Named in honor of a line of furniture designed by Charles and Ray Eames, the Chicago-based chamber-pop outfit the Aluminum Group was led by brothers John and Frank Navin, longtime staples of the Wicker Park music scene who first surfaced in 1983 as members of the hardcore band Women in Love. Always harboring a secret affecton for the music of... [+] Read More

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A band that takes its name from a French children's television series about a boy and his dog would almost have to be precious, and to be certain, Belle & Sebastian are precious. But precious can be a damning word, and Belle & Sebastian don't have the negative qualities that the word connotes -- they are private but not insular, pretty... [+] Read More

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Folk-punk singer/songwriter Elliott Smith rose from indie obscurity to mainstream success in 1997 on the strength of "Miss Misery," his Academy Award-nominated song from the film Good Will Hunting. A native of Portland, OR, Smith began writing and recording his first songs at age 14, later becoming a fixture of the city's thriving music scene;... [+] Read More

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Jeremy Enigk first emerged as the frontman of the highly-touted Seattle band Sunny Day Real Estate, which issued their Sub Pop debut Diary in 1994. In the midst of recording the group's sophomore effort, Enigk underwent a radical spiritual transformation and left the group; although he later returned to complete the eponymously-titled release,... [+] Read More

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Manishevitz began in Virginia as the brainchild of Adam Busch, formerly of the Curious Digit. With the help of guitarist Via Nuon, the band's first release for Jagjaguwar, (1999's Grammar Bell and the All Fall Down,) was a promising disc of intimate, gentle indie pop liberally laced with folk and acoustic blues tones. Busch and Nuon soon... [+] Read More

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A singular talent who passed almost unnoticed during his brief lifetime, Nick Drake produced several albums of chilling, somber beauty. With hindsight, these have come to be recognized as peak achievements of both the British folk-rock scene and the entire rock singer/songwriter genre. Sometimes compared to Van Morrison, Drake in fact resembled... [+] Read More

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With melodic, baritoned anguished that falls somewhere in the neighborhood of Scott Walker, Pulp touring guitarist and former Longpigs member Richard Hawley began his solo career with his self-titled debut in 2001. Richard was raised in Sheffield, England, the son of a steelworker and grew up listening to folks such as Roy Orbison and Elvis... [+] Read More

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With melodic, baritoned anguished that falls somewhere in the neighborhood of Scott Walker, Pulp touring guitarist and former Longpigs member Richard Hawley began his solo career with his self-titled debut in 2001. Richard was raised in Sheffield, England, the son of a steelworker and grew up listening to folks such as Roy Orbison and Elvis... [+] Read More

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A singer/songwriter whose lush, theatrical pop harked back to the traditions of Tin Pan Alley, cabaret and even opera, Rufus Wainwright was born in 1973; the son of folk music luminaries Loudon Wainwright III and Kate McGarrigle, his parents divorced while he was a child, and he was raised by his mother in Montreal. Beginning his piano studies... [+] Read More

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The Divine Comedy is the alias for Neil Hannon, a British pop singer/songwriter with aspirations of becoming a new wave fusion of Scott Walker, Morrissey, and Electric Light Orchestra. During the early '90s, he built up a strong cult following with a pair of idiosyncratic, critically acclaimed records before his third album, Casanova, became a... [+] Read More

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The Moles were an Australian chamber-pop band led by Richard Davies, a gifted singer/songwriter who later found success on American soil both as a solo artist and as one half of the short-lived duo Cardinal. Formed in Sydney in the late '80s, the Moles debuted in 1990 with the EP Untune the Sky, followed a year later by another EP, Tendrils and... [+] Read More

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Formed after the 1997 breakup of singer/songwriter Joe Pernice's alt-country group the Scud Mountain Boys, the Pernice Brothers did an about-face from the lush '70s country sound of their final album, Massachusetts, and came up with the lush orchestrated pop of 1998's Overcome By Happiness. Recorded for Sub Pop, the album featured Joe's brother... [+] Read More

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