The Ting Tings

Formed in Salford in 2007, The Ting Tings have become well known in their home country. After their first two singles - the Switchflicker released double-A side That's Not My Name / Great DJ (both of which would be singles in their own right) in May and Fruit Machine in November - got the twosome signed to Columbia Records and Great DJ was the first fully released single in February 2008. The other side of the double A came out in May, and got them their first UK #1 and subsequent mainstream success. Their debut, We Started Nothing, came out the week after on the 19th and also charted at #1. First post-album single Shut Up And Let Me Go in July also performed successfully, peaking at #6, but fellow post-album singles Be The One in October and We Walk in February performed poorly in comparison, with neither of them breaking the Top 20. Their second album, Massage Kunst, is set for either a late 2010 or early 2011 release. Great DJ's video is below, with downloads after.

The Tigerpicks

Mancunian trio The Tigerpicks formed in October 2005 and signed to Deltasonic Records soon after. They then issued the Disco Punk Electro Funk single in May 2007. An album, Mourning The Death Of A Panther, was recorded in 2008 but has not been released, neither has any one of the band's other tracks that they have posted up on their MySpace page. DPEF's video is below, with the single afterwards.

Tiger Force

London duo Tiger Force are Andy Force and Helen "Tiger" White, and they formed in August 2004. They had their first single, the more alt rock sounding double-A of Go Back To Your Glass House / Teeeeth, released in August 2005 on the now-collapsed Marquis Cha Cha label; this was followed later in the year with a 10" split with fellow Londoners Silent Front. They went quiet for a bit before releasing their second double-A: the crunching Syntax Error! and the 56 second madness of Five Six I Got Sticks in November 2006. Both tracks were included on their sub-20 minute mini-album A Wasp In A Jar in April 2007; Hey Yo Square Eyes was the only other single from the album, released in August. The duo look as if they have finished with TF, with Andy now with his solo project Tin Can Telephone Band, and Helen with her solo project of Hazlitt. Syntax Error!'s video is below with downloads after.

The Teenagers

Parisian trio The Teenagers originally formed as a joke in late 2005, and released their first single, Homecoming, on Merok Records originally as a 7" in May 2007. French electronic giants Kitsuné then issued a remix 12" in October. This was followed up by Starlett Johansson in November, with Japanese label Klee Records issuing the The World Is Not Fair EP in December. Canadian label Summer Lovers Unlimited Music then put out Fuck Nicole in early 2008. The first Merok release of the year was Love No as a 3 x 7" Tricolore Edition set in March, with the album Reality Check coming along a week later on the 17th of the month. The final single from the album was a reworked version of Make It Happen, dubbed as The New Hit Mix, in July. The three-piece are currently writing the follow-up to their debut. Starlett's video is below, with downloads following.

Tapes 'n Tapes

Minnesota's Tapes 'n Tapes started life as a three-piece while still at college in 2003, and self-released their debut self-titled EP the year after on their Ibid Records label. They then issued their first album, The Loon in October 2005 on the Ibid label. This caught the attention of XL Recordings, who after signing the group in early 2006, reissued the album in July 2006. The Loon received much positive media acclaim, which follow-up album Walk It Off didn't; upon its release in April 2008, it was criticised by some for sounding entirely different to The Loon, mainly due to the inclusion of ex-Flaming Lips producer Dave Fridmann. Insistor's video is below, with downloads after.

The Sunshine Underground

Named after The Chemical Brothers song of the same name, Leeds-cum-Shropshire quartet The Sunshine Underground formed in Shropshire in 2000 while at college but moved to Leeds after they had finished at college. The group have always been signed to City Rockers, had their first release of Put You In Your Place on the label in July 2005 as a limited 7". The first single to be launched from the forthcoming debut was Commercial Breakdown in February 2006, followed by I Ain't Losing Any Sleep in May. PYIYP was fully issued in August, 2 weeks before the album Raise The Alarm dropped on the 28th of the month, and received an overall positive reception. Two final singles - the reissue of Commercial Breakdown in October and the only issue of Borders in March 2007 - and that was it for their debut. They came back in November 2009 with the Everything, Right Now EP that featured Coming To Save You from their new album. That album, Nobody's Coming To Save You, was released in February 2010. PYIYP's video is below, with downloads afterwards.

