World Cafe

Cults began as a bedroom recording collaboration between guitarist Brian Oblivion and singer Madeline Follin. When their first single, "Go Outside," went viral in the indie blogosphere, the Brooklyn-based duo became an overnight success, landing a major-label record deal and a rapidly expanding audience.

Austin neo-psychedelic band The Black Angels took its name from the Velvet Underground classic "The Black Angels Death Song." While the group's sultry, reverb-laden grooves draw on the Velvets' pioneering experimental rock, it also pays homage to Austin's own rich history of psychedelic music, dating to the mid-'60s with Roky Erickson and his band the 13th Floor Elevators.

Alex Ebert launched his musical career as frontman for the quirky Los Angeles dance-rock group Ima Robot. When the band stagnated in 2007, he reinvented himself as Edward Sharpe, leader of neo-hippie folk collective the Magnetic Zeros, whose hit single "Home" climbed the charts in 2010.

The Low Anthem's markedly pleasant tunes contain some of the sweetest sounds in modern Americana. The band's music features husky vocals, poetic lyrics, rich harmonies, even some heavy blues guitar. In concert, the group has been known to forgo PA systems and amplification in order to blend with its surroundings.

Hear three songs from the Rhode Island foursome recorded live at Philadelphia's Kimmel Center, as well as an interview with founding members Ben Knox Miller and Jeffrey Prystowsky.

Chris Bathgate is a singer-songwriter from Ann Arbor, Mich., whose melancholy indie-folk has earned him a loyal following in the Midwest and beyond. His stark yet lovely new album, Salt Year, has been compared to like-minded songwriters Damien Jurado and Will Oldham.