Edinburgh, Scotland–based band Meursault is led by songwriter Neil Pennycook, who is joined by Fraser Calder, Calum Macleod, Phillip Quirie, Pete Harvey, and Gavin Tarling. The band has released two acclaimed albums and one EP on Song, By Toad Records: Pissing on Bonfires / Kissing with Tongues (2008), Nothing Broke (2009), and All Creatures Will Make Merry (2010).

Born and raised in Seattle, Sage Redman is currently attending Goldsmiths, University of London, to study popular music. Her releases include the EP It Is What It Is (2008), the full-length album 93 Disaster (2010), and the EP Dramatics, which appeared in 2011.

Old Clump is the musical project of Dublin native Eamon O’Leary, who has been a fixture in NYC’s Irish music scene since 1992. O’Leary also teaches at the Augusta Heritage Center, the Catskills Irish Arts Week, and the Alaska Irish Music Camp. Live at Mona’s—a recording documenting weekly sessions hosted by O’Leary and Patrick Ourceau at the Lower East Side Irish-music venue in New York City—was released in 2004.

We Are Augustines consists of guitarist and vocalist William McCarthy, bassist Eric Sanderson, and drummer Rob Allen. The Brooklyn-based band’s debut album, Rise Ye Sunken Ships, was independently released on iTunes in 2010.

David Bazan, who is based in Seattle, was the lead singer and creative force behind now-defunct Pedro the Lion; his most recent solo album is Strange Negotiations (Barsuk, 2011). Will Johnson is the frontman for Texas band Centro-matic, which earlier this year released its latest full-length, Candidate Waltz (Undertow). Matt Kadane and Bubba Kadane founded the bands Bedhead and The New Year, whose albums on Touch & Go include Newness Ends (2001) and The New Year (2008). 

Neil Fridd began Terror Pigeon Dance Revolt as a performance project while he was a student at the State University of New York at Purchase. In 2010, the group released its debut, I Love You! I Love You! I Love You and I’m in Love with You! Have an Awesome Day! Have the Best Day of Your Life!, on David Byrne’s Luaka Bop label.

Mark David Ashworth started writing songs at the age of 13 in Dallas, Texas. He completed his first album, Viceroy, in Mexico City in 2007, and in 2010, he recorded Bright Is the Ring of Words in San Francisco with bassist, arranger, and composer Tristan Arnold. Both albums were released on Autobus, a label cofounded by Ashworth in 2007.

Emily Miller and Zara Bode are The Sweetback Sisters, joined by Jesse Milnes, Ross Bellenoit, Stefan Amidon, and Peter Bitenc. Their albums include Looking for A Fight (Signature Sounds, 2011) and Chicken Ain’t Chicken (Signature Sounds, 2009); their debut EP Bang! (2007) earned them an appearance on A Prairie Home Companion.

Corey Dargel is a Texas-born, Brooklyn-based composer and singer/songwriter. His 2010 double album, Someone Will Take Care of Me, is about hypochondria and voluntary amputation. Dargel is a Composer Fellow with the Brooklyn Philharmonic Orchestra, and has created song cycles with the string quartet Ethel and the electric guitar quartet Dither.

Brooklyn residents Justin Rice and Christian Rudder founded Bishop Allen in 2003. They are supported both on stage and in the studio by a rotating cast of musical collaborators. The band has released 12 EP and three albums, including Grrr..., which appeared on the Dead Oceans label in 2009.

Classical violinist, string arranger, and orchestrator Gillian Rivers is from Rochester, New York. She earned her bachelor’s degree at Oberlin Conservatory of Music, where she served as concertmaster of the Oberlin Contemporary Music Ensemble. Rivers has also played with MGMT, Sigur Rós, Silversun Pickups, TV on the Radio, and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs.

Captain Ahab is the musical project of Los Angeles–based Jonathan Snipes, a composer and sound designer whose music has been featured in Snakes on a Plane, The Office, and Battlestar Galactica. Captain Ahab has recorded numerous albums and performed at the Knitting Factory in Los Angeles, Bangface in London, and the Golden Pudel in Hamburg.

Born and raised in Poughkeepsie, New York, deejay Darshan Jesrani currently lives and works in Brooklyn. In 1999, he and Morgan Geist formed the group Metro Area, whose eponymous debut was named one of Rolling Stone’s top 50 albums of 2002.