neonbrown

1. foals
2. crystal castles
3. the presets
4. this will destroy you
5. polarOPPOSITEbear

lolliot

The Dodos - Visiter
Shearwater - Rook
Pompeii - Nothing Happens for a Reason
Matt Pryor - Confidence Man

And the winner is:

Right Away, Great Captain! - The Eventually Home (Andy Hull is a genius)

None of these would qualify as mainstream, and I think they would even fit in under the indie category as well, although the definitions always confuse me =S

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loveguitar1

Its a push to find 5...

Black Keys
The Kills
The Bastard Fairies
Gutbucket Slim

A.Pichardo

THe Walkmen
French Kicks
Broken Social Scene
M83
Dept. Of Eagles
Grizzly Bear

who likes the walkmen ?

unstuckbilly

"Non-mainstream"...going to assume that means "doesn't receive radio playtime". At least where I'm from.

1. Wolf Parade
2. Sunset Rubdown
3. Kings of Leon
4. Animal Collective
5. Belle & Sebastian

Spencer Krug pretty much rules my ear hole.

OnTheAshes

kings of leon...mainstream, bt bloody amazing
as are belle and sebastian. havnt heard anything from the walkmen recently, but i loved the rat, and the song the wrote about me

lolliot

Kings of Leon are as mainstream as they come these days, for sure! And I just remembered another non-mainstream artist that would warrant a spot on my list, Justin Vernon aka. Bon Iver.

For Emma, Forever Ago is perhaps my favourite record of the 2008 (though it's really a rerelease from 2007).

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Miss. A. Nonymous

OK...So I wanted to add my 5, so firstly, I scan all those previous in thread and omitting any band that has already been mentioned. ie. Frightened Rabbit, MGMT (althought I listened to them when they were The Management) and I get to yours. I thought I would have been entirely off the hook with the Walkmen's new album seeing as though NO ONE seems to be aware of the sure genius that is them. BUT I see you are.

Also, all of your above are in my top ten for sure.

Top 5 (in no particular order):
Bon Iver
The Walkmen
Frigthened Rabbit
Bat for Lashes
Lykke Li

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ErrandBoy

I cant really believe what i'm reading. These bands that you people are posting are 'non mainstream' and relatively new? ie you learned about them in the past year....?

How the hell are people coming up with Kings Of Leon, Animal Collective and Belle & Sebastian?

Kings of Leon number one album, number one single.... headlined GLASTONBURY. God help us please.

Right, slate me if you want. I know these bands didnt start within the last year but they are new to me and i'm pretty fucking sure they're underground.

In no particular order...

No Age
Times New Viking
Yeasayer
Fleet Foxes
XX Teens
Lovvers

ok, so No Age have been around for a couple of years but i just think of Nouns as their Debut album... and what an album.

ErrandBoy

Sorry for the double post, just noticed this band. One of them was in one of my media modules at Liverpool JMU! They're pretty dire though...

metamorphosis

Times New Viking
Titus Andronicus
No Age
Sic Alps
Los Campesinos

thelifepursuit

1.Q and not U
2.Belle and Sebastian
3.A.C Newman
4.Minus the Bear
5.The Joggers

icheadle90

1. Vampire Weekend
2. Tokyo Police Club
3. Good Shoes
4. Silversun Pickups
5. The Maccabees

While all these bands may not be new, they are the ones that got the most play time from me this year.

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SrhCai

So, same for me. These aren't new bands at all but I like them a lot.

1. Metric
2. Ra Ra Riot
3. Architecture in Helsinki
4. The Bird and The Bee
5. Mates of State

And is TPC really going mainstream?

sloppyworm

i dig portugal the man....

i dont understand how u say that kings of leon is not mainstream tho... they had a song of theirs on a commercial in television.... that seems pretty mainstream to me