Ridiculously fast drum and guitar gymnastic duo who somehow manage to write songs that make sense. Video. Wikipedia. Myspace.

And audience suggestions: Q And Not U, Fuck Buttons, Dirty Projectors, Mclusky, My Bloody Valentine, A, Funkadelic, Women, Explosions in the Sky, Battles, The Icarus Line, Shellac, The Magnetic Fields, Gang Gang Dance, Health, Clinic, This Will Destroy You, Les Savy Fav, S Club 7, Tea with the Queen.

A rock band with a cello, piano, rock-hero guitarist and horror film samples. The lead writes songs where the beauty is spoiled by a lurking demon: a clanging piano, a banging door, nails scratching on wood. Wikipedia. Myspace.

Very lo-fi, reggae-influenced garage rock with drum machines and a lot of shrieking. Went on to do a bizarre, polished, Kraftwerk-influenced electro-pop album. Wikipedia.

Indie rock but played in medieval times: marching, quartets and metaphors about dragons, damsels and horses. Video. Wikipedia. Myspace.

Clanging percussion, house beats, strangled singing of beautiful melodies. Or, to put it another way, experimental pop. Video. Wikipedia. Myspace.

They started out as a guitar and drums two-piece who played in weird time-signatures and screamed and whispered. Then, Aimee Argote went solo with her acoustic guitar and poured out brutally honest, gorgeously melodic songs that plumbed the depths of honesty. Video. Myspace.

A hardcore band, but their album is a symphony: themes recur, songs ebb and flow, rise and fall. Wikipedia. Myspace.

Better melodies than The Beatles. Wikipedia. Myspace.

The best instrumental post-rock band ever, except they have singing. Wikipedia. Myspace.

Noise pop, hardcore, extreme lounge music? Technicolor stories of politics and relationships with plenty of beatdown and plenty of beauty. Wikipedia. Myspace.