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The Unadorned Woman
On her first two album covers, British musician Natasha Khan, better known as Bat for Lashes, appears surrounded by fantastical imagery, wearing glitter, body paint, elaborate costumes and layers of gold accessories. But on her…
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Diamond Rings: Viva La Evolution
In Diamond Rings' 2009 music video for "All Yr Songs," the new-wave pop singer (aka John O'Regan) poses for a photograph in a variety of guises -- from macho jock to bookish student to glam…
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Wild Records
The first thing you see is all the bunny rabbits. Generations of escaped pets? Wherever they're from, they're fast, fearless and feral, staring right at you when you walk past. Next is the guy in…
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Mixed Signals
British pop star Ellie Goulding is the first one to admit that photo shoots aren't really her thing. "I know for a fact that there are certain angles of my face I don't like," she…
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Avicii the Great
At 1:30 a.m. on yet another wayward weekend night, the W South Beach hotel lobby is in full social fester, entirely populated by tenuous models and dead-ahead party girls ("I'm so super-fucking over all this…
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In the Fold
Ben Folds Five, the piano-based trio (not quintet) known as much for manic, potty-mouthed thrash-fests like "Song for the Dumped" as for sensitive ballads like hit single "Brick," are set to release Sound of…
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Yeasayer's Fragrant Gardens
When the assignment came in to interview dance-rockers Yeasayer, I knew I wouldn't have to travel far: I often see vocalist/keyboardist Chris Keating tending to his garden behind my apartment building in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. "The…
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Canadian Gothic
Talking to Grimes in person for the first time, you might be caught off-guard by how normal -- and how much deeper -- her voice sounds. "I do lots of vocal impressions," the 24-year-old Canadian…
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Strange Ways
For Danny Brown, being rap's biggest weirdo isn't so much a calculated shock tactic as an unyielding compulsion to be himself. The Detroit native is, and will probably remain, a deliriously talented outsider. He possesses…
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Rock Royalty
"My life story... it's pretty deep," says Jennifer Herrema. "It starts out kinda normal but you know..."You know? Well, if you're a certain type of person, you do know -- how a 15-year-old Herrema came…
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A Little More French
To hear the guys behind Kitsuné tell it, launching a full-scale, 360-degree international lifestyle conglomerate was something that just sort of happened. Gildas Loaëc and Masaya Kuroki, the brand's very French cofounders, approach music, fashion…
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The Fresh & Onlys
On their fourth LP in four years, San Francisco's Fresh & Onlys have surged to the forefront of the Bay Area's psychedelic scene. Led by Tim Cohen, the F&Os can sound alternately like R.E.M.…
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Grizzly Bear
With their 2009 LP Veckatimest, Grizzly Bear earned a legion of new admirers, and with Shields their bandwagon's about to get overcrowded. Lead-off track "Sleeping Ute" offers up a dose of sweeping operatic rock with…
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Cat Power
Although her live shows are notoriously erratic, Cat Power's records are equally mesmerizing for a different reason: the consistently brilliant songwriting, enchanting minimalist guitar work and smoky R&B vocals. Sun, her first LP of original…
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2:54: Time Sensitive
"There was never any grand master plan," 2:54's Colette Thurlow muses. Featuring Colette and her sister, Hannah, along with supporting members Alex Robins and Joel Porter, the London-based band "developed gradually," Colette says. "Hannah taught…
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Haim
Sisters Este, Danielle and Alana Haim were still in elementary school when their parents conscripted them to play in the family band. Named Rockinhaim, the group was a Valley version of the Partridge Family, and…
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Purity Ring
Purity Ring is less than two years in the making, a few singles deep and has already carved out a considerable following with its foggy future-pop hymns. Twenty-one-year-old producer Corin Roddick and 24-year old vocalist…
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The Hives
Swedish punks The Hives rose to stateside fame during the Great Garage-Rock Boom of 2001 alongside fellow "The" bands the White Stripes and the Strokes. The black-and-white-clad quintet distinguished itself from their peers partly through…
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Michael Kiwanuka
As a young boy growing up in the North London suburb of Muswell Hill, Michael Kiwanuka would wake up early everyday before school. "I wanted to squeeze in as much music as possible, so before…
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Icky Blossoms
Nik Fackler, Sarah Bohling and Derek Pressnall formed Icky Blossoms in 2011 with a simple mission. "We wanted to create music that moves people," explains Fackler, the band's lead guitarist and vocalist. "Music that stops…
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