Sure, there are plenty of poppy punk bands that mistake Halloween for Valentine’s Day, and take pleasure in describing their heartbreak in visceral terms cribbed from horror films.

Frightened Rabbit began as a vehicle for a mopey Scot named Scott to vent his post breakup angst, but the band has outgrown its humble, therapeutic beginnings.

Shooter Jennings—son of icon Waylon—has done plenty to honor his father’s out law legacy.

Even those who defend the inoffensive “innovation” in mainstream country circa 2010 might take issue with Lady Antebellum, a Nashville trio that pulls off the semantic trick of being both utterly tasteful and completely bland.

Two years ago, the Afropop-dabbling prepsters in Vampire Weekend exploded from their Columbia University dorm into what passes for superfame these days: magazine covers, Saturday Night Live appearances, Internet acclaim, and then, naturally, Internet backlash.

In some fields consistency is a good thing: baseball, say, or brain surgery.

Hot Chip, named for a well warmed french fry, is certainly unique: five shy, bespectacled Brits bashing out sweet-natured disco tunes about monkeys with miniature cymbals.

We’ve got to hand it to Story of the Year: It’s the sign of a brave band to open an album with the dulcet sound of singing children.

The author of the landmark Generation X returns with a futuristic novel set in a world where bees have been outlawed.

Buffalo hardcore band Every Time I Die has survived label changes, personnel turnover, and the trails of the road to deliver the strongest album of their career - the ferocious, swinging New Junk Aesthetic.

Brand New frontman Jesse Lacey evolved from predictably emo in 2001 (Your Favor ite Weapon) to brilliantly self-aware in 2005 (Deja Entendu).

Dougy Mandagi seems to be running away from paradise, by degrees.

For nearly ten years, AFI was a by-the-book California hardcore band.

The short, pudgy, and balding Har Mar Superstar is no one’s idea of an oversexed soul man.

English youngsters You Me at Six bring a bracing dose of mayhem and melody to the MTV2 crowd. Frontman Josh Franceschi breaks it down.