Steriogram

Steriogram formed in Auckland, New Zealand in 1999 and released their Soccerstar EP in the same year, and followed this up with the Sing The Night Away EP two years after. Following the release of White Trash in the same year, Capitol Records signed the group in 2002 after one of the label representatives found the video for White Trash online. The band's first single from their debut album, Walkie Talkie Man, was used globally in the iPod adverts in 2004, and has become their best known track. Their debut, Schmack!, was released in February, and despite the success of Walkie Talkie Man, none of the other singles from the album (Roadtrip, Go, Tsunami and On And On) charted outside their home country; only Go charted at all, hitting #28 on the NZ Charts. For their second album, the band left Capitol and went independent; a huge shift in sound and image followed as the group dropped most of the rap rock image for a more mature and serious overall impression; This Is Not The Target Market was released in February 2007, and a third album is in the pipeline. Walkie Talkie Man precedes the downloads.

The Spinto Band

Delaware's The Spinto Band originally formed in 1995 as Free Beer, and self-released four albums under this name, on their Spintonic label, all in 1998. They changed to their current name in 1999, and released three albums, three compilations and two EPs on Spintonic until they signed with Bar/None, who released their proper debut Nice And Nicely Done in North America in June 2005, with Radiate managing the global release in April 2006. They followed this up with Moonwink in September 2008. Oh Mandy, from NAND, is below, with downloads after.

The Soviettes

Formed in Minneapolis in 2001, The Soviettes were one of the more ambitious and fun punk rock groups of the early second millenium. Following their May 2002 T.C.C.P. EP, and their two splits with Valentines in November and The Havenot's in Spring 2003, the group's first album, unimaginatively titled LP, dropped in June 2003 on Billie Joe Armstrong's Adeline Records. However, aside from the title, there is clearly nothing unimaginative here; 14 tracks of fast acting punk rock, the highlights being the mad The Land Of Clear Blue Radio and the more slower and melodic Matt's Song and Undeliverable. This was followed by the 24-minute sequel of LP II in April 2004; still crazy, with the longest song not even breaking 2:30! A 7" of Alright b/w Plus One came afterwards in October. After signing with NOFX lead vocalist and bassist Michael "Fat Mike" Burkett's Fat Wreck Chords label just after LP II came out in 2004, their final album, the more grown up LP III was released in June 2005, with the MN Party Mix of Roller Girls being released as the album's only single in August. The group went on an indefinite hiatus from April 2006, but in March 2010, the group announced that they were going to release a b-sides and rarities collection entitled (Rarities) and would play a one-off show in St. Paul, Minnesota. The Land Of Clear Blue Radio's video is below, with downloads following.

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.

Shy Child

Formed out of the ashes of their previous New York group Supersystem, Shy Child released their first album, Please Consider Our Time, in 2001 as a limited CD-R before Grenadine Records picked the twosome and re-issued it the next year. The Humanity EP followed the year after, and showed a less experimental and a more synth-based sound than their debut. October 2004 saw their second full-length One With The Sun issued, with the album's two singles, December 2005's The Noise Won't Stop and March 2006's Technicrats both released in the UK as 1000 only 7"s on Paul Epworth's 679 imprint of Good & Evil Records. April 2007 saw the first new material from the group, that being Drop The Phone, with the group's first global album, Noise Won't Stop, being released a week after the title single came out on 14th May. Summer came out in September, with Drop The Phone being the last single released from the album in November. Liquid Love is the group's fourth album, released in March 2010. Drop The Phone is below, before the downloads.

