Sigur Rós

Iceland's second most-famous musical act (behind Björk) Sigur Rós formed in 1994 and released their originally Iceland-only debut Von in 1997, with a remix album entitled Von Brigði released the following year. June 1999 was the group's breakthrough month, thanks to the success of their second album Ágætis Byrjun. October 2002 saw the issue of (), the first album to be fully recorded in the Hopelandic language, invented by lead guitarist and vocalist Jón Þór "Jónsi" Birgisson. As with their previous release, () also received commercial and critical acclaim, only to be upstaged in November 2005 by the group's mainstream hit Hoppípolla, which had immense media usage and peaked at #24 on the UK Charts. Prior to this, in September, their fourth album Takk... was issued, and received mostly positive reviews. A double album, Hvarf/Heim, came out in November 2007, with their latest album, Með Seð Í Eyrum Við Spilum Endalaust, released in June 2008, and was the first SR album to have songs not in Icelandic or Hopelandic. January 2010 saw the group announce that they would go on a hiatus in order to focus on their families and own musical projects. Hoppípolla's video is below, with downloads afterwards.

PVT (Pivot)

Now known as PVT due to an American band with the same name threatening legal action, Pivot are an Australian three-piece whose "post-math rock" style has gained them popularity. Formed in 1999, the trio spent six years writing and refining their debut album, Make Me Love You, which when released in August 2005 gained immense critical acclaim from the Australian music industry. In 2008, the group signed to the prominent electronic-based Warp Records, and released their first post-MMLV track in the shape of In The Blood in May, best known for its violent shark attack video. August saw the major label debut, O Soundtrack My Heart, released to positive opinions. The album's title track was also released as a tour only 7", backed with the group's infamous cover of Talking Heads' I Zimbra. In The Blood's video precedes the downloads.

Hope Of The States

Chichester-based post-alternative rock group Hope Of The States were active from 2000 to 2006, and got their break after a Sony BMG music representative glanced upon a review of the band on the Planet Sound Teletext service and was very interested in the positivity of said review. The group were signed shortly after, and released their first single, the 2000-only hessian-cased CD of Black Dollar Bills, in March 2003, followed by Enemies/Friends in September of the same year. Tragedy then struck the band, as the group's original guitarist James Lawrence committed suicide in January 2004, with the band's first album, The Lost Riots, being released in June. The single, The Red The White The Black The Blue was released prior to the album in May, and hit #15 on the UK Charts. Nehemiah was the final single from the album, released in August with heat-sensitive sleeves. The band went back to the studio for 2005, before the group's final album Left was released on 19th June, following the Blood Meridian EP in April and the Sing It Out single 2 weeks previously. Blood Meridian's video is below, as are the downloads.