1For fans of:
In This week’s NME (on shelves May 26) we check out the very best in US indie. First up, there’s Wild Nothing. For fans of: Television, The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart, Sonic Youth. Essential track: Their cover of ‘Cloudbusting’ by Kate Bush.
2For fans of:
Warpaint – the prog-pink grrrl gang. For fans of: Sonic Youth, Mazzy Star, The Breeders. Essential track: ‘Billie Holiday’.
3For fans of:
Titus Andronicus – blue-collar indie-punk grafters. For fans of: Dinosaur Jr, The Hold Steady, The Replacements. Essential album: Don’t download, but buy their entire second album, ‘The Monitor’ their concept record about the American civil war out now on XL/Merok.
4For fans of:
Surfer Blood – sun-drenched slacker genius. For fans of: Pixies, Weezer, Yo La Tengo. Essential track: ‘Harmonix’.
5For fans of:
Pure Ecstasy – the reincarnation comedown kids. For fans of: Animal Collective, Yeasayer, Slint. Essential track: ‘Voices’.
6For fans of:
Harlem – snotrag dust-punk heartbreakers. For fans of: The Black Lips Richard Hell, Royal Trux. Essential track: ‘Be Your Baby’.
7For fans of:
The National – stately romantic miserablists. For fans of: Death Cab For Cutie, Nick Cave, Tindersticks, Arcade Fire. Essential track: ‘Sorrow’, ‘Terrible Love’, ‘Anybody’s Ghost’.
8For fans of:
Hunx & His Punx – the ga(y)rage rock icon. For fans of: Jay Reatard, The Ronettes, The Shangri-Las. Essential track: ‘U Don’t Like Rock’n’Roll’ (featuring such lyrical back-handers as ‘You like Morrissey/You like U2/What the fuck is wrong with you’)
9For fans of:
Gauntlet Hair – nuclear pop to go deaf to. For fans of: Pussy Galore, Big Black, Nirvana. Essential track: ‘I Was Thinking’.
10For fans of:
Freelance Whales – glockenspiel-loving futuristic folkies. For fans of: Smashing Pumpkins, Death Cab For Cutie, Decemberists. Essential track: ‘Starring’.
11For fans of:
Strange Boys – the garage-rock torch bearers. For fans of: Tom Petty, 13th Floor Elevators, The Sonics. Essential track: ‘Laugh At Sex, Not Her’.
12For fans of:
Dum Dum Girls – not just another garage-rock pastiche. For fans of: Ramones, Shangri-Las. Essential track: ‘I Will Be’.
13For fans of:
Avi Buffalo – sundrenched tenn slackers. For fans of: The Shins, Pavement. Essential track: ‘What’s In It For Me?’