Shitdisco

Known by some as the Scottish version of Klaxons, the rudely named Shitdisco formed in 2003 and signed to the independent Fierce Panda Records label in 2005, where they released their first single, the limited double-A side of Disco Blood/I Know Kung Fu, in December. They followed this up in October 2006 with one of the catchiest singles I've known: Reactor Party, which was also their first full single. Such was the success of Reactor Party that the group's next single, OK, wasn't released until the week after the group's debut LP, Kingdom Of Fear, dropped on 16th April. I Know Kung Fu was then issued as a standalone single in November, and has been the band's last piece of work, and was also keyboardist Jan Lee's last release as he would quit the group in January 2008 to focus on his university work, and was replaced by Tom Straughan. Despite performing many DJ sets around the world, there hasn't been any sign of any new material from the group yet, so it is unknown whether they will release anything else. Reactor Party's video is below, with downloads after.

The Rumble Strips

Devon four-piece The Rumble Strips are best known for incorporating brass into their alt rock sound, giving them a unique edge over other run-of-the-mill alt rock groups. Formally formed in 2004, the four childhood friends had their first two releases on Transgressive Records: first with the No Soul/Motorcycle double-A side in January 2006, and then Hate Me You Do in June. The group then signed with Island Records' UK division, Fallout Records. Their first release with the label was the Cardboard Coloured Dreams EP in November, followed by the first single from the album, Alarm Clock in March 2007. A full release of Motorcycle was next in June, with final pre-album single Girls And Boys In Love dropping a week before the album, Girls And Weather, was released on 10th September. The final Tony Hoffer-produced single, Time, was released in November. The group then attracted the attention of Mark Ronson, who decided to produce the group's follow up. London was the first new track, released as a download-only single in March 2009. The first and only physical single was Not The Only Person in June, with the album, Welcome To The Walk Along, following in July. Motorcycle's video is below, with downloads below that.

Robots In Disguise

Best known in the UK for their association with The Mighty Boosh, Robots In Disguise formed in Liverpool in 2000 and released an EP, Mix Up Words And Sounds, in the same year. The duo then joined French label Recall and released a self-titled full length in 2001 which is much more experimental than their recent work. Boys was the only single lifted from the album, released solely as a 12" the year after. May 2004 saw the first new work from the pair, entitled The DJ's Got A Gun, with their second album Get RID! coming out in November, although it was reissued in Germany on Crosshair Records in November 2005, and their future label President Records in the UK on 2nd July 2006, the same day as the only other single from the album, Turn It Up, was released. October 2007 saw the first single drop, The Sex Has Made Me Stupid, from their third album; the album, We're In The Music Biz, came out on 4th February 2008 with the title track released 2 weeks after and final single The Tears coming out in September. The group have reportedly been unable to complete their fourth album due to a lack of funds, but have been able to push out the Wake Up! single, back in April. TSHMMS's video is below, with the downloads.

Razorlight

London-formed Anglo-Swedish group Razorlight have achieved notoriety in recent years despite having a #1 single and #1 album. The group came together in 2002, and released their first single Rock 'N' Roll Lies in August 2003; this was followed up by November's Rip It Up, January 2004's Stumble And Fall and June's Golden Touch. Their debut, Up All Night, was released on the 28th, two weeks after Golden Touch, and received mainly positive reviews. Vice in September and a re-issue of Rip It Up in November rounded out the album. Non-album single Somewhere Else followed in April 2005, and hit #2 on the UK Charts (and was then amended to the end of the reissued album, released a week after the single on the 18th). Razorlight then went back into the studio and recorded their follow-up, the self-titled which came out on 17th July 2006, 2 weeks after the lead single In The Morning hit #3 in the charts. The album received a mixed reception, with fans of the four-piece feeling disappointed that they had effectively "sold out" and were now only catering for a mainstream audience. The band's first and so far only #1 single, America, came out in October and hit the top 2 weeks after it was released. The final three singles - December's Before I Fall To Pieces, March 2007's I Can't Stop This Feeling I've Got, and July's Hold On - failed in comparison to the previous two, with none of them hitting the Top 10. The quartet's most recent effort, November 2008's Slipway Fires, performed incredibly poorly in relation to the first two full-lengths; mostly negative media comments and lead single, from September, Wire To Wire not succeeding as well as people had thought led to the album only producing two singles. Vice's video is below, with the downloads.