern Ireland, Gary Lightbody (vocals, guitar) and Mark McClelland (bass, keyboards) first got together in Dundee, Scotland, where they were studying, prior to... [+] Read More

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Formed in late 1997 in San Diego, the Black Heart Procession have been described as beautifully bleak and brooding indie rock with a dark side. Lyrically touching on the melancholy side of human nature, the five-piece band is appropriately named given its themes of isolation, depression, and heartache. The core members of Pall Jenkins and Tobias... [+] Read More

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What was once the glitchy, fever dream solo project of The **** Sparklies' Eon Fontes-May, is now a duo (with the addition of The Rain Design's Adam Kozak) employing folds of warbling synths, jarring guitars, melodica, accordian and god know what else over a bed of achingly slow, crunchy found-sound beats. With the addition of excruciatingly... [+] Read More

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While failing to earn the same critical notoriety and cultish devotion lavished upon countrymen Belle & Sebastian or Mogwai, the Delgados were in many respects the true epicenter of the contemporary Scottish pop renaissance. Through their renowned Chemikal Underground label, the group not only launched the careers of acts from Bis to Arab Strap,... [+] Read More

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The For Carnation was a low-key, mostly acoustic vehicle for ex-Slint/Squirrel Bait member Brian McMahan, whose previous projects had all made their impact through jagged, noisy art-punk. Mirroring his old bandmate David Grubbs' evolution with Gastr del Sol, McMahan continued to explore the complex, cerebral patterns that were his stock in... [+] Read More

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Tim Kasher spent the end of the 1990s making powerful and somewhat underrated music as the lead singer and guitarist for the Omaha-based post-rock quartet Cursive, but the band never really allowed for him to explore any of his softer ideas and more personal sentiments. For years, the always-inventive songwriter had been storing his mellower... [+] Read More

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Tindersticks were one of the most original and distinctive British acts of the '90s, standing apart from both the British indie scene and the rash of Brit-pop guitar combos that dominated the U.K. charts. Where their contemporaries were often direct and to the point, Tindersticks were obtuse and leisurely, crafting dense, difficult songs layered... [+] Read More

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