1. Fleet Foxes
"Angelic three-part harmonies and rustic guitar combine for a festival-ready sound."

2. Titus Andronicus
"Fist-in-the-air, beer-soaked anthems from a young Jersey group that sounds like Bright Eyes fronting the E Street Band."

3. The Dodos
"On record, these guys make great campus-quad pop—but live, their intricate, rollicking rhythms come to the fore."

4. El Guincho
"Barcelona’s one-man band loops fashionable heat-soaked sounds—dub, Afropop, Tropicalia—into frenetic, dance- floor-filling drones."

5. Jay Reatard
"Onstage, underground punk’s newest star is all no filler, all killer, blasting through dozens of songs in about as many minutes."

Photograph: (Plagenhoef) Courtesy of pitchforkmedia.com, (Dodos) Elizabeth Weinberg, all others courtesy of the